‘scandal’ Star Kerry Washington Covers Elle Us April Issue
SAN FRANCISCO, March 16, (THEWILL) – 'Scandal' star Kerry Washington is standing strong on the cover of ELLE US April Issue.
In the edition, Washington talks about her new film 'Confirmation' which she not only played he role of Anita Hill, but also executive produced. She also touches on how she’s handling motherhood, why she feels it’s important to create work for herself instead of putting her artistic destiny in someone else’s hands to the reason Anita Hill’s story matters today and more.
Read excerpts below:
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 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.”
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.”
See more photos from her spread below!
