When Prince Harry and Meghan moved to California to start their new lives in Montecito, one of their closest celebrity friends gave them a seriously thoughtful housewarming gift, which had a poignant meaning behind it. The A-lister in question is none other than Hollywood mogul Tyler Perry, who is also godfather to the couple’s youngest child – Princess Lilibet.
Perry didn’t know the Duke and Duchess of Sussex personally until around the time of their royal exit, when they reached out to the filmmaker for assistance in a time of need. The couple had been staying in Canada when their taxpayer-funded security was pulled, and with the Coronavirus pandemic causing borders to be closed around the world, the pair felt vulnerable in their temporary home – the location of which had been published in the press. Harry and Meghan reached out to Perry for help, taking him up on an offer he had made around the time of the wedding, and they became fast friends with him.
Speaking to The Cut magazine, in a wide-ranging interview that aimed to promote her podcast Archetypes back in 2022, Meghan revealed that when they had settled into their Montecito home, Perry gave them a lavish housewarming present, a grand piano that resides in the couple’s sitting room. The generous present came with a special message alongside it: “Write the soundtrack for your life”.
Given that Meghan spoke in her bombshell sit down with Oprah Winfrey in 2021 about feeling “silenced” in her royal role, and later in the couple’s six-part documentary series for Netflix Harry noted that they felt that they had “never been allowed to tell our story” before – the meaning behind Perry’s gift has even more poignancy.
But this wasn’t the only time that Perry showed extraordinary generosity towards Harry and Meghan. When they reached out to him in 2020, he swiftly provided them with a safe haven – offering up his Beverly Hills mansion and security detail, allowing them time and space to find their feet as they figured out what their new life away from the monarchy would look like.
In her interview with The Cut Meghan explained that even though they didn’t know Perry “Sometimes, you can tell your life story to a stranger on a plane as opposed to some of the people that are closest to you.” For his part, Perry has spoken in support of the couple many times, from interviews to appearing on the couple’s Netflix documentary, when he explained why he wanted to help them in their time of need, saying: “They just wanted to be free. They wanted to be free to love and be happy. I applauded that.”
He also compared the institution of the monarchy to a “batterer” and claimed that in his view the way in which the royal household attempted to get Meghan and Harry to “comply” and return to royal life was reminiscent of the domestic abuse Perry saw his own mother suffer. “To use the institution to try and do all the things a batterer would do, like, here’s what we’re gonna do, ‘we’re gonna cut off the money; we’re not gonna leave you security; we’re gonna do all those things to make you comply and come back’,” Perry said.
