“My mother used to tell me man gives the award, God gives the reward,” the Oscar winner said.
In 2020, a video of Denzel Washington helping a homeless man was hitting social media. The man was having trouble interacting with police on the streets of Los Angeles. One of the officers on the scene explained that Washington saw the man in the street and pulled over to help him out in an interview, per Vanity Fair. Washington, who had a mask on, remained there until the police showed up, and he didn't leave until they assessed that the homeless man posed no danger to himself or others. “Denzel provided him a mask to protect himself from the environment and that was good. So Denzel helped us today,” the police officer added, saying that Washington was a “Good Samaritan” for the way he acted.
Want 2 know what really happened with #DenzelWashington and the #LAPD last week while he was being a #goodsamaritan ? Get the real story : this is how an encounter with the cops is supposed to end #turnyourclicksintocash pic.twitter.com/Vcy2ybq9tk
— MoPhoPix (@MoPhoPix) May 28, 2020
It's possible that Washington acted the way he did because of how his mother saved him from going down a rough path in his childhood. In an interview with ABC, Washington shared that he was what people would call a difficult child. "I was mischievous," he said, laughing, "My three closest friends did quite a bit of time [in jail] ... decades."
The single most important person in Washington's life may have been his mother, Lennis. Lennis Washington “had enough sense to get me out of that situation before it was going to be my turn," he claimed, while his pals were heading down a disastrous path. In 9th grade, Lennis put Washington in a private school. The mom was able to put her son back on track but unfortunately, she could not do the same with his friends. "One did 28 years [behind bars], one did 20 and the other did 12," the Oscar winner says. "One is dead … the other two are out."
When he was asked if he’d give his 15-year-old self any advice, the actor laughed and said, “Listen to your mother!”
"I was what they call 'throwing rocks at the penitentiary,' but I never hit it," he adds. "I never got caught … But I also knew right from wrong, so I never wanted to go too far.”
Happy birthday, Denzel Washington!
— The Film Stage 📽 (@TheFilmStage) December 29, 2021
Pictured with his mom, Lennis Washington, who passed away this year at the age of 97. pic.twitter.com/bWjCfHZjC4
But he didn't know right from wrong by himself. In an interview with Closer Weekly, Washington shared that it was his mother who taught him that. “She taught us right from wrong,” he reflected. Her wisdom proved to be invaluable decades later. “My mother said to me when I was 59, ‘Denzel, you do a lot of good. You have to do good the right way and you know what I’m talking about,’” the actor, 62, reveals how Lennis inspired him to delve further into his faith, which enabled him to give up alcohol. Now, “I don’t drink anymore, I don’t do any of those things,” he reports.
Lennis did him a favor by instilling in him a love for his family. The academy award winner's family, including his wife Pauletta, 67, and children John, 33, Katia, 29, and twins Malcolm and Olivia, 26, continue to make him the proudest of all of his accomplishments. “My mother used to tell me man gives the award, God gives the reward,” he shared. “I don’t need another plaque. Acting is just a way of making a living. Family is life.”
References:
https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2020/05/05/denzel-washington-good-samaritan-video-lapd
https://www.closerweekly.com/posts/denzel-washington-mom-147324/
Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Ivan Romano
