Tyler Perry has a good story to tell at dinner parties.
The Acrimony director had a bidding war against Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s 6-year-old daughter, Blue Ivy, at a charity auction.
“There was an acrylic painting of Sidney Poitier that I started bidding on and I heard someone else was bidding against me and I didn’t know who it was,” Perry, 48, told Today’s Hoda Kotb on Thursday, March 22. Perry looked over and sitting with her famous parents was Blue Ivy.
“She’s taking a paddle out of Jay’s hand and Beyoncé’s hand and she’s bidding,” the Madea actor cracked. “I’m like, ‘This kid’s not outbidding me today.’ I got the painting. I could not be outbid by a 6-year-old.”
During Perry’s Monday appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! he revealed that the bidding got up to $19,000 at the March 17 Wearable Art Gala fundraiser.
“I’m thinking it’s charity, it’s a good cause and I’m not letting this kid taking this painting from me. I’m gonna teach now little girl! You’re not gonna get everything you want!” he joked of his thought process. His determination paid off: Perry took home the coveted piece for a cool $20,000.
But the little girl didn’t leave the event empty-handed. She went home with a $10,000 Samuel Levi Jones work made from deconstructed law and medical books, per artnet.com. According to the outlet, auctioneer Star Jones explained to the crowd that Blue Ivy’s “mother and father have been talking about how you gather art and that is a big deal for African Americans.”
