Despite frequent criticism of his films and television shows, Tyler Perry doesn't seem to care.
The billionaire filmmaker, producer and actor, whose new film, The Six Triple Eight, hit theaters last Friday (December 6), revealed in a recent The Times of London interview that he hasn't read a critic's review of his projects since he was "probably 34." Since the Paley Honors Award recipient is 55 years old, this would mean that he's evaded reviews for the last 20 years.
"You have to understand how I grew up," he told the British outlet. "This man said I was horrible, awful, the worst of the worst. I learnt very young that what this person says about me doesn’t matter because that’s not true."
Earlier in the profile, it was detailed that Perry spends 14 hours a day, in the span of two weeks, writing projects alone. He also refuses edits. "There is no waste on my set," he said. "There is no downtime."
On writing his material solo, he added, "If you’ve hired me to speak to my audience, then you have to let me do that."
On Rotten Tomatoes, Perry's highest-rated film is 2009 romantic comedy I Can Do Bad All By Myself, which has a 62 percent "Fresh" score.
Perry last responded to critics around the time that his poorly-received drama-thriller Divorce in the Black, was released in July.
"You got to drown all of that out because if you let somebody talk you out of a place that God has put you in, you are going to find yourself in hell," Perry said around the 44-minute mark of an episode of Keke Palmer's podcast, Baby, This Is Keke Palmer. "I know for a fact that what I'm doing is exactly what I'm supposed to be doing because for everyone who is a critic, I have thousands of emails from people saying 'This changed my life.' 'Oh my God, you know me.' 'Oh my God, you saw me, how did you know this about my life, my family?' So that is what is important to me."
"We're talking a large portion of my fans who are disenfranchised who cannot get in the Volvo and go to therapy on the weekend," he continued. "So you got this highbrow Negro who is all up in the air with his nose up looking at everything, and then you got people like where I come from and me who are grinders who really know what it's like whose mothers were caregivers for white kids and were maids and housekeepers and all of these beauticians. Don't discount these people and say that their story don't matter. Who are you to be able to say which Black story is important or should be told. Get out of here with that bullshit."
