Viola Davis recalled being a teacher who was the “face of compassion and empathy” in her youth, at a time when the actress felt ashamed and embarrassed by others for her lack of family.
At the time Oprah + Viola: Netflix Special EventThe Oscar winner spoke about the various hardships he faced as a child, which led to his family living in precarious conditions, including a house with sick rats and no utilities like gas or electricity. Davis admitted that he knew he was poor as a child, describing a house where “the plaster was falling off the walls and I was always hungry”.
Davis’ hygiene also became a painful source of insight into her own circumstances, telling Oprah Winfrey, including one day that she and her sister, Delors, were called to the school office because of their “smell.” “. “. What to do. “
“I think people automatically think you’re just cleaning up. “Not unless someone shows you,” he explained. “We often didn’t have soap. We often didn’t even have clean clothes.”
The actor went on to explain that his family washes their clothes by hand, but that means they have to hang them outside, where frost can build up due to the cold, or inside, where they don’t always dry completely.
“The next day, if they’re not dry, they’re wet, but if you’re not clean, put on wet clothes,” recalls Davis. “People don’t realize that if nobody shows you, you have to find out for yourself, and I didn’t have the tools to find out independently. So I was embarrassed that I didn’t have the tools to figure it out myself. “What he had, what he could do, was swim in shame.”
At one point in particular, when the family was living without gas or electricity during the Rhode Island winter, a TV and movie star said he and his family left their home and were spotted by one of the school’s teachers. As she approached, she asked Davis’ mother why she didn’t go to school, whereupon her mother explained the extent of her difficulties, including frozen pipes and hunger.
“There were tears in his eyes, and he touched our faces and said, ‘I’m sorry, Ms. Davis. I’m sorry. Let us know what we can do for you first woman Said the star.
This support was followed by a phone call to Davis’ office and for her “a suitcase full of the most beautiful clothes her daughter gave her”, an act of generosity that is like giving her “jewels”.
“When you face compassion and empathy, it’s amazing how shame kills,” Davis said. “Because you see and see something more valuable than your circumstances.”
The Special sees Davis speak openly with Oprah about other elements of her childhood that she describes in her memoir. meet meincluding the abusive alcoholic’s upbringing with his father and sexual assault in his home. In a conversation with the latter, the SAG winner and Tony touched on a culture of how girls were accidentally assaulted, abused, and even sexually abused.
“You know? Isn’t he the dirty old man on the street who wanted to give you a coin but then wanted to kiss you?” “Nobody knows what the limits of girls are, especially back then,” Davis said. So if the guy said, ‘Give me a kiss,’ somebody said, ‘Oh, kiss him.’ 👉 No problem. ‘ Or someone will leave you with a babysitter, because that babysitter is a family friend, then the parents come out and leave you alone.”
Davis added: “They don’t think about it. “We didn’t have social media that day where people were talking about statistics about how many girls were abused.”
Early in their discussion, Davis discussed why she chose to speak on these topics and in more memoirs, as well as the things that led up to her decision to write a book. It was a choice that was “aggravated” by the pandemic, but based on its “maximum blow”. It was a moment when he felt he knew the meaning of her life. Instead, he had a feeling of tiredness, liars were coming into his life when it came to friendship, people were pushing his limits, and people felt like he was a commodity.
“I knew it wasn’t like that,” he recalls of his career. So the question is, “Viola, what is The? What is the main thing for you and how do you understand it? I didn’t know the answer to that. The only thing I could think about was going back to the beginning of my story, because I think once and for all you tell your story, you start listening to it and you start thinking, ‘Okay, how did I get here? ? ‘
Source: Hollywood Reporter
Camila Luna is a writer at Gossipify, where she covers the latest movies and television series. With a passion for all things entertainment, Camila brings her unique perspective to her writing and offers readers an inside look at the industry. Camila is a graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a degree in English and is also a avid movie watcher.
