Kerry Washington, 46, shared particulars concerning the life-changing second she lately came upon that her dad, Earl Washington, just isn’t her organic father, in her new memoir, Thicker Than Water. The proficient actress talked about her new e book and the stunning expertise, in a brand new interview with PEOPLE, this week. “It actually turned my world the wrong way up,” she advised the outlet.
She revealed that she came upon concerning the household secret after she advised her dad and mom she was going to look on Henry Louis Gates Jr.’s Finding Your Roots. The PBS sequence provides celebrities the chance to study their ancestors by way of DNA testing. On the time, Kerry’s mom, Valerie, and her dad, Earl, determined to have a non-public dialog together with her to present her the information about her organic father. The sit-down occurred in spring 2018.
“Once I obtained this info, I used to be like, ‘Oh. I now know my story,’” Kerry defined, including she felt a way of aid since she suspected her dad and mom have been conserving one thing from her for a very long time. “I didn’t know what my story was, however I used to be taking part in the supporting character of their story.”
Kerry went on to disclose that she stayed calm throughout the memorable second, however requested lots of questions. She discovered that her dad and mom selected to make use of an nameless sperm donor to assist them conceive after they struggled with fertility points. Though the information got here as a shock, Kerry thinks her earlier senses led to many bodily points over time.
“I feel that dissonance of like, ‘Someone just isn’t telling me one thing about my physique ‘ made me really feel like there was one thing in my physique I needed to repair,” she stated about scuffling with anxiousness and shallowness points for years. She additionally struggled with an consuming dysfunction when she was youthful, and thinks these points could have been signs of subconsciously sensing her dad and mom’ secret.
Kerry’s emotions concerning the revelation is what impressed her to jot down her memoir, which particulars intimate elements about her life. “That is actually sort of me working to grasp my life up till now, given this new info that I’ve that, in some ways, felt like type of the lacking puzzle piece,” she shared. “My dad and mom weren’t thrilled about me scripting this,” she added, earlier than explaining that “this actually is a e book about me. I now get to step into being an important individual in my life.”
Regardless of her dad and mom’ hesitation concerning the e book, Kerry additional admitted that her relationship with them has solely gotten higher over time. “I actually began to have a lot extra love and compassion and understanding for my dad and mom,” she stated. “Taking this deep dive into our household historical past made me put myself of their sneakers and take into consideration the issues that they’ve needed to navigate and what they’ve been by way of and what they’ve sacrificed. And it actually made me really feel nearer to them.”
Thicker Than Water might be launched on September 26.