THE BROYN, NEW YORK: 'Scandal' star Kerry Washington, the daughter of Valerie Washington and Earl Washington, apparently discovered in 2018 that the man she referred to as "dad" might not be her biological father.
According to the New York Times, the 46-year-old's seemingly surprising family secret sparked her urge to publish her new memoir, 'Thicker Than Water'.
Kerry, who has 7.3 million Instagram followers and is quite active on the platform, frequently posts images and videos of her parents, in which she can be seen having fun with them.
How did Kerry Washington come to doubt her parentage?
Kerry Washington said she discovered the truth about her parentage about five years ago when she accepted an invitation to take part in an episode of 'Finding Your Roots', a PBS program hosted by Dr Henry Louis Gates.
"When I said, "Spit in this tube," they started freaking out," said the 'Fantastic Four' actress regarding her parents' reaction to the DNA test to the New York Times.
She added, "My mom was like, 'I didn’t know that this was going to happen'."
'The Prophecy' star claimed that her father chose to leave the show after starting to have panic attacks and insomnia.
Uncovering Kerry Washington's family secret
Kerry Washington's parents organized a meeting with her after being encouraged by Dr Henry Louis Gates to share the information while everyone was still alive.
They shared about having employed an anonymous sperm donor to conceive the actress after facing problems getting pregnant naturally.
"I’ve always had this weird disconnect with my dad, but I thought that was my fault. I thought I wasn’t a kind enough person," stated the 'Little Man' actress.
Kerry continued, "But the idea that I was not his never occurred to me. It was just, 'Why can’t I be better to him? Why can’t we be closer? What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with us?'"
Kerry Washington's knowledge about her parentage inspired memoir 'Thicker Than Water'
"When I got this information, I was like, 'Oh. I now know my story'," said Kerry Washington, adding, "I didn't know what my story was, but I was playing the supporting character in their story."
The director of 'Reasonable Doubt' believes that she may have battled anxiety, low self-esteem, and an eating disorder for years because of a subconscious response to the notion that something wasn't quite right.
Kerry has not yet been successful in learning any information about the sperm donor. The first-time author chose to change the subject of her memoir after learning the information regarding her parentage.
She originally agreed to write a book about the life lessons she discovered while portraying Washington fixer Olivia Pope on the popular television show 'Scandal' for six years.
"Any attempt I made to sit down and write about my life and not include this new information, it just felt impossible," expressed Kerry to the New York Times, along with, "I tried to give the publisher their money back."
She decided to write a memoir with Little, Brown Spark, and 'Thicker Than Water' comes out on Tuesday, September 26.
Kerry acknowledges that although they are supportive of the initiative, her parents are not overjoyed about her writing a book that contains details about their family.
However, she did succeed in reassuring her father of their bond with the words, "I'm not going anywhere, you're not going anywhere, you're my dad. Now when I say 'I love you, it’s not because of who you’re pretending to be in my life, it’s because of who you are'."
