Viola Davis isn’t oblivious to the criticism. The award-winning actress broke her silence on the backlash she received following the premiere of The First Lady. Viola portrayed lawyer, author and wife to former President Barack Obama in the ongoing Showtime series. While speaking with BBC News, Viola admitted that it’s “incredibly hurtful when people say negative things” about her work.
Viola Davis Speaks On Critics: “Absolutely Serve No Purpose”
I absolutely love Viola Davis but her portrayal of Michelle Obama the was awful. The voice the facial expressions were not good at all especially the way she always had her lips did not encompass the elegance of Mrs. Obama.
— April (@Msapril0073) April 27, 2022
All I know is Michelle Obama is somewhere cursing Viola Davis out right now for all those lip pursing movements she was doing in that First Lady series😂😂
— 𝐍𝐢𝐤𝐚 𝐒𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭 ✨🇭🇹 (@NikaStyles__) April 26, 2022
“Critics absolutely serve no purpose. And I’m not saying that to be nasty either,” Viola said. “They always feel like they’re telling you something that you don’t know. Somehow that you’re living a life that you’re surrounded by people who lie to you and ‘I’m going to be the person that leans in and tells you the truth’. So it gives them an opportunity to be cruel to you.”
“Either you’re doing too much or not enough,” Viola said.
While the internet offers their thoughts, Michelle has yet to. Like all the other inquiring minds, Viola also has no idea what Mrs. Obama thinks given that she has no “personal contact” with her.
Regardless of the harsh chatter, the star doesn’t plan to sit in the backlash. Instead, she finds it necessary to keep pushing forward.
“How do you move on from the hurt, from failure?” Viola said. “But you have to. Not everything is going to be an awards-worthy performance.”
While folks online continue to nitpick her portrayal, Viola is continuing to deliver. Her new memoir Finding Me is hot off the presses. She takes readers from her impoverished and abusive childhood to a Oscar, Emmy and even Tony Award winning force in Hollywood.
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