The latest season of ‘Scandal’ is still months away from its end, but lead Kerry Washington is already hitting the promotional trail in support of her next project.
Case in point her stunning new Elle Magazine cover, which has been unveiled ahead of the April 19th premiere of her HBO movie ‘Confirmation.’
The biopic, which 39-year-old Washington not only stars in but also executive produced, re-tells the story of Anita Hill – a lady who historically came forward to share her story of sexual harassment at a time when women were muted – especially in the workplace.
Flip the hood to see more gorgeous snaps and quotes from the feature…
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.”