Actress Kerry Washington has shared some home truths in her new memoir, Thicker Than Water, including the bombshell family secret she only discovered in 2018.
In her book released today, the Scandal star revealed at the age of 41 she learnt her dad, Earl, was not her biological father.
Now 46, Washington reflects on the exact moment she discovered the truth that left her devastated.
“It really turned my world upside down,” she told People magazine as she promoted her memoir.
The star said the truth only came to light when she was about to appear on an episode of the US series Finding Your Roots, a program that traces the family history of its guest stars.
It was only then her parents had no choice but to come clean.
“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,” she said of her parents, who used an anonymous sperm donor to conceive her after experiencing fertility issues.
The revelation has since put Washington on a path of self-discovery.
After battling anxiety, body image issues and eating disorders when she was young, which she addresses in her memoir, Washington fells her struggles might have been her body subconsciously sensing her parents’ secret.
“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,” she said, adding that she always “felt like sort of the missing puzzle piece”.
Washington says she is now in the process of looking for her biological father, although her parents aren’t “thrilled” about it nor are they happy she wrote the book, but they are “supportive”.
However, she says: “This really is a book about me. I now get to step into being the most important person in my life.”