Tyrese Gibson Says He's 'Actually Okay' Following Public Meltdown on Social Media
Hours after Tyrese Gibson shared an emotional post on Facebook amid a contentious custody battle for his only child, 10-year-old Shayla, he shared another video on Instagram assuring fans he was doing well.
“Contrary to what some of y’all may believe, I’m actually okay,” the actor, 39, said in the second video shared Wednesday evening. “And I’m not putting this up to calm people down. If people are having conversations about what’s going on in my personal life… my private life has always been private. Do your research. Anybody who’s ever been in my life will tell you, I’ve never seen him cry that way, I’ve never seen him have a meltdown.”
He continued, “I’m not a singer, I’m not an actor, I’m not a producer, I’m not a writer, I’m not a celebrity. I’m a father. Okay? I’m a father, it’s a universal thing. So please, ladies, I love y’all. Our angels wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for y’all. But this is not about men vs. women. This is men vs. liars.”
Gibson showed a pair of Chuck Taylor All-Stars shows and a box of Cohiba cigars saying, “So, this is my silent protest. Because when you in the hood, you go from Chucks and when you become successful as a black man, you start using the real s—, the Cohibas.”
The Fast and Furious actor took to Facebook earlier on Wednesday to release an almost seven-minute long video in which he starts out talking about his feud with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and then starts addressing his ex-wife, Norma Mitchell Gibson. Wearing a “Shayla Rocks” sweatshirt, Gibson shows it off before he starts openly crying.
“Don’t take my baby. This is all I got. Don’t take my baby, okay?” Gibson says in the video as he starts sobbing. “I’ve been away from my baby for two months. I just want my baby and no one’s listening cause no one’s in the courtroom.”
The actor continues to cry and pace around the room before he starts talking directly to Norma again.
“I’m at $13,000 a month, what more do you want from me?” Gibson says loudly as he starts crying again. “I don’t hate you Norma. I don’t know why you hate me, but I don’t hate you. But you just can’t wake up on September 11th and accuse me of something I didn’t do!”
In court documents, Norma accused Gibson of abusing their daughter on Aug. 19, alleging the actor “pushed our daughter to the ground, pinned her face down, put his knees on her back, grabbed her hands with one arm and beat her with the other.”
Norma — who was wed to Gibson from 2007 to 2009 — alleged her ex hit Shayla “between 12 and 16 times,” leading the child to allegedly later tell her mother that she couldn’t sit down due to pain and saying, “Mum, Dad beat me so hard that it hurts when I sit down.”
Gibson previously told PEOPLE in a statement that Norma’s allegations were “hurtful lies.”