Tyler Perry’s son’s mother and ex-girlfriend, Gelila Bekele, is directing his new documentary Maxine’s Baby: The Tyler Perry Story. The upcoming documentary, titled after Perry’s late mother, drops on Amazon Prime Video on November 17, 2023.
According to Today, Bekele, an activist and model, is bringing the actor and acclaimed director’s life to the big screen. The former couple share a nine-year-old son Aman and dated for a long time before they split in 2020.
In an interview with the outlet, Bekele stated that she wanted to make this film with co-director Armani Ortiz to “capture the full story.” Meanwhile, Perry claimed that he had no creative control over this documentary, per CBS News.
Everything to know about Gelila Bekele, Tyler Perry’s son’s mother and ex-girlfriend
Gelila Bekele, who dated Tyler Perry for a decade and now co-parents a son with him, also serves as a director in his upcoming documentary. Per People Magazine, Perry and Bekele, a model and activist, started dating after meeting at a Prince concert in 2007. They had a son, Aman Tyler, in December 2014, and split six years later, in 2020. As per sources, the duo “amicably split some time ago and remain close friends” and “Their focus is on being the best parents they can for their son.”
Today reported that Bekele was once signed with Ford Model Management, per her official website. It also stated that her modeling career began after college when she settled in New York City. She even traveled across the globe until 2013 when her life behind the camera, as a director, took off.
Reportedly, the mother-of-one once spoke to Tadias Magazine about her career as a model, “You grow up so quickly. You’re traveling from one place to another and you’re learning languages you never knew, cultures, you’re away from family so you grow up and you learn and It’s one of those situations where you say to yourself, I haven’t changed, but I’m not the same. So it opens your eyes to so many amazing things.”
The outlet reported that Bekele, who is also an author, published a photography book, titled Guzo, in 2016. She claimed to have come up with the idea of Guzo, which means journey in English, while traveling to the rural areas of Ethiopia in 2007. She also explained that “the project took shape while filming a documentary about Ethiopia’s water crisis with an all-female film crew.”
Furthermore, her career as a documentary filmmaker took off in 2013. She then released a 6-minute documentary clip, The Model Activists, featuring 10 models talking about helping those in need in 2017. She released two more projects, “MAi: Life is not Honey” and “Anbessa”, in 2019. Both these works debuted at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival.
Today further reported that Bekele is also a humanitarian and has taken her activism to new levels. She started supporting a nonprofit organization called Charity: Water. This organization “brings clean and safe water to people around the world.”
Lastly, the 37-year-old is also a single and proud mother of her and Perry’s son. She spoke about co-parenting and their life after the split, saying, “We’re a family and [Tyler Perry] he’s an incredible father.”
Maxine’s Baby: The Tyler Perry Story, directed by Gelila Bekele and Armani Ortiz, premieres on November 17, 2023.
