Kerry Washington [1] stuns on the April cover of Marie Claire [2], and in her interview with Lena Dunham for the magazine, she talks about everything from Scandal to her childhood to what she wants for her daughter, Isabelle. Known for keeping quiet about her personal life, Kerry talked about the importance of privacy, saying, "Earlier in my career I was much more super-sharey. There were moments when I wanted to process things that were happening to me more privately, and I didn't have the space to do it, because once you let people in, they're in and you don't get to say, 'Oh, I want this for myself.'"

Kerry and Lena, who will soon guest star on Scandal [3], also joked about celebrity crushes. Kerry said, "When people ask, 'who's your celebrity crush?' I feel like I can't tell you because I'm going to see them and it's going to be really weird." Lena joked, "Nothing kills a celebrity crush like meeting a celebrity."

Keep reading to see more of Kerry's must-read quotes about her family and her popular TV role, then check out Kerry's recent chat with Ellen DeGeneres [4] and see more from her Marie Claire interview [5].

• On what she wants for her daughter: "I just want [Isabelle] to know that she's heard. Really heard, because I feel like that is what we all really want. When I think about any of the missteps in my life that I've made, all of which I'm grateful for, it's because I just so wanted to be truly seen and heard for who I am and was afraid I wasn't or wouldn't be. I see you, I hear you, I'm with you as you are."
• On collaborating with Shonda Rhimes: "I'm very respectful of Shonda's vision of who Olivia [Pope] is, but she has said that she is informed by the choices I make. If we were waltzing, she's definitely leading. And she picked the song, and she probably dressed us, but it is a waltz."
• On falling for fashion: "I just put myself in a boot camp of figuring it out and I realized that I really loved it. I guess because I came to it later in life, I realized, 'Oh, going to a fashion show is like going to the opening of Degas at the Met or going to see Swan Lake.'"