Finding Me: The Grammy-winning memoir

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Viola Davis Just Got A Star On The Hollywood Walk Of Fame". The Huffington Post. December 21, 2016. Archived from the original on December 22, 2016 . Retrieved December 27, 2020. As I wrote Finding Me, my eyes were open to the truth of how our stories are often not given close examination. They are bogarted, reinvented to fit into a crazy, competitive, judgmental world. So I wrote this for anyone who is searching for a way to understand and overcome a complicated past, let go of shame, and find acceptance. For anyone who needs reminding that a life worth living can only be born from radical honesty and the courage to shed facades and be...you.

So my “Portuguese” classmate and eight or nine white boys in my class made it their daily, end-of-school ritual to chase me like dogs hunting prey. When that end-of-school bell rang, it was off to the races, running literally to save my life. For the gang of boys, it was sadistic-fun time. Every day it was the same madness. The same trauma. Me, taking off like Wilma Rudolph or Flo-Jo, and them tight on my heels. The question still echoes, how did I claw my way out? There is no out. Every painful memory, every mentor, every friend and foe served as a chisel, a leap pad that has shaped “ME!” The imperfect but blessed sculpture that is Viola i Fences Stars Viola Davis & Denzel Washington Win 2010 Tony Awards". broadway.com. June 13, 2010. Archived from the original on August 21, 2012 . Retrieved July 8, 2012.She bravely shares so much. She wants to connect and communicate to the reader what’s it’s like to come from poverty, to live in fear, to fight for your life. She wants you to understand that even winning this fight is not enough, because what matters most is coming to terms with all you’ve been through to experience true freedom. She encourages us to face what is to heal, and takes us through what she had to face. She believes in change, saw it with her own eyes in her father. She does not color rose over childhood glasses — she saw her daddy’s drunken beatings of her mom to within an inch of her life — yet, she can love the man he becomes without punishing him for his past.

Gonzales, Erica (February 27, 2017). "Viola Davis Grew Up in Poverty and Rat-Infested Apartments—Now She Has an Oscar". Harper's Bazaar. Archived from the original on February 28, 2017 . Retrieved February 27, 2017. It’s no accident that Time Magazine named Viola Davis one of the 100 most influential people in the world.Career-wise, after Viola got a role in the 1998 HBO movie 'The Pentagon Wars', there was a domino effect, and more television work came along. Still, many roles eluded Viola because, in her words, she wasn't "pretty enough." After listening to Finding Me, I also love her as a person. I’m also a survivor of a terrible childhood. I was being catapulted into adulthood. Coming from a childhood of trauma, I needed a radical transformation. I hadn’t been taught how to navigate the world. I hadn’t been taught what could help me grow or live better. I’d been taught to run from the world. I’d been taught how to hide and fight. I hadn’t been taught how to love and be still.”

Rourke, Bryan (February 22, 2009). "Viola Davis' path from poverty in Central Falls to Hollywood glamour". The Providence Journal. Archived from the original on February 27, 2009. Nothing I experienced can even glimpse a moment in the Davis family life of poverty so extreme that it is almost unfathomable, of abuse, fear, guilt, and things I can't even put words to. To have gotten away in any semblance of life and still be so strong, put so much of herself into others, and be so caring and kind. I can't do this justice. You have to hear it in Viola's words. This must be one of the most straightforward and brutally honest memoirs I have had the pleasure of reading. Viola’s childhood was tough- and it wasn’t just that her family was poor- but that she lived in a home where substance abuse and violence prevailed.Blowout: Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia, and the Richest, Most Destructive Industry on Earth – Rachel Maddow (2020) Tristram Fane Saunders (February 13, 2017). "Bafta winners 2017, full list: victory for La La Land and I, Daniel Blake". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on February 15, 2017 . Retrieved February 27, 2017. Performer of the Week: Viola Davis". TVLine. March 3, 2018. Archived from the original on August 22, 2023 . Retrieved March 4, 2018. By Any Means Necessary: The Trials and Tribulations of the Making of 'Malcolm X – Spike Lee and Ralph Wiley (1993)

But thinking about it from the perspective of the entire universe, distilling the novel to its aching soul, it could be the story of many other women, women who still need to make peace with their past, women who struggle to put an end to the abusive streak they're enduring. Women who need to justify their choices and hopes. Women who forgot how to be without bruises and cuts.

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TIME '100 Most Influential People': Kristen Wiig, Viola Davis And Other Actors Honored". moviefone. April 18, 2012. Archived from the original on April 22, 2012 . Retrieved July 8, 2012. Boroff, Philip (June 14, 2010). "Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, 'Memphis,' Win Top Tony Awards". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on May 7, 2013 . Retrieved July 8, 2012. SAG Awards 2012: Complete list of winners". New York Daily News. Associated Press. January 30, 2012. Archived from the original on February 1, 2012. One day after a snowstorm the snow was piled so high in the streets anyone could hide behind the giant mounds that seemed to be everywhere. My shoes had huge holes on the bottoms, which meant I couldn’t run fast in them because they would make my feet hurt worse than they did already. Because of this, during my daily runs for my life, I would usually take my shoes off, hold them in my hands, and run in bare feet. But with mountains of snow everywhere, I couldn’t this time.