Kerry Washington Talks Shock over ‘Scandal’ Success & Barely Surviving ‘Django Unchained’

By: Taren Vaughan

Kerry Washington received much applause for her role as Jamie Foxx‘s enslaved wife Broomhilda in the Academy Award nominated movie Django Unchained. But it is her character Olivia Pope that keeps people tuning in faithfully every Thursday night to see what new twists and turns will be revealed on ABC’s hit show Scandal, a drama that has taken the network by storm with its popularity amongst viewers. The talented actress has said before that things were difficult at times for her during the filming of Django and taking on the lead role in Scandal hasn’t been much easier as rumors started up suggesting that Kerry’s thing for messing around with presidents went beyond the show and that she was after President Obama. While Kerry has shut down the talk of her having a romantic interest in President Obama, she also said that she wouldn’t have been apart of Scandal had Fitz been a black man. Despite all the controversy surrounding her role, Scandal has seen much success, success far beyond what Kerry could have imagined. In an interview that she did with Parade, Kerry spoke about her role as Olivia Pope in Scandal and says that she didn’t think for a moment that she would be making history:

“I didn’t realize…when I was auditioning for the role. I knew that in my lifetime I’d never seen it. But it didn’t compute to me that I’d be making history. I just fell in love with the character.”

Scandal never fails to deliver the thrilling drama week after week as Kerry talks about the dysfunctional story lines that are seen on the show:

The story lines…push what’s possible. But there are stories on the news that change what we think is possible all the time. You hear about a governor who’s disappeared into the Appalachian trail because he has a South American lover, or somebody else’s behavior on Twitter. I mean, if you want to look at presidents having affairs—there are about four I can think of off the top of my head.

Aside from her involvement in Scandal, Kerry says that working with Django Unchained has emotionally draining:

“I feel like I barely survived Django emotionally. The violence. Hearing the N-word every day. It cost me a lot psychologically, but it was worth it to tell that story.”

Though Scandal is having an incredible run right now, Kerry hasn’t stepped away from the big screen roles as she is starring in the upcoming Tyler Perry movie Peeples and talks about how she got offered a part in the film:

“I’m a goofy person. That’s how I ended up in Peeples. Tyler Perry saw me joking around…and said, ‘I had no idea you were this silly.”

Kerry also added that if she hadn’t  pursued an acting career, she would have become a teacher or a shrink.