Source: Angela Weiss / Stringer / Getty
This past weekend, Viola Davis paid tribute to sexual assault survivors at the Rape Foundation’s annual brunch in Beverly Hills. She said that when she was a child growing up in Rhode Island, sexual assault was very common. She explained, “Listen, when I was young, there were so many men in the neighborhood who gave you money if they could touch you. Going over to a friend’s house for a birthday party at the age of seven, there was always someone there who touched you. My sister Danielle was 8 years old when she was on roller skates and went down to the corner store at 1 o’clock in the afternoon and was sexually assaulted in the aisles. She told my mom right away – my mom ran down to the store. The store owner’s response was: ‘He does that to all the little girls.'” She continued, “My mom flagged down the police, and the perpetrator did pay. He paid. He was fined $10 a month. It’s over for him, but I’d like to redefine survivor. My sister is now a heroin addict, she’s a prostitute.”
