Fictional Character History
Madea was born in New Orleans, Louisiana on April 26, 1935. According to Don't Make a Black Woman Take Off Her Earrings: Madea's Uninhibited Commentaries on Love and Life, she had several brothers, two of whom are Frederick (in the book), Joe (who appears in the movies) and an illegitimate brother named Willie Humphrey, to whom she was briefly married.
In Madea's Family Reunion, she had a sister, named Irene, who is dead. Also in the book, she gives details of her mother, "Big Mabel" Murphy, who was also "unusually large". "Big Mable" is described as being very gentle and mild-mannered, a very kind and peaceful woman with a long but dangerous fuse. According to Madea in "Madea's Family Christmas", "Big Mabel" was a hooker during Madea's childhood and not religious. Madea did not grow up with knowledge of Christianity.
When she was 16, Madea's family moved to Atlanta, Georgia, into a shotgun house. She attended Booker T. Washington High School where she was a cheerleader. She mentions in Don't Make a Black Woman Take Off Her Earrings: Madea's Uninhibited Commentaries on Love and Life that her mother and daddy would not let her go out until she was seventeen or eighteen.
Madea's difficult background is seen in the film Madea Goes to Jail (aka Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail, 2009), where it is revealed that Madea raised/supported her children by stripping, poledancing, and professional wrestling, among other things. She is also stated to have a lifelong criminal record, beginning at age 9 with a charge of petty theft, progressing to illegal gambling at age 18, check fraud, identity theft, insurance fraud (presumably related to her 9 deceased husbands), assault and attempted murder, vehicle theft, smashing into other vehicles on roads (as she did to the Cadillac CTS in Madea Goes to Jail), and forklifting vehicles out of parking spaces (such as what she had done to the Pontiac Solstice in Madea Goes to Jail). The film also revealed that Madea has not had a driver's license for 38 years, although a suspended Georgia driver's license issued to "Simmons, Madea" is clearly shown onscreen. Her brother Joe (also played by Perry) calls her a "po-po ho", meaning someone who is a professional at running from the police. In Diary of a Mad Black Woman, she was charged with criminal trespassing, reckless endangerment, criminal possession of a handgun, assault with a deadly weapon, suspended license, expired registration, reckless driving, and a broken taillight upon entering the court with her granddaughter Helen McCarter. She is shown to have different tolerances and her actions depicted vary frequently; from mild (angry phone calls, especially with Cora) to severe (knocking down vehicles whose driver cut her off)
Read more about this topic: Mabel Simmons
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