Subscribe
NewsOne Featured Video
CLOSE

Six construction companies have filed liens against actor-screenwriter Tyler Perry’s home and movie studio, claiming they are owed thousands of dollars in unpaid bills.

Fulton County court documents show the companies claim they are owed nearly $200,000 for work on Perry’s 30,000-square-foot home and production studio in Atlanta.

Perry told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he withheld payment from the companies for undocumented charges or sloppy work. He told the newspaper he is being treated unfairly because he is a celebrity.

“There’s a Tyler Perry tax put on things,” he said.

“I’m not sympathetic to anybody who’s trying to rip me off,” he added. “Just because I’m a Christian, just because I’m a nice guy, it doesn’t mean I’m a wimp.”

A publicist for Perry did not immediately return calls for comment Monday from The Associated Press.

One company, Multistone Commercial Services, Inc., claims Perry owes $93,000 for stone and tile surfaces installed outside his mansion on the Chattahoochee River in northwestern Atlanta. Carolina Lumber & Supply Co. claims Perry owes nearly $12,000 for work done on his multimillion-dollar TV and film studio, which opened in southwestern Atlanta in October with a star-studded gala.

Officials with the companies that have filed liens say Perry should pay for the services he was provided.

“He wanted to do it his way,” said Brooks Hilton, a contract landscaper who claims Perry owes him $17,000. “He wouldn’t take any advice. I guess in Hollywood it works that way, but not in real life.”

Perry, 39, is best known for his blockbuster first movie, “Diary of a Mad Black Woman” and its several spinoff sequels and hit TV show “Tyler Perry’s House of Payne.”