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

My guest Viola 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.

Every once in a while, I walk away from an interview and I know the conversation will stay with me.

I feel it in my core. It changes me. And this is one of those times. I originally sat down with Viola Davis in the spring of 2022. She was just about to release

Finding Me, the memoir about her life and all she's overcome. And if you have not read it,

I encourage you to do it. It is a story of perseverance like you have never heard before.

Yes, she is arguably one of the most talented actors in the business and recently became

an Egot winner. But I couldn't wait to hear from Viola, 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 hardship so painful, few people would

have survived. But Viola overcame. She persevered and she grew. She 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 Viola,

I wept in admiration, in awe, and in celebration. I'm Hoda Kotby. Welcome to my podcast, Making Space.

Music I can't.

Hi, Hoda.

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.

Thank you.

To my very core.

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