Tyler Perry Opens Up About Cutting Off Family and Surviving the Black Tax: “I Fired My Aunt” [Video]

On a recent episode of “Den of Kings” hosted by Kirk Franklin, Tyler Perry sat down with Franklin and rapper Jeezy to discuss the weight of success, family, and the cultural expectation known as the “Black tax.”

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Perry explained that the pressure to provide for everyone pushed him to make one of the hardest choices of his life, firing almost his entire family.

The conversation started when Franklin asked a deep, personal question about navigating success while staying connected to loved ones.

That tension, Perry said, nearly broke him.

“I fired my aunt,” he admitted.

“She said she wanted a job. She would always call, ask for money. I’m like, ‘Okay.’ I was sending the money. I was like, ‘Listen, I want to help you. I want to help you build this thing, not be welfare to you.’”

But when she didn’t take the opportunity seriously, missing work and calling in without notice, Perry had to let her go.

“You want me to hand you the money, but you don’t want to work for it. See, that doesn’t work for me,” the filmmaker explained.

Perry said he applies that same tough-love mindset to his 10-year-old son.

“There’s certain things that he wants. He has to do chores and work for it. I don’t believe in giving us things that are just going to handicap us. That is the worst thing you can do,” he explained.

The turning point came after his mother passed away in 2009. He said, “I sent all of them letters saying, ‘Listen, you got 60 days to become gainfully employed because I’m not going to keep supporting you like 100 percent.’”

According to Perry, every single family member found a job.

“It wasn’t even jobs where they’re making a lot of money, but it was something for them to do to feel some pride in. That’s the same thing I would want somebody to do for me.”

This sense of responsibility, where success becomes a shared expectation among extended family, is what’s known as the Black tax. Perry called it out plainly.

It’s a tax not just on wealth, but on peace of mind. It comes in layers. For ultra-successful figures like Perry, it’s public scrutiny and community pressure. For others, it might be the expectation to pay rent, tuition, or bills for relatives simply because they made it out first.

Perry’s comments sparked an honest look at how people often judge him based on the characters he plays rather than the impact he has behind the scenes.

“People take how they personally feel about him as far as the roles that he’s played… and they kind of conflate that with who it is that he is as a person.”

He emphasized the importance of staying objective, especially for content creators and public figures.

“You have to separate how you personally feel about a person from what it is that they do and contribute to the culture and the community.”

Perry’s words reflect a reality many Black professionals quietly face. When you make it, you’re expected to carry others. But setting boundaries, even when painful, may be the only way to survive it.