Tyler Perry gives displaced 81-year-old another $25K for home repairs: 'Touches my heart'

MARKHAM, Ill. - An 81-year-old south suburban woman who has been displaced from her home for seven months is getting even more help from Tyler Perry, as Allstate takes another look at the insurance claim it previously denied.

Brenda Daurham says she has never met or even spoken to the filmmaker, actor and media mogul. But after Perry learned about her situation, he first stepped in to pay off a mechanic’s lien of nearly $18,000 that had been placed on her longtime home.

Now, Perry has given Daurham another $25,000 to help make additional repairs — bringing his total assistance to nearly $43,000.

"He had a wonderful mother… to teach him to be so giving," Daurham said. "It touches my heart to think of how caring he is as a human being."

"I know he’s busy, but I want him to know how I feel," she added.

A pipe rupture, a denied claim and months away from home

The backstory:

Daurham’s ordeal began after a pipe ruptured under her kitchen sink while she was away from home.

When she returned, she found water had spread throughout the three-bedroom house she has owned since the 1990s.

Daurham says she immediately contacted Allstate and initially believed the damage would be covered.

"They said everything was covered," Daurham previously told FOX Chicago.

But Allstate ultimately denied her claim, citing wear and tear, deterioration and seepage.

A restoration company had already performed water-mitigation work at the property. After the insurance claim was denied, Daurham was left facing the cost, and a mechanic’s lien of nearly $18,000 was placed on her home.

That’s when Perry stepped in.

He paid off the lien, and his latest $25,000 gift is intended to help Daurham make additional repairs needed to get her home back in order.

Allstate takes another look

Following FOX Chicago’s reporting on Daurham’s case, Allstate sent an inspector back to her home to take another look at the damage and determine whether its original denial should stand.

Daurham said two people arrived at the property.

"They went through the house, one of them did. The other one was a detective," she said.

Daurham later learned the second person was there for security — something she managed to joke about despite the seriousness of her situation.

"They must have thought Tyler Perry was going to be here," she said. "Who was it to secure them from?"

Allstate says a final decision on Daurham’s claim could take up to two weeks.

For Daurham, that means more waiting.

She has been unable to live in her home for seven months and has been staying with her only daughter, Bria. Daurham says she paid her Allstate premiums on time month after month, believing her home would be protected if she ever needed to file a claim.

Now she is hoping the latest inspection will finally lead to a different outcome.

"Just waiting and imagining how it’s going to look," she said.

‘It just fills me up’

Whatever Allstate ultimately decides, Daurham says Perry’s generosity has already changed her circumstances.

Nearly $43,000 has come from a man she has never met or spoken with but whose work she has admired for years.

For Daurham, the unexpected kindness also feels like a full-circle moment. She remembers the years she spent helping others, including work she did in nursing homes.

"I used to do the nursing homes… I did a lot," Daurham said. "And it just fills me up to think of how good God is."

After seven months of water damage, displacement and uncertainty, Daurham is still waiting to learn whether Allstate will reverse its decision.

But thanks to Perry, she now has additional help toward what she has wanted all along — getting back into the home she has loved for decades.

MarkhamNews