Viola Davis Reveals Just How Poor She Grew Up: ‘I've Jumped In Huge Garbage Bins With Maggots For Food'

This is heartbreaking to hear!
Oscar-nominated actress Viola Davis has been candid about the poverty she grew up in, and she revealed some even sadder info at Variety‘s Power of Women luncheon last Friday.
When honored for her humanitarian work with Hunger Is, Miz Davis gave a tear-jerking speech, saying:

“I didn’t join the Hunger Is campaign to save the world. I didn’t. I set out to save myself. You know, they say that you’re never too old to have a happy childhood 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. I’ve stolen the food, I’ve jumped in huge garbage bins with maggots for food, 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.”

That is so sad!
[ Photos: Celebs Wearing Green! ]
Our hearts go out to Miz Davis, and anyone else who is wondering where their next meal will come from. That’s something that no child should have to worry about.
We are so glad Viola found her way out — but many people can’t. Any help for kids going through lives like this is amazing.
[Image via WENN.]