How to Get Away With Murder actress Viola Davis spoke about the tribulations of being a Black woman in the entertainment industry.
In an interview with People, Davis said she felt she constantly needed to negotiate her worth since her acting career started. Eventually, she learned to see her self-worth.
“You always feel like you’re hustling for your worth, as a woman and as a Black woman,” she told People. “After a while, when you get beaten down so many times, there is something that happens that you have a God divine moment [of] seeing yourself and who you actually want to be.”
“And you make a choice: You want to live, you want hope, you want to be that sort of ideal self, or are you going to embrace the person that you don’t want to be? And I chose to embrace the hopeful Viola, the Viola that was a survivor. It just happened, but it came through a lot of bruises.”
She added, “I don’t hustle anymore. And it has nothing to do with my age and how long I’ve been in the business. It’s a realization. It’s a self-actualization that worth is nothing to be negotiated with. I was born worthy.”
Davis, who portrayed Deloris Johnson, Michael Jordan’s mom, in Air, also addressed the lack of roles available for Black women over 50, comparing it to a “vast desert.” However, she noticed that women, especially Black women, aren’t asking to be included or for a seat at the table, but they’re creating opportunities for themselves.
“Women are no longer begging for a seat at the table, they’re creating their own. Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Kerry Washington, Issa Rae, Michaela Coel, Halle Berry, Keke Palmer, we can keep going on and on — even Marsai Martin, who is what, 18? They’re empowering themselves by understanding that they’re the change that they want to see.”
