Viola Davis Facebook Stalks Her Childhood Bullies in Hopes They’re Living Miserable Lives
Viola Davis isn’t above a little Facebook stalking.
The Emmy-winning star of How to Get Away With Murder and two-time Academy Award nominee didn’t have the easiest time growing up in ole Central Falls, R.I., in the ’70s. On Thursday’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!, she talked about how she was bullied as a kid, and how that when those bullies friend her now on Facebook, she always accepts — so she can see how miserable their lives are. However, it doesn’t always work out in her favor.
“They all want to be my friend. I become their Facebook friends, and then I stalk their pages to see if they’ve become just complete failures in life,” the actress, 51, said with a roar of laughter.
Not all of them have. “One of them has a boat,” Davis shared. “I’m like, ‘Oh, man!‘” Kimmel quipped, “Hopefully it will sink,” which made her laugh some more.
Davis also talked about fighting back against bullies, calling herself a, “punch, run, and chuck your finger kinda gal.” Meaning? She fought back. “I put my fists up,” she said, getting into the right pose.
She also once brought a crochet needle to school, she said, “as a weapon to stab” a bully called Stanley. “But I really didn’t stab Stanley,” she said. “I just threatened to stab Stanley.” It worked. “I threatened him, and he never came back at me again.”
Davis — who is married to the actor and producer Julius Tennon and has a daughter, Genesis, who is almost 5 — kept it casual as she told the story, but it didn’t sound easy. She told NPR that her family was the only black family in town when they moved to Rhode Island from South Carolina in 1965, and that they “were on the periphery.”
She elaborated in an interview with the New York Times, saying, “There’d be eight or 10 boys, I would count them as I was running. They’d pick up stones and sticks from the side of the road and yell, ‘Ugly black n*****!’ Always those three words: ‘Ugly black n*****.’ Will Smith said: ‘There’s always one incident that defines you. I will always be the kid whose girlfriend broke up with him when I was 15.’ And I am always that 8-year-old girl, running and running and running. I wore a mask because I didn’t want to show them that they hurt me. And I still do. I feel like the voice for all women of color sometimes. I don’t want to let them down. Let them see I don’t always feel attractive or strong.”
She’s not just strong. She’s tough.
