there's madea. >> pitts: where? >> perry: up there, that's all madea.s where she live between movies. >> roll sound. rolling. >> pitts: when he's not making movies, this relentless multi- tasker is running his two hit sitcoms on tbs, "house of payne" and "meet the browns." >> perry: hit them, hit them hard really. >> pitts: he has total creative control, and owns everything he makes. >> perry: and we cut. very good. thanks a lot. i'm out of here. ( laughs ) >> tyler. tyler. >> pitts: tyler perry's huge success has brought him power, and even comparisons to oprah, his friend and mentor. they've teamed up to executive produce "precious," a film about an urban teenage mother battling abuse and illiteracy, which opens in november. >> oprah winfrey: do not play him small, because he is not just some lucky, rich negro turned black man. he... he is not. to be able to take what he saw as an opportunity to reach a... a group of people, and to turn that into this multi-million-- soon to be multi-billion dollar enterprise-- is what everybody else is trying to do.

tyler is the super successful director of several hit plays that have been turned into films like "madea." he's telling his tragic childhood story about physical abuse. in a startling letter on his website he recalls one incident when his father beat him, writing -- tyler also claims as a child his grandmother actually tried to kill the germ that caused his asthma by bathing him in ammonia and that the mother of one of his friends sexually abused him. tyler said he was compelled to tell his story after seeing the highly anticipated movie "precious" based on a novel about a girl's abusive life. tylerer perry and oprah winfrey are executive producers of the film. >>> certainly a no slowdown coming on on calls about jon and kate. we got a call from ginger in arizona who thinks both jon and kate need to shut their face and stay off tv. >> i think it's totally ridiculous and i think it's outrageous that every time one of them has a problem, how do they end up on the "today" show or one of these news shows. it's totally ridiculous. i think they should both go away. >> we also heard from tammy,

tyler is the super successful director of several hit plays that have been turned into films like "madea." he's telling his tragic childhood story about physical abuse. in a startling letter on his website he recalls one incident when his father beat him, writing -- tyler also claims as a child his grandmother actually tried to kill the germ that caused his asthma by bathing him in ammonia and that the mother of one of his friends sexually abused him. tyler said he was compelled to tell his story after seeing the highly anticipated movie "precious" based on a novel about a girl's abusive life. tylerer perry and oprah winfrey are executive producers of the film. >>> certainly a no slowdown coming on on calls about jon and kate. we got a call from ginger in arizona who thinks both jon and kate need to shut their face and stay off tv. >> i think it's totally ridiculous and i think it's outrageous that every time one of them has a problem, how do they end up on the "today" show or one of these news shows. it's totally ridiculous. i think they should both go away. >> we also heard from tammy,

he said he takes exception to some of perry's efforts including the madea series and house of pain. he says they're a step backwards for african-americans the. in an interview with "60 minutes" tyler perry fired back at lee. >> i would love to read that to my fan base. all these characters are bait. disarming, charming, make you laugh. i can slap madeasome something and talk about god, love faith family, forgiveness. i think -- >> i can tell. >> it's so insulting. it's attitudes like that that make hollywood think these people do not exist. that's why there's no material speaking to them speaking to us. >> spike lee previously criticized other directors on race issues. >>> espn has fired steve phillips after he admitted an affair with a production assistant. he took a leave of absence on wednesday after the news broke he slept with hundley. she started calling his wife in august-he ended the relationship. they say the 22-year-old also sent marni a letter graphically describing her sex life with phillips and his birthmarks. it determined his able to be an effective analyst was signif