Childhood poverty in America is still a big issue and many kids just aren’t given enough to eat, often going to school hungry and their grades suffer as a result. These 5 celebrities all found themselves in a difficult place as children when their parents struggled to feed them. Remembering going hungry or having to get help to have a decent meal, these stars now understand the value of healthy, good food and don’t take anything for granted.
Nikki Reed
Nikki commented that she grew up eating off the dollar menu and couldn’t afford healthy food: “I grew up eating off the dollar menu at every fast food restaurant. When you have a single mother that makes $15,000 a year for her two kids in a major city like Los Angeles, money runs out quickly. If my mom could have afforded it she would have bought healthy organic vegetables, but we didn’t have the money.”
Rick Ross
Rick remembers a time when he couldn’t afford to eat whatever he wanted: “I remember when I couldn’t afford to eat like this. It was ramen noodles and the San Francisco Treat. Dessert? Get you a honey bun and put a slice of cheese on it. Put it in the microwave for 45 seconds and you had the gift of a lifetime.”
Scarlett Johansson
Scarlett revealed that her family had to have help to get meals: “My family grew up relying on public assistance to help provide meals for our family. Child hunger in America is a real and often overlooked problem, but one that together, we can fix. The are 16 million children struggling with hunger in America. That’s one in five daughters, sons, neighbours and classmates who don’t know where their next meal is coming from, yet billions of pounds of good food go to waste every year. It’s time we do something about it.”
Shania Twain
Shania recalls being hungry as a kid: “It’s very hard to concentrate when you’re stomach’s rumbling. I would certainly never have humiliated myself enough to reach out and ask for help and say, You know, I’m hungry. Can I have that apple that you’re not going to eat?” she said. “I didn’t have the courage to do that.”
Viola Davis
Viola remembers not being able to focus because she never had enough to eat: “It was like, if you don’t eat it now, it’ll be gone, and you’re going to be hungry for the next — Lord, who knows how long. I was always so hungry and ashamed, I couldn’t tap into my potential. I couldn’t get at the business of being me.”
