Viola Davis speaks emotional on her Sister's Sexual Assault and Drug Addiction:

The life-altering effects of sexual abuse is something Viola Davis, admittedly, knows all too well.

The "How to Get Away With Murder" star, 50, described her sister's sexual abuse story in a moving speech at a benefit for Stuart House on Wednesday.

 

The nonprofit foundation, which launched in 1989, works to provide support and treatment for rape, sexual assault and child abuse victims.

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"I have a sister, who, when she was 8 years old, put on some roller skates with her friend, went down to the corner store at 1o'clock in the afternoon, went into the store, and was sexually assaulted in the store," Davis says in a video of the speech via Pop Sugar.

"She came home and she told my mom. My mom ran down to the store, started screaming at the store owners and they said: 'Leave that man alone. He does that to all the little girls,'" she said, noting that the police were called and the man was put in a car.

The shocking incident would be the tip off for a life of drug abuse and promiscuity for Davis' now 39-year-old sister.

"And then from there, a precocious, very intelligent, very creative child grew up to be frail, angry, a drug addict by the time she was 20," David said.

"Six children, all of which have been taken by social services; a prostitute; an IV drug user," the actress described what has become of her sister.

David said sharing the story was important because "memories have teeth" and she continually prays for her sister.

"You pray that she finds peace and love and happiness, she gets off drugs," she said. "And then of course you open your eyes, and you're like, 'she's still on the streets.'"

Davis wrapped up her speech with one last plea: "I wish I could tell my sister that she's not dirty, and that she should not feel any shame for something that she literally was not responsible for," she said. "I wish I could save her life."