Tyler Perry had generated over $12,000 in 1992, and he spent every bit of it on a play that almost nobody came to see. According to Forbes, which profiled Perry in 2020, the loss left him unable to pay rent and sleeping in his car for months. Less than three decades later, the same publication estimated Perry had earned more than $1.4 billion in pretax revenue since 2005 and had built a 330-acre studio in the same Atlanta neighborhood where he went bankrupt. This is the part of Tyler Perry's story that is most often quoted. Less often discussed are what he learned during the transition period and what he chose not to do after he became successful.
A $12,000 bet that left him with nothing
