Viola Davis Opens Up About How Her Childhood Poverty, Says It Helped Her Not Take Life for Granted

Viola Davis has just won an Oscar, and now she’s opening up about her growing up in poverty.

The 51-year-old Fences star opened up to People Magazine where she said that she and her family struggled with hunger, terrible housing conditions, and racists remarks from bullies.

PHOTOS: Check out the latest pics of Viola Davis

“I was the kind of poor where I knew right away I had less than everyone around me,” Viola said. “Our environment, our physical space reflected our income.” At home, “the boards were coming off the walls,” she says, and the family endured “shoddy plumbing and no phone and no food and rats and all of that. That very much was visible to me.”

Despite her upbringing, Viola says that growing up poor helped motivate her to want to give herself a better life.

“It became motivation as opposed to something else – the thing about poverty is that it starts affecting your mind and your spirit because people don’t see you,” Viola said. “I chose from a very young age that I didn’t want that for my life. And it very much has helped me appreciate and value the things that are in my life now because I never had it. A yard, a house, great plumbing, a full refrigerator, things that people take for granted, I don’t.”

Also pictured inside: Viola Davis grabbing lunch to go on Wednesday (March 1) in Los Angeles.

FYI: Viola is wearing a Smythe blazer.