Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images; Larry Busacca/Getty ImagesMemo to the media: Tyler Perry is pissed.
The Diary of a Mad Black Woman auteur took to his website today to blast a tabloid story alleging Bobbi Kristina Brown walked off the set of the filmmaker's new TBS sitcom, Tyler Perry's For Better or Worse, supposedly because she was still reeling from the death of her mother Whitney Houston three months ago.
"I woke up this morning to my publicist calling me saying that there were reports that Bobbi Kristina walked off the set of For Better Or Worse. NOT TRUE AT ALL PEOPLE!!!" wrote a clearly infuriated Perry. "There is no way that she could have walked off the set because we have finished taping the season."
Oops!
The 42-year-old actor-writer-director was taking issue specifically with a report by Radar that quoted a source close to the production as saying the celebrity spawn made a quiet, teary-eyed exit after having a "private breakdown" and deciding she "couldn't handle doing the show right now" because she was still in mourning.
The report went on to add that Bobbi Kristina and Perry had a private conversation about her recurring role and he's since "had to do a lot of restructuring work" on the series.
But according to the Atlanta-based mogul, nothing could be further from the truth. Perry fired back that he offered to write the 19-year-old a role to help her through the grieving process, especially since she told him one of her dreams was to become an actress.
"Were there tough days for her? Yes of course. Not because of the acting or any job-related issues but because of the fact that she had just lost her mother. And being someone who knows about losing their mother, I know grief comes in different ways and you never know when it's going to hit you or how it's going to hit you, for that matter," noted Tyler. "Some days you're smiling and happy and some days you're so broken that you can't stop crying. So yes she was grieving, but grief aside, she managed to finish her obligation and did a great job at the same time."
Perry, who lent his private jet to the Houston family to shuttle Whitney's remains back to New Jersey for her burial, then pleaded with people to give Brown the privacy she deserves.
"So please... PLEASE LEAVE THIS BABY ALONE!!!! AND SHE IS A BABY!!! Please stop the lies and give this child some room to breathe and grieve," he wrote. "IF IT WAS YOUR CHILD WOULND'T YOU WANT THAT?"
The new season of Tyler Perry's For Better or Worse is scheduled to premiere in July.