'Beauty In Black' star Terrell Carter opens up about being born to an 11-year-old mother

"Beauty In Black" actor, Terrell Carter is opening up about a childhood so traumatic he says it "sounds like a movie script."

In a raw interview with host Brandi Harvey of "Vault Empowers", the actor and singer detailed the shocking circumstances of his birth and the family secrets that shaped his life.

Carter revealed that his mother was a child herself, only 11-years-old, when she gave birth to him. She lived with significant physical and cognitive challenges, which made her vulnerable to abuse.

"She was 11-years-old when she had me. She was special needs, one leg amputated at birth. She never had all of her organs, never fully developed. And she was molested by my dad who was in the same family and he was 26." 

Because of her health issues and the era’s lack of medical awareness, the pregnancy went unnoticed until she was nearly in labour.

"My mom was heavy. Black family then especially, no one went to therapy or (knew about) ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) and all of that stuff, you was just taken care of by the family and anything that happened in the house stayed in the house, so she was just taken care of by the family, and she was heavy because of the medication and so they thought she had a tumour. When they took her in and did all the x-rays then they found out she was eight months pregnant with me. 

Carter’s father was a 26 year old relative who took advantage of his mother’s mental state. Carter explains that his mother’s cognitive disabilities made the situation even more tragic. 

"They didn't know who my father was well after I was born. They were still so blown away that an 11 year old, one-legged, mentally challenged girl, could have a baby. So they were stuck on that ... She was so easy to be taken advantage of, and when you are always 3, 4, 5 mental capacity, anything was love and attention to her ... I look just like my father, identical to my dad," he said.

He shared that because of his mother's age and cognitive state, she was not equipped to raise a child, and he was primarily raised by his grandmother.

Carter met his father when he was 16, but the reunion was short-lived. After his father used their first conversation to vent about hating Carter's grandmother, the actor walked away for good.

"I had an encounter with my father when I was 16, and I didn't know he had cancer at the time. I was excited to think that this man now wants to have a relationship with me ... I knew he had married a woman with five children so that bothered me a little bit, but then I thought about it, we are all different people, we all have our shortcomings, and if he hadn't done it, I wouldn't be here.

"However, when I found out he had cancer, and the first conversation he had with me, was about my grandmother and how he hated her ... I remember walking upstairs and thinking, 'I will never see this man again'. I just took my little bag, walked out the door. That was the last time I spoke to him."

About his career, he shared that playing the character Attorney Varney in Tyler Perry’s "Beauty in Black" allowed him to tap into the darker, more complex emotions rooted in his real-life family history.

Because of the trauma and the weight of his family history, Carter shared that he does not want to be a father, choosing instead to focus on his own healing and legacy.

Watch the full interview below.