Viola Davis Comes Clean About Regretting Her Role In 'The Help'

Valerie Goodloe/Splash News

Viola Davis Takes Issue With Her 2011 Film ‘The Help’

Viola Davis‘ role in The Help earned the actress several awards, but now she says she regrets playing the part of a black maid working for a white family during the Civil Rights Movement.

During a Q&A with The New York Times, the Academy Award winner dropped a bombshell when she said quite plainly, “Have I ever done roles that I’ve regretted? I have and The Help is on that list.”

Before stating her piece, Davis made sure to show a little love to the cast and writer/director, Tate Taylor. “But not in terms of the experience and the people involved because they were all great,” she continued. “The friendships that I formed are ones that I’m going to have for the rest of my life. I had a great experience with these other actresses, who are extraordinary human beings. And I could not ask for a better collaborator than Tate Taylor.”

Nonetheless, she wasn’t happy with the end result. “I just felt that at the end of the day that it wasn’t the voices of the maids that were heard. I know Aibileen. I know Minny. They’re my grandma. They’re my mom. And I know that if you do a movie where the whole premise is, I want to know what it feels like to work for white people and to bring up children in 1963, I want to hear how you really feel about it. I never heard that in the course of the movie,” Davis explained.