Key Takeaways
- Kerry Washington shared in her memoir, “Thicker Than Water,” that the man who raised her is not her biological father.
- She learned the truth in 2018 after considering a DNA test for PBS’ “Finding Your Roots.”
- The revelation continues to inform how she reflects on family, identity, and her work in Hollywood.
Kerry Washington is opening up about a truth that changed how she understands her life and family.
The actress is the newest ESSENCE cover star and will be honored as the 2026 Black Women in Hollywood Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, marking a full-circle moment more than a decade after she was first recognized at the annual celebration. In the cover story, published Wednesday (March 4), Kerry revisits the deeply personal revelation she first shared in her 2023 memoir, “Thicker Than Water.”
In the book, the “Scandal” star revealed that the man who raised her, Earl Washington, is not her biological father. Speaking with ESSENCE, she reflected on how learning the truth reshaped her identity and forced her to rethink the story she believed about her own life. “That was a turning point,” Kerry began.
The discovery, she explained, pushed her into a period of serious introspection. “My dad was like, ‘This will kill me’ — not even [me] writing the book, but [me] taking a DNA test, he felt, was going to kill him,” she told the outlet. “So it suddenly became clear that taking a journey of self-discovery where I would commit to pouring as much creative courage and interest into myself as a character as I had to all these other characters throughout my life, that was going to be a threat and a challenge to the script that had been handed to me at birth. It was very disruptive to our family life and the story that we were telling about who we were in the world.”
Kerry said confronting the truth was not easy because it “cost me my sense of self.” But after years of reflection and therapy with her family, she now feels grounded in a deeper understanding of who she is. “I daily return to a sense of self that is much deeper and more grounded,” she continued.
The Emmy Award winner said the experience reshaped how she moves through the world and the stories she chooses to tell. “When I say the era that I’m in is more about introspection and having more courage, about being curious about my internal being, it comes out of that experience,” she added. “I had to do so much reckoning with myself and my history and my family; being on the other side of that is really emboldening.”
How Kerry Washington learned the truth about her biological father
Kerry first spoke publicly about the discovery while promoting “Thicker Than Water” before its release. According to The New York Times, the truth came to light in 2018 after she considered appearing on the PBS genealogy series “Finding Your Roots,” hosted by Henry Louis Gates Jr.
When DNA testing became part of the process, her parents privately revealed they had used a sperm donor to conceive her decades earlier. “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,” Kerry told The Times. “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?” she said.
The 49-year-old also described the emotional complexity of learning the truth. “I was birthed into a lie,” she said at the time, explaining how the discovery forced her to reconsider her place within her own family. “I was playing a supporting character in my parents’ story. I know that their intention was to protect me, to love me, to take care of me, to keep my world simple. I get many years of not telling me, but I’ve been an adult for over two decades.”
Kerry Washington continues shaping stories in Hollywood
Today, Kerry is channeling that self-discovery into her work on and off screen. Through her production company Simpson Street, The Bronx native has increasingly stepped into roles behind the camera, helping develop projects and elevate new voices in the industry. Her recent and upcoming projects include joining the ensemble of Rian Johnson’s Knives Out sequel Wake Up Dead Man, the upcoming thriller Animals, written and directed by Ben Affleck, and the Apple TV+ series “Imperfect Women,” which is scheduled to debut March 18.
As she continues to tell stories across film, television, and publishing, Kerry says the work now comes from a deeper place of understanding.