Medium has a message: Be skeptical
Tyler Henry says he talks to the dead, but don't take his word for it
Celebrity medium Tyler Henry is OK with people being skeptical about his abilities.
Even the late talk show host Larry King took a playful jab at Henry when he appeared on “Larry King Now.” Henry said he had accidentally walked in on King using the restroom while on set, startling both, and he recalls King saying, “You're supposed to be psychic — didn't you know I was there?”
That's not exactly how it all works, Henry explained.
“It's such a funny story and will forever be burned in my mind,” he said of the moment during a recent phone interview.
“It's important to be true to who you are, and I'm no stranger to people not liking me for one reason or another,” Henry said. “I dealt with it in having to come out of the closet and being gay and growing up in a small, conservative town. As a medium, I encourage skepticism. I encourage critical thinking. That's how we learn new things.”
Henry shares stories like this one in his new book, “Here & Hereafter: How Wisdom From the Departed Can Transform Your Life Now.”
He was thrust into the spotlight at just 19 years old when he landed his own E! television series, “Hollywood Medium With Tyler Henry,” which began airing in 2016. The show's premise was to display Henry's psychic abilities, featuring him meeting celebrities such as Jim Parsons, RuPaul, Rebel Wilson, Khloé Kardashian and Kris Jenner to connect them with loved ones on the other side.
The same year Henry got
the TV gig, he published his first memoir, “Between Two Worlds: Lessons From the Other Side,” which chronicled his life growing up in Hanford, how he began to notice his abilities at age 10 and his rise to fame.
Now 26, Henry resides in the Hollywood Hills with his boyfriend, Clint, and has a new series, “Life After Death With Tyler Henry,” which debuted on Netflix in March. He's also promoting
his new book.
“I wrote the first book when I was 19 and I was still a teenager and it was called a memoir, so I always kind of joked, like, `Well I'm 19, how much of a memoir can you really write at 19?' ” he said. “With the second book, I've just learned and I've had more life experience. I still have a long way to go, but I tried to make the book something of an update to share where I'm
at now, not only in my beliefs but in my questions. I hope people's takeaway from it is just coming up with thought-provoking questions to ask oneself and maybe how to live life a little better.”
In the book, Henry discusses some of the lessons he's learned from the thousands of conversations he said he's had with the deceased, as well as how he's tuned more into his own intuition, how regularly practicing meditation has been helpful, and how paying attention to things that seem to be coincidences may ultimately be messages from the universe.
“Intuition is something everybody has, but it requires a degree of mindfulness to be recognized,” he said. “I think we get distracted by the beeps and buzzes of our phones and with our busy schedules. It can be difficult to really get a sense of that kind of inner voice. Intuition is a subtractive process, not an additive one. So it's more about subtracting the things that prevent you from connecting to your intuition and to be able to create time in your day to think intuitively. It's a great inner guide.”
Since he's also endured some very public scrutiny, he also believes that too often people conflate cynicism with skepticism.
“I find that, anecdotally, the experiences people have in readings are so validating and so personal that for them, that's their proof,” he said. “As long as I'm giving that to the people I'm reading for, that's all that really matters.”
Since starring on “Hollywood Medium,” Henry has received thousands of requests for readings. He began to do live shows and tour in an effort to connect with as many people as possible. Before COVID-19 shut down live events in early 2020, he was on the road and about to go out in front of an audience when he noticed his breathing had become labored, which turned out to be a collapsed lung.
Following a stint in the hospital, Henry used his recovery time to focus on the book and develop an appreciation for meeting his clients through virtual means. Video and audio technology don't cause much interference when it comes to communicating with those who have crossed over, he said.
“It does vary, and it depends on the strength of the connection, but if anything sometimes it's easier to tune in when I'm a distance away from someone,” he said. “I'm not distracted by their physical presence, so I've found that it can actually be more helpful.”
While he'll continue to do some readings virtually, he's back out doing inperson events. He has appearances at City National Grove of Anaheim on Dec. 1 and 2.
“To be in front of a live audience, there's nothing like it,” he said. “Every audience is different. When I do these shows, it can range from 2,000 people to 5,000 people and, of course, I can't read everybody. The whole audience wants to hear from their specific person, and as some of the readings happen, everyone starts to kind of put that to the side and they're just following this journey of readings as they're occurring and we're all watching. By the end of it, people make friends at my events and it's just really fascinating to see the sense of community that comes from it.”