HBO star Kerry Washington learns family secret that 'turned world upside down'
Kerry Washington is releasing her memoir, Thicker Than Water, this week and in it she shares an intimate revelation that changed her life.
The Scandal actress shared that when she told her parents that she planned on appearing on PBS series Finding Your Roots hosted by Henry Louis Gates Jr., they seemed a little wary. The PBS show follows a celebrity every episode and learns about their ancestors using DNA testing.
Kerry is best known for playing Olivia Pope on Scandal but she also played Mia Warren in Little Fires Everywhere, with both roles landing her Emmy nominations. She's also acted in Django Unchained, Ray and HBO series Confirmation.
In the spring of 2018, her parents decided to have a family meeting in which they dropped a bombshell. Her father, Earl Washington, was not her biological father.
Kerry said her parents never planned on telling her (Instagram)"It really turned my world upside down," she told People. "When I got this information, I was like, 'Oh. I now know my story.'" The shocking news gave her relief after feeling that her parents had been keeping something from her for years. "I didn't know what my story was, but I was playing the supporting character in their story," she added.
Kerry Washington looks very different as she wears military wear for war drama
The 46-year-old actress said she learned that her parents had fertility issues, so they used an anonymous sperm donor. They never wanted to tell her. Kerry said it was a difficult time for Earl, a real estate agent, and her mother Valerie, a professor.
She struggled for years with anxiety, self-esteem, and an eating disorder throughout her adolescence. Kerry believes that her struggles might have been her subconscious knowing her parents were keeping something from her.
Kerry said her parents used an anonymous sperm donor (Instagram)
She said she felt like she knew her 'story' now (MediaPunch/REX/Shutterstock)Because of the news, Kerry decided she wanted to write a memoir. She said: "This is kind of me working to understand my life up until now, given this new information that I have that, in many ways, felt like sort of the missing puzzle piece."
Earl and Valerie weren't "thrilled" about her decision to write Thicker Than Water, but Kerry believes that writing the book and learning this family secret strengthened her bond with her parents. "I really started to have so much more love and compassion and understanding for my parents," Kerry said.
According to a press release for the memoir, the book gives "an intimate view into both her public and private worlds - as an artist, an advocate, an entrepreneur, a mother, a daughter, a wife, a Black woman." Kerry said that this book is "by far the most deeply personal project I have ever taken on."
Kerry is a parent herself to a daughter and a son. She shares the kids with her husband, Nnamdi Asomugha an NFL football player that she married in 2013.
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