Viola Davis Clarifies She Did Not Buy Childhood Home: ‘I ‘Own’ My STORY!!’
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Viola Davis will never forget where she came from. The actress shared a photo of the house where she was born to social media—and while many thought Davis implied she purchased the home, that apparently wasn’t what her message meant.
The above is the house where I was born August 11, 1965. It is the birthplace of my story. Today on my 55th year of life….I own it….all of it.
"May you live long enough to know why you were born.”
-Cherokee Birth Blessing- pic.twitter.com/CatJK405BL— Viola Davis (@violadavis) August 11, 2020
“The above is the house where I was born August 11, 1965. It is the birthplace of my story. Today on my 55th year of life….I own it….all of it,” the “Fences” actress wrote.
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Davis also included a Cherokee birth blessing that read, “May you live long enough to know why you were born.”
Several hours after posting the photo, the actress commented on her own post to clarify the “abstract” meaning of her caption.
“Uhh….contrary to websites….I do not “own” above house, I “own” my STORY!! Too abstract I guess,” Viola wrote alongside several emojis.
Still, the house does hold a great deal of significance for the actress. The “How To Get Away With Murder” star’s grandparents lived in the home at the time Viola was born—and had previously worked on the property when it was a plantation. Davis recalled learning of the home’s tragic history in an interview with Entertainment Weekly back in 2016.
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“I wasn’t on it long, because I was the fifth child, and so we moved soon after I was born,” Davis said at the time. “I mean, I went back to visit briefly but still not aware of the history. I think I read one slave narrative of someone who was on that plantation which was horrific. 160 acres of land, and my grandfather was a sharecropper. Most of my uncles and cousins, they’re farmers. That’s the choice that they had. My grandmother’s house was a one room shack. I have a picture of it on my phone because I think it’s a beautiful picture.”
It could be the very photo Viola shared in honor of her birthday!
Happy birthday, Viola.
