A Deep Compassion for Children

As I get older, finding ways to help others is more and more what it’s all about for me. After I was diagnosed with diabetes when I was 20 years old, Barbara Davis, the wife of the late studio executive Marvin Davis, took me under her wing. The Davises founded the Carousel of Hope benefit for childhood diabetes, and I was blown away by all the people who were not sufferers of diabetes, but were giving help to people like me. I saw how research was advancing because of the dollars those people gave to discover a cure. And I was directly benefiting. It was an eye-opening experience. So I’ve chosen a few causes where I feel like my presence makes a difference. About five years ago, I got involved with the Jenesse Center. It’s an organization that has many shelters now, but it started off very small. The group house women who are victims of domestic violence, and they usually have their children in tow. We try to help them get back on their feet, out into the workplace and able to take care of themselves. We also help get the kids cleaned up, give them new clothes. I remember this one little girl came in, and I fell in love with her and held her all day long. I came home that night and was itching5 and scratching6. The next morning, I woke up with head lice I’d gotten from this little baby. Some of the women and children who come in are really in need. My father was an alcoholic who was very abusive7 to both my mother and my sister. He was never abusive to me — probably because my mother and sister both were very rebellious and combative, whereas I would run and hide, not talk back. I’ve since become a different person. My mother got my sister and me to help when we were kids, and I have had a lot of therapy8 that many of these women never had, so I try to impart9 things that I’ve been lucky enough to learn. My mother taught my sister and me that if a man ever raised his hand to hit you, the last thing he saw was the smoke off your shoes ’cause you were going out the door. You don’t stick around to be beaten. Still, a lot of these women go back to their men, and it may take several times before they really figure out a new life. Part of our work is to convince them that they need to make other choices. We also remind them that their children are watching all of this. I’ve begun searching my soul — asking what is my real purpose here? I’ve looked at what I do. I make believe and make movies; I entertain people and get paid to do it. Sometimes it seems like such a shallow existence. How insignificant10 is that really in the scheme of life? But when I can take that and use it to do real good in the world, I get it: This is one of the things I’m supposed to do with the abundance I’ve been given. I believe in karma11, and it gives me peace knowing that I’m giving back, because I’ve been given so much in this life. “To whom much is given, much is expected.” I know I’m only one person and might just help one or two people on a monthly basis. But if everyone did that, eventually everybody would be taken care of.

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