Where Tyler Perry Stands With The Mother Of His Son Gelila Bekele

Tyler Perry and his son's mother, model Gelila Bekele, said goodbye to their romantic relationship in 2020. At the time, Perry referenced embarking on a new chapter in an Instagram post. "This is what a midlife crisis looks like," Perry posted in December 2020. "I'm 51, single and wondering what the next chapter in my life will look like." 

He went on to add, "Whatever it looks like I'm going to walk with God, be the best father and man I can be, hold my head up high, and try to look my best doing it!! In a world with so much sadness, please try and stay in the good!"

Naturally, the notoriously private filmmaker kept the potentially juicy details about their breakup to himself. Although Perry has often been quite open with his fanbase, he's always kept his romantic life separate from his celebrity. However, Perry did share his excitement with fans when announcing Bekele's pregnancy to the world in 2017. During an interview with People, Perry revealed that Bekele delivered her pregnancy news over FaceTime. He also shared some heartwarming thoughts about her. "There's no other person on this planet that I would want to be involved with or have a child with because she's amazing," said Perry at the time. Unfortunately, a lifetime romance wasn't in the cards for the parents of one. However, Perry and Bekele still have a great relationship.

Tyler Perry and Gelila Bekele will be forever connected through their son, Aman. And while many celebrity couples have struggled to conquer co-parenting, these two seem to be on the same wavelength, especially in relation to their son's privacy. For example, Bekele explained the reason that she and Perry didn't include Aman in a documentary about Perry's life in 2023. "Fatherhood is a big part of the story so to not have Aman in the film would have been awkward," said Bekele while promoting the project with Today. "But also, everybody's parenting skills are different, and for me, privacy is something I hold dearly ... Once you open that door [there's] no going back."

Unsurprisingly, Perry is also very serious about keeping their son out of the public eye. During a 2022 interview with AARP Magazine, Perry revealed his reason for shielding Aman and his other private relationships from the public's intrusion. "Because these people are not famous," said Perry. "My son's not famous. I want him to have as normal a life as he can. I want him to know what it's like to have his own name and his own life and not have the pressure of trying to live up to whatever or whoever your father was." Perry also complimented Bekele's parenting skills, calling her "an incredible mother."

Raising a healthy, happy child is obviously at the top of Tyler Perry and Gelila Bekele's to-do list, but they've also found time to collaborate creatively. As briefly mentioned, Tyler Perry released a documentary titled "Maxine's Baby: The Tyler Perry Story," detailing his arduous upbringing and fruitful film and television empire. Prior to its release in November 2023, Bekele spoke at length about their years-long collaboration, which saw the former model step into the shoes of co-director alongside Armani Ortiz.

While speaking with Today, Bekele described what it was like to direct the project, given her history with Perry. "You follow the story," Bekele said. "I think the privilege of having that front row seat for so many years gives you access, but as a filmmaker, there's a moral integrity of wanting to sort of encompass the unknown, as well as what you already know. So a lot of research has to go into it." Bekele also spoke about filming the documentary around Perry's busy career. "He's a very busy man so we didn't want to be in the way of what he was doing," shared Bekele with Ebony. "We kept it very small. We did shotgun style, one camera, no crew and we couldn't even mic him, so it was very low-key."