Celebrities

It's Official! Jay-Z and Beyoncé Set to Attend the 2012 BET Awards Next

Tyler Perry Defends Kim Kardashian, Praises Bobbi Kristina

Still hopes Diana Ross will return his call.

By Evelyn Diaz

Posted: 06/28/2012 09:00 AM EDT

Filed Under Celebrity News, Kim Kardashian, Tyler Perry, Diana Ross

Tyler Perry seems to be spending a lot of his Madea's Witness Protection and Alex Cross publicity tours defending two of his other projects: upcoming film The Marriage Counselor and television series For Better or Worse.

The media titan is once again speaking out to explain his controversial choice to cast Kim Kardashian and Bobbi Kristina Brown in the two projects.

Perry calls Kardashian, who he cast in The Marriage Counselor just weeks after she filed for divorce after 72 days of marriage, "a good actress. She did a really good job.”

“There was a lot going on with her marriage and all that stuff at the time [of filming],” he goes on to say, by way of explanation. “All that stuff that’s in the past. The movie’s called The Marriage Counselor. Of course it had something to do with that.”

As for Whitney Houston's daughter, who Perry has taken a personal interest in since spending time with the 19-year-old at Houston's funeral, he has nothing but praise. “She did a fantastic job. That kid has such a future,” says Perry of Bobbi Kristina's stint on his TBS series For Better or Worse. “She’s such an actor. I’m so proud of her. I’m telling you. As far as she wants to go in this business, she can.”

He may have kickstarted the acting careers of both Kardashian and Brown, but Perry still can't get Diana Ross to answer his calls. “She’s been ignoring me for years. She’s the only person that I have dreamed of working with that will not return my phone calls,” he laments to Essence. Perry has spoken numerous times about a secret project he had been writing specifically for Ross, but doesn't seem to be holding his breath for a green light. "She said, 'No!' And that was it.”

Next on Perry's call list is Eddie Murphy, who Perry calls "underrated and very brilliant." As for working together, Perry says, “I'm totally open to [collaborating], but that would definitely depend on Mr. Murphy.”

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