Kerry Washington is a renowned actress recognized worldwide. But when it comes to her family, she values privacy.
Speaking with Essence, Washington said that she keeps her family because “one always has to make the choices that feel right to you.
“It’s hard for me to speak to what the impact of my choices are, because, again, I feel like I don’t know,” Washington said. “One day if my kids so choose to be interviewed, they would be better to answer that question than I would because their journey is theirs, you know?”
In an interview InStyle in 2020, Washington said she doesn’t necessarily want to keep them hidden but is vigilant about their privacy.
“These are their lives. But it’s not about pulling a Rapunzel and hiding them away in a castle from the world. We don’t want to do that,” Washington explained. “I think any parent would want to keep kids from a situation that causes them to feel scared. And I don’t want them to be exploited, particularly in this social media world.”
Washington also shared how she wants her kids to have pride in their Blackness.
Parenting is a lot about letting go and how you can do that with grace and ease and empower your kids to make the right choices,” she said. “It is an adventure. And obviously doing that as a parent of African-American kids has particular challenges.”
Washington then spoke about how playing Oliva Pope in Scandal prepared to be a mother.
“Playing her made me feel like I could be a mom,” she told Elle in 2016. “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.”
Washington shares three kids with her husband Nnamdi Asomugha.