Kerry Washington got the shock of her life recently!
For those who don’t know, the 46-year-old actress has an upcoming memoir called Thicker Than Water coming out very soon – and she doesn’t hold back when it comes to talking about her life. In fact, she revealed a huge family secret in the book. What is that secret, you ask? Kerry shared that she only recently found out that her father, Earl Washington, is not her biological father! Whoa! And naturally, that news rocked her world. As she told People while talking about her new book:
“It really turned my world upside down.”
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We bet! According to Kerry, the huge revelation came out in 2018 shortly after she told her parents she was going to appear on the Henry Louis Gates Jr. show Finding Your Roots, which uses DNA testing to help celebrities learn more about their ancestors. Of course, this created some concern for both her father and mother, Valerie Washington, as they had been holding onto the big secret for decades.
So at the time, the parents ended up having a private conversation with Gates to tell him their situation. He gave the pair some good advice, telling them to have a tough talk with Kerry before she filmed the show. From there, Valerie and Earl asked the Scandal star to meet up, and they dropped the life-changing news. Upon hearing the confession, Kerry was surprised but also felt relieved after suspecting the pair were keeping something from her for years. She explained to People:
“When I got this information, I was like, ‘Oh. I now know my story.’ I didn’t know what my story was, but I was playing the supporting character in their story.”
During the conversation, the author remained calm as she knew it was a hard moment for Earl and Valerie but still asked a bunch of questions. She learned that the duo used an anonymous sperm donor to help them conceive after they struggled with fertility issues, and they decided never to tell her back then.
Looking back, Kerry felt the problems she dealt with over the years – including anxiety, self-esteem issues, and an eating disorder – may have been symptoms of her subconsciously knowing Valerie and Earl were keeping a secret from her:
“I think that dissonance of like, ‘Somebody is not telling me something about my body.’ made me feel like there was something in my body I had to fix.”
Wow. This must have been a lot for Kerry to take in at the time! But learning the truth is what inspired her to write her upcoming memoir – even though her family wasn’t too “thrilled” about it:
“This is really 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. My parents were not thrilled about me writing this. This really is a book about me. I now get to step into being the most important person in my life.”
Despite her parent’s lack of enthusiasm over the book, Kerry said the trio’s relationship has ultimately become better:
“I really started to have so much more love and compassion and understanding for my parents. Taking this deep dive into our family history made me put myself in their shoes and think about the things that they’ve had to navigate and what they’ve been through and what they’ve sacrificed. And it really made me feel closer to them.”
We appreciate how vulnerability from Kerry. It must not have been easy to dive into such a personal matter. Reactions? Do you plan on reading her memoir after this revelation? Let us know in the comments below!
[Image via Kerry Washington/Instagram, Good Morning America/YouTube]
