The Duke of Sussex has said that Tyler Perry offered him his Los Angeles house to stay in because his own mother had “loved” Diana, Princess of Wales.
Harry said that the US actor and comedian had made the “generous” offer as he and Meghan sought to travel to America from Canada amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic in March 2020.
Perry, who is known for multiple US television shows, revealed that after Diana’s famous visit to Harlem, New York in 1989, she could “do no wrong” in the eyes of his own mother.
During her visit at the time of the US Aids epidemic Diana visited hospitals and spoke to victims of the deadly disease.
Harry said that Perry had previously sent a message of support to Meghan before their wedding in 2018, and offered them his gated house in March 2020 on FaceTime.
“It was too much. Too generous,” he said, writing in his memoir, Spare.
“I asked why he was doing this. ‘My mother’. Your…? ‘My mother loved your mother’.
“I was caught completely by surprise. He said: After your mother visited Harlem, that was it. She could do no wrong in Maxine Perry’s book.
“He went on to say that his mother had died ten years earlier, that he was still grieving. I wanted to tell him it gets easier. I didn’t.”
Harry said that he and his family arrived at the “palatial” home at the end of that month and that within a few weeks it had felt “like home” – providing a safe space for their young son Archie.
He went on to describe how they had faced increasing intrusion from the paparazzi at Perry’s, forcing them to stop “venturing outside”.
Last month Perry appeared as a talking head in the Sussex’ six-part Netflix documentary, described as a friend.
He revealed that the couple had asked him to be the godfather of their daughter Lilibet, as well as commenting on their tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey in March 2021.
