Tyler Perry Opens up About Sexual Abuse

Tyler Perry tells Oprah his first sexual experience was oral sex from a man he knew from church who used scripture to justify his actions.

Tyler says he suffered severe sexual abuse at the hands of four different adults.

Tyler says he was 5 or 6 years old the first time he was molested. While building a birdhouse with an adult male neighbor, the man put his hands in Tyler's pants, he says. "I'm thinking, 'What is this?'" Tyler says. "And I felt my body betraying me, because I felt an erection at that age."

Tyler says he later endured sexual molestation at the hands of a male nurse and a man he knew from church. "[The man from church] used God and the Bible against me to justify a lot of the things that were going on. It was so horrible," Tyler says. "And that was my first sexual experience, with this man performing oral sex on me as a boy."

When Tyler was just 10 years old, he says he was also molested by a friend's mother. Tyler says he was over at his friend's house while the mother was arguing with her boyfriend in another room. Then, she suddenly appeared in front of him, wearing lingerie.

Tyler says she put her son in the bathroom to take a bath and told Tyler to go home. But, when he tried to open the door, it was locked.

Tyler: I hear the click, click, click of the door. I couldn't unlock it. She lays on the sofa. I didn't know she was wearing lingerie at the time. I said: "I have to go. It's getting dark."

Oprah: You're 10.

Tyler: I'm 10. And she says, "You want to go home?" She lights a cigarette. She takes the key. She said, "Here's the key." I come over to get it, and she puts it inside of herself and she tells me to get it. So I—I get the key, but I feel my body betraying me again because I felt an erection. This is so disgusting, you know, what these people did to this little boy.
Oprah: Yes.

Tyler: She pulled me on top of her. So my first sexual experience was with a woman, that was it.

You can read the rest on the Oprah site