Just a note, this episode contains explicit language that some will find offensive.

My guest Violet Davis recounts a very painful, personal story that contains racial slurs

and hurtful language.

We think it's important that you hear the actual words that she shared with me.

Okay, I have been bursting, bursting to talk to Violet Davis.

She is to me just stunning, the kind of person you want to get to know on so many levels.

Yes, she is arguably one of the most talented actors in the business, winner of an Academy Award.

And now she's only a Grammy away from having the coveted E-GOT, the Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony.

But I couldn't wait to hear from Violet, the woman, the one who survived an unthinkable childhood,

the one who was bullied and chased and felt like she was running for her life,

the one who witnessed abuse and endured hardships so painful, few people would have survived.

But Violet, she overcame, she persevered and she grew. How? She talks about all of it in her

new memoir, Finding Me, Out This Week. She also describes life as a relay race, and she is still

running just trying to get the baton from one stage of life to the next. Just talking to Violet,

I went in admiration in awe and in celebration.

I'm Hoda Kotlin, welcome to my podcast Making Space.

I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't wait. It's highlighted, it's dog-eared, I bound your book,

the PDF, and made a little book out of it so I could carry it with me.

Can I just tell you something? It is so meaningful and beautiful and touching and I don't even know

how to describe it, but it moved me to my very core, to my very core, it's so incredible. I mean,

I think you, I thought I knew you and then I read this and now I'm like, wow, I'm so moved.

And I'm also kind of mad at myself because I've interviewed you so many times and I realized I

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