"How to Get Away with Murder" star Viola Davis has publicly opened about her second-hand experience with sexual assault.
In a speech made last month in support of the Stuart House, the actress revealed that her sister was molested when she was eight years of age. She recounted the incident while being affected clearly, fans say. A full trascript was published by Popsugar.
"I have a sister, who, when she was 8 years old, put on some rollerskates with her friend, went down to the corner store at 1 o'clock in the afternoon, went into the store, and was sexually assaulted in the store," The actress initialized. "She came home and she told my mom. My mom ran down to the store, started screaming at the store owners and they said: 'Leave that man alone. He does that to all the little girls.' And then my mom proceeded to flag down a police officer. They found the man. They put him in the car. I saw my little sister crying. My mom was crying, too. And that was it."
"And then from there, a precocious, very intelligent, very creative child grew up to be frail, angry, a drug addict by the time she was 20," Viola Davis continued about the sexual assault her sister experienced first hand, this time visibly cracking. "Six children, all of which have been taken by social services. A prostitute. An IV drug user. You know, memories demand attention, because memories have teeth."
"And in my vision, and in my dreams, when I pray for my sister . . . you pray in general terms," she further added. "You pray that she finds peace and love and happiness, she gets off drugs. And then of course you open your eyes, and you're like, she's still on the streets."
Towards the end of her speech, the actress talked about how the Stuart House would have helped her sister had it been formed then.
"There are a lot of beautiful stories that are going to come out of the Stuart House . . . there's going to be so many testimonies of winning and heroic young people literally opening their mouths and speaking about their abuse - daring to call out their abusers," she said. "And I guess if there was anything I was going to speak about today, I'm going to speak about my sisters of the world. The people who fell through the cracks. The people who didn't have a Stuart House."
Since then, news about Viola Davis' sexual assault story has been reaching the top headlines on the internet.
