When Viola Davis Took Off Her Wig On “How To Get Away With Murder", It Spoke Vol

“Why is your penis on a dead girl’s phone?” Girl, when she said that, I darn near dropped my glass of wine on my freshly cleaned carpet. I don’t know about y’all but I am a sucker for Thursday night television and ABC’s “How To Get Away With Murder” has my entire attention especially after this week. Just in case you have been living under a super gigantic rock, the new series stars Viola Davis who plays Professor Annaise Keating, who in addition to her students and staff, solve cases taking us on a wild ride, from present to future, back to the present again.

Thursday night there was one compelling moment that has everyone writing a blog post including myself. The scene where she confronted her husband about an alleged affair but just before that she stripped off her wig, removed her lashes and cleaned her skin to perfection.

So why is that even important, we all come home and take off our wigs when we need to air out some stuff with our man right? Of course we do, but this was a bit different. Many of us have been wondering why Viola’s wigs* look so wiggy, not laid like it should or even nicely done like Olivia Pope on Scandal, not that Kerry is wearing a wig, but you know what I mean.

Was this a setup all along? Did her wigs* suck on purpose? Recently Viola opened up using wigs as a crutch because she suffered from Traction Alopecia and did not feel beautiful without them.

One blog even mentioned how awesome she looked when she wore her natural hair to the Academy Awards two years ago, how proud she was at that time. Then she has a chance to stay on our minds every Thursday night and they have her looking slightly shoddy with that hair.

“My husband wanted me to take the wig off,” Davis told InStyle. “He said, ‘If you want to wear it for your career, that’s fine, but in your life wear your hair. Step into who you are!’ It’s a powerful statement.”

So lets get back to the removing the wig* thing?

On the show Annalise received confirmation that her husband was actually having an affair with a girl that was clearly murdered. She comes home and undresses, lashes, foundation, blush, lippie, smokey eye and that wig* to reveal her matted down natural hair. You ever get to that point when you feel you need someone to see you. Really see you, everything you are, bare faced naked so that they can hear you speak from your soul?

The articles that have been written about that moment identify the symbolism for Viola herself and also for black women of color who have decided to go natural and take it a step further by eliminating the things that we think might make us superficial or pretentious. For different people its different things, it could be a wig* for me, and some fake lashes for you.

It could be layers of makeup for one girl, and a bad attitude that hides hurt and pain for another person. At some point we have to walk away from the layers and get raw and open.

One writer mentioned that Viola didn’t even have a twist out in her hair, she did not look like a typical black woman on TV, we all  know the only time they show a black woman that stripped down no makeup is if she is playing a slave or something of that nature. We cant look like that playing a lawyer, doctor, or anything with any kind of social stature.

Should we feel slighted by that? Of course we should, it is just a fact that Hollywood isn’t the same for  actresses that look like Viola, or me or Celie from the Color Purple.

So yes, when Viola removed the wig* it was an epic moment, when she cleaned off her make up and showed her real self, beautiful dark skin, gorgeous plump lips with soul and heart ready to let a fool have it, it was beautiful.

This not a slight against being cosmetic – by all means, put on makeup get glamorous when you can. Every woman deserves that, but we are layered characters like Annalise is. We are not just the pretty face that shows up to work every day with every curl in place or every piece of hair pinned to perfection. We can’t forget that person underneath it all.

People should have a chance to see you, the real you, so that there are no misunderstandings about who you are and what you stand for. People like to use our appearance as an excuse to act and feel a certain way, and if that appearance is flawed in anyway, they you have given them a false sense of yourself.

It is good to strip it away; enjoy what’s real at times, and use it when we want to feel raw and uncut. We loved when Viola bared her soul in that scene. We also loved that she was able to pitch the moment to the producers, and they accepted it.

Personally, I am glad she did it when millions of us were watching. Watch and learn girls, watch and learn! If you want to see the scene for yourself, check it out below.