After reaching success, Oscar nominee Viola Davis is at a point where she can talk about growing up in poverty.
In a recent interview with the latest issue of PEOPLE , Davis revealed how she managed to survive with very little means to live.
"I was one of those kids who grew up hungry. I'm 48 years old now, and it's only been recently that I can admit that I would jump in trash bins looking for food and I would steal from the corner store because I was hungry," said the Academy Award nominated actress. "I would fall asleep in school on a daily basis because we had nothing."
When growing up in Central Falls, Rhode Island, Davis was ashamed to bring friends to her home.
"My house was a condemned building – it was boarded up and infested with rats."
Davis' struggle to survive growing up has triggered her to team up with Safeway Foundation and the Entertainment Industry Foundation to run "Hunger Is," a campaign that raises awareness and money to stop childhood starvation.
"We have an image of hunger that comes from Africa, but this is America," she said. "And unless your belly is distended we don't have an image of what hunger looks like here."
Organizations like the one Davis is currently involved in helped her create her own destiny.
"I am the first generation of my family to go to college. Those programs made all the difference for me," said "The Help" actress, who has five siblings. "It's been cathartic for me because I always had a lot of shame with going in the garbage dumps that had maggots in it, too. It has brought healing in my life to be able to talk about it."
