Kerry Washington tapped into her own real-life experiences for her latest role.
Kerry Washington
The 42-year-old actress - who has kids Isabelle, five, and Caleb, three, with her husband Nnamdi Asomugha - has revealed how she can relate to her own character in the new Netflix drama 'American Son', which tells the story of an estranged couple who reunite to find their missing son.
Kerry - who previously played Olivia Pope, a crisis management expert, in the drama series 'Scandal' - told 'Entertainment Tonight': "After playing Olivia Pope for seven seasons, I was having this alternate reality in my real life of becoming a mom and I didn't get to explore any of the feelings around becoming a mom while I was playing Olivia - because she chose not to be one, which is a choice I totally respect.
"But to be able to kind of explore how vulnerable parenting makes you is a privilege for me at this point in my career."
Meanwhile, Kerry previously revealed she feels a need to reach out to people and to spread a message of positivity.
She explained: "My deepest desire is to create a world where there's room for all of us, where no matter who you are, you get to wake up in the morning and know that you are worthwhile and deserving. If that's the world I want to live in, I have to do the work to make that true for me.
"I have to do the work of self-love and affirmation, and say, 'I am a woman, I am a person of colour, I am the granddaughter of immigrants, I am also the descendant of slaves, I am a mother, I am an entrepreneur, I am an artist, and I'm joyful.' And maybe in seeing my joy, you can finish your sentence with, 'And I am joyful too.'"
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