Actress Viola Davis and her sisters were sexually abused by their brother when they were young.
On April 26, 2022, Davis published the book Finding Me: A Memoir. In her book, she describes her traumatic childhood, which was filled with poverty, abuse, and heartbreak.
Davis revealed that she saw her father regularly abuse and cheat on her mother. She mentioned in the book that her father used to have multiple affairs that he did not attempt to conceal, and she vividly recalled meeting one of his mistresses, a large woman named Patricia.
After witnessing her father’s behavior toward her mother, she and her siblings hoped he would leave, but her mother refused. Just like her father, Davis’s brother also had an abusive personality.
Davis revealed in the book that her brother used to abuse her when she was a child. She used to be left alone in the family apartment with her three older sisters, Deloris, Anita, and Dianne. At that time, their brother used to sexually abuse them.
The actress wrote, “He would chase us. We would lose. And eventually, other inappropriate behavior occurred that had a profound effect. I compartmentalized much of this at the time.”
She continued, “I stored it in a place in my psyche that felt safely hidden. By hiding it I could pretend it didn’t happen. But it did! Once again more secrets. Layers upon layers of deep, dark ones. Trauma, piss, and mortar mixed with memories that have been filtered, edited for survival, and entangled with generational secrets. Somewhere buried underneath all that waste lives me, me fighting to breathe, me wanting so badly to feel alive.”
Following her brother’s sexually abusive behavior towards her and her sister, they were not at ease. The actress used to believe that she was being made fun of, not the man who made her uncomfortable. She mentioned, “I was just eight but felt dirty, spoiled. Even more insidiously painful, I was ashamed at how I felt, not just what happened.”
Davis recalled all of the abuse she and her sisters had experienced and wrote that there was no such thing as sexual abuse back then. The abusers were referred to as dirty old men, and the victims were referred to as fast or heifers. She believes victim blaming and shaming are still prevalent today.
Viola Davis’s early life
Davis was born into a low-income family, so she was unable to attend prestigious universities. However, the actress and her sisters loved school when they were growing up in Central Falls, Rhode Island. While they had been taught the importance of higher education, they had no idea how to obtain it.
Later, when a Central Falls High School guidance counselor informed eldest sister Dianne about the federally funded Upward Bound college access and preparation program, they hoped to receive financial assistance for their education.
Davis and her sister then took advantage of two federally funded TRIO programs, Upward Bound and Student Support Services. They greatly benefited from the program, which was designed to assist low-income and first-generation college students.
