Viola Davis Honored for Campaigning to End Childhood Hunger; Actress Recalls Crawling Through 'Garbage Bins With Maggots for Food' (VIDEO)
Academy award nominee Viola Davis recounted her humble beginnings at Variety's 2014 Power of Women Luncheon on Friday.
The "How To Get Away With Murder" actress, 49, was honored at the Beverly Hills luncheon for her work with the Hunger Is campaign, which seeks to end childhood hunger. During a powerful speech, she recalled growing up in "abject poverty" and at times eating from maggot-filled garbage bins.
"I didn't join the Hunger Is campaign to save the world. I set out to save myself. You know, they say that you're never too old to have a happy childhood," Davis told the crowd. "And although my childhood was filled with many happy memories, it was also spent in abject poverty. I was one of the 17 million kids in this country who didn't know where the next meal was coming from, and I did everything to get food."
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Davis, who won two Screen Actors Guild Awards for her role in the 2011 hit film "The Help," was raised in Central Falls, Rhode Island and was one of six children. She spoke about sacrificing her childhood for food.
"I've done everything to get food. I have stolen for food. I have jumped in huge garbage bins with maggots for food," she recalled. "I have befriended people in the neighborhood, who I knew had mothers who cooked three meals a day for food, and I sacrificed a childhood for food and grew up in immense shame."
In 2012 Davis was listed as one of Time magazine's most influential people in the world and today she is one of the most sought after actresses in Hollywood.
Since 2003 she has been married to actor Julius Tennon, who she "prayed to God" for before they had actually met, and they share an adopted daughter as well as two step children.
Despite achieving great success in Hollywood, Davis recently told Variety that it is her goal to leave an even greater legacy. She said that her difficult upbringing ultimately motivates her to "serve" others.
"I always say that the little girl who is hungry is always with me," she said. "I feel like why not use any kind of power I have to serve. There's a famous saying that 'to serve is to love.' I don't want my tombstone to just say I was a series regular and Oscar nominee."
The saying is a biblical quote taken from Galatians 5:13 which reads: "You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love."
