Kerry Washington graces the April 2016 cover of ELLE magazine where she opens up about the importance of her upcoming HBO drama Confirmation, not compromising her political views to gain popularity and how her “Scandal” character Olivia Pope helped prepare her for motherhood. More inside….
When she’s not fixing problems for her clients on “Scandal,” Kerry Washington is striking a sultry pose for a new magazine cover.
The 39-year-old actress graces the cover of ELLE magazine’s April 2016 issue where she chops it up about her upcoming HBO film Confirmation. The YBF actress will star as Anita Hill, a law professor at the University of Oklahoma who appeared at the confirmation hearing of Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas to reveal the sexual harassment she had endured by Clarence.
Not only is Kerry the lead star, she’s also working behind the scenes on the film as an executive producer. In the cover story for ELLE, the fab mom-of-one discussed the importance of telling Anita Hill’s story and why it was a huge cultural shift.
Continuing to talk about powerful women, Kerry revealed playing Olivia Pope helped prepare her for motherhood and how her boss/friend Shonda Rhimes played a huge role in her life offering up tons of motherly advice.
Lastly, she touched on not compromising her political views as her career continues to skyrocket.
Below are the highlights from the interview:
On the importance of the events that inspired ‘Confirmation’:
"This moment was so important because it created a language around women being able to protect themselves. The behavior that Anita Hill described was going on in a lot of offices throughout the country, and most people didn't think they were doing anything wrong. But this created awareness around that and around the need for women's voices to be heard in our public spaces, both testifying before Congress and sitting on the committee. It really was such a huge cultural shift."
On how playing Olivia Pope made her feel like she could handle motherhood:
"Even though Olivia Pope has obviously made the decision that she is not a mom," Washington says, in reference to the 2015 midseason finale, in which—spoiler—Pope gets an abortion, "playing her made me feel like I could be a mom. Because she knows there's always another way—there's always a way to fix it, there's always a way to solve it, to win. And I feel like playing her made me feel like, All right, I can do it. I will figure out how to juggle it all."
On her boss, friend and mom mentor Shonda Rhimes:
"She's been such an amazing resource, as a mom, and as a working mom...I am on one show and I have one kid, and she has three shows and three kids." Right now, she says, departing from her no-family-talk rule, her husband is at home listening to the audio version of Rhimes's book, the first-person self-help journey Year of Yes. "We bought it for a bunch of people for Christmas because I feel like it's a little bit of required reading."
On speaking out about what she believes in without compromising:
"I'm a person who's always been politically active and passionate about people's rights. I marched against the [2004] Republican Convention. And as my career has expanded, it's been important for me to not stifle that voice. Because you want to be popular, you want people to hire you, and I have to make sure I don't do it less because I'm an actor."
Well said Kerry. It appears to be a recurring theme that when actors reach a certain status, they no longer voice their opinions on topics that they once seemed very passionate about.
You can read Kerry’s full interview once the issue hits newsstands nationwide on March 22nd.
In the meantime, peep this clip below of Kerry talking about producing Confirmation below:
In case you missed, check out the Confirmation trailer HERE.
The HBO film will premiere April 11th.
Photos: Dan Martensen via ELLE
