The media mogul says he had the urge to share a message 'to any of you who are going through hard times' upon learning of the late professional dancer's passing.
- Dec 17, 2022
AceShowbiz - Tyler Perry has got candid about his past struggle when offering tribute to the late Stephen "tWitch" Boss. In a video shared on Instagram, the "A Madea Homecoming" actor detailed his own suicide attempts.
"I, like the rest of the world, am shocked by the death of Stephen Boss, tWitch," the 52-year-old said in the Thursday, December 15 post. The media mogul added that he had the urge to share a message "to any of you who are going through hard times, struggling" in the wake of the tragedy.
"I've only met him a couple of times," Tyler said of tWitch, who was found dead at the age of 40 in a room at the Oak Tree Motel on Tuesday. "He was always full of life, it seemed like, such a light."
Reflecting on his own "dark" times, Tyler added, "With that said, I just want to take you back to a time in my life when I tried to commit suicide, a couple of times, because it was so dark I didn't think it would get any better." He then noted, "I had endured so much pain, so much abuse, sexual abuse, it was all so hard to just move through that I thought the only way to make this better was to end my life... Had any of those attempts happened, I would've missed the best part of my life."
The film director and actor went on to urge those who are "going through some things" to ask for help. "I know it may seem like there's no hope, but please reach out to someone ... call, ask for help if you are dealing with anything that is emotionally taking you to a place where you think you want to end your life," he stated.
"What I realize now, looking back on all those dark times is, sometimes the pain is a buy-in. I know that's hard to understand. Not all the time - sometimes - the pain is a buy-in. That's the way I had to learn to look at it to get through it," he further elaborated. "What I mean by that is, all that pain, all that hell, all that struggle, if I had given up, if I had stopped, I wouldn't have seen the better part of my life. I was buying into something, I was paying for something."
Luckily, Tyler is now "the happiest I've ever been." He then shared, "Life is full of joy and love, things I never thought I'd get to. I'm saying that to you, if you are a person who's considering suicide, ending your life, you've already been through a lot of hell, please, please, please, think about what the other side could be. It could be amazing. And you would miss the best part of it going through the darkness. Don't let the darkness stop you from getting to this incredible place of life."
