Kerry Washington can do know wrong from playing Olivia Pope on ABC’s Scandal and as Broomhilda in Django Unchained the seasoned actress is proving why she is Hollywood’s new it girl. She’s covering this month’s Ebony Magazine and inside, she shares intimate details from her past as well as the significance of portraying such dynamic female characters.
“In her professional life, she is so powerful and is this self-made woman,” Kerry says. “But in [Olivia’s] personal life, she is a mess and I kind of love that…I love that I get to embody all of that complexity because I also think it takes a certain level of progress for us to have a Black Woman that powerful be an emotional mess on television.”
Speaking on the connection between Broomhilda and Olivia, Kerry added, “Olivia is the answer to Broomhilda’s prayers. I’m grateful that these two women on opposite ends of history, on opposite ends of their experience, both strong women but in such different ways, can exist at the same time.
Kerry also discussed her initial hesitation to tackle her scandalous character. “I was a little concerned because [the character has] a scandalous relationship with the President ,” the actress said. “I thought, ‘If the president on the show is Black, I will not do the show.’ Because to me, it was too important a moment. I didn’t want to do anything that compromised my relationship with the [president] or that made it seem like I had an insider view on the Obama presidency. I thought that would be so disrespectful and so against all the work that I had done.”
Read the full interview on newsstand now. Also in this issue, which is pegged “The Scandal Issue,” Ebony also lists 50 scandalous events that have rocked Black culture. Should be juicy .
