Viola Davis Talks Forgiving Her Abusive Father: ‘It’s Reconciling That Young Girl In Me’

Viola Davis continues to share her traumatic story.

The Oscar-winning actress tells People about her new memoir Finding Me, a detailed chronicle of her journey out of poverty, during which she and her five siblings dumpster-dived for food.

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The “First Lady” star, 56, also opens up about witnessing the physical and emotional abuse endured by her mother Mae Alice at the hands of her alcoholic father Dan.

“Everything I’ve experienced is what connects me to the world,” Davis says. “It’s given me an extraordinary sense of compassion. It’s reconciling that young girl in me and healing from the past – and finding home.”

Part of that healing began with Davis’s choice to forgive her father, as did her mother, before he died of pancreatic cancer in 2006.

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“My dad changed,” Davis explains. “I wanted to love my dad. And here’s the thing: My dad loved me. I saw it. I felt it. I received it, and I took it. For me, that’s a much better gift and less of a burden than going through my entire life carrying that big, heavy weight of who he used to be and what he used to do. That’s my choice. That’s my legacy: forgiving my dad.”

Davis adds that life is “messy” and instead of being angry, she owns everything that’s happened to her.

“It’s a part of who I am.”

Finding Me is set for release on April 26.