Tyler Perry is saying goodbye to his iconic character Mabel “Madea” Simmons. Perry, who played Madea in eleven movies, nine plays, and two TV shows, recently announced that he would retire the character following the 2019’s stage tour and movie Tyler Perry’s A Madea Family Funeral.
The 49-year-old actor broke the news during his appearance on Bevy Smith’s “Bevelations.”
“I just don’t want to be her age [still] playing her,” Perry explained his decision. “I’m doing one last tour in 2019 — the farewell tour — and the last movie is Madea’s Funeral that I shot two years ago,” he added. “So, we’re gonna say goodbye.”
Tyler Perry first introduced Madea, “a tough elderly black woman,” in his 1999’s play I Can Do Bad All by Myself. The character was then featured in a number of other Perry’s plays before making its first big screen appearance in his directorial debut, 2005’s Diary of a Mad Black Woman.
Madea had a significant presence in Tyler Perry’s movies through the years as either supporting or lead character. Although the films featuring the character usually received negative reviews from the critics, they managed to earn more than $500 million at the box office.
The eleventh entry in the Madea film series, Tyler Perry’s A Madea Family Funeral, will be released on March 1, 2019.
