Kerry Washington on How Motherhood Changed Her Approach to Olivia Pope

Published on 1/10/2017 at 3:15 PM

It's been almost five years since Scandal first premiered, and suffice it to say, so much has changed. For star Kerry Washington, this sentiment rings true even in the context of her personal life. The actress married Nnamdi Asomugha in 2013, welcomed a baby girl in 2014, and gave birth to a son in 2016. How has all this personal excitement translated to Washington's professional work? During ABC's Scandal panel for the Television Critics Association's Winter press tour, the actress described how these major life moments have influenced her work as Olivia Pope.

On coming back to Olivia Pope after having children: "I'm still figuring that out because we are just back at work. But I guess the nice thing is that I did it once before. Because this is my second child that I've birthed."
How pregnancy changed her approach: "It's been really interesting for me as an actor because I work very physically. How I approach a character often has a lot to do with the physicality of that character. So, the challenge of my physicality changing dramatically two times now, within the life of the show. And Olivia's body not changing — and sort of figuring out how to hold onto her posture, and her emotion, and her physical orientation in the world while mine is different every day — has been a real exercise for me. [It] has kind of taught me how to grow my toolbox, to lean into other areas of grounding her other than just kind of the walk, because at some point the walk becomes a waddle."
On the journey of Olivia Pope: "I also think it's been good for me, too, because we are really lucky. A lot of people who are blessed to be on a show for six years, they really are not playing a journey, and all of us up on the stage, we have been gifted with these immense journeys, you know, and transformations. So, you have the challenge of holding on to the core of who the character is while still evolving."