Viola Davis Shares the Heartbreaking Reason She Only Has One Photo From Her Childhood

Viola Davis is opening up about her childhood growing up hungry and extremely poor in Rhode Island.

“The only picture I have of my childhood is the picture of me in kindergarten,” the 51-year-old Oscar winner told People. “I have this expression on my face – it’s not a smile, it’s not a frown. I swear to you, that’s the girl who wakes up in the morning and who looks around her house and her life saying, ‘I cannot believe how God has blessed me.’”

Viola noted that her family could not afford to own a camera.

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

“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,” Viola continued.