Kerry Washington reveals to The Hollywood Reporter exactly why this season of Scandal has been her most challenging season yet — and it was mostly because of her pregnancy.
Throughout filming, Kerry’s baby bump grew considerably as she’s expecting her first child with husband Nnamdi Asomugha. Instead of her character “Olivia Pope” following in Kerry’s footsteps, producers and costume directors had to work extra hard to conceal Kerry’s burgeoning belly.
Check out a few excerpts of what Kerry had to say:
What was the hardest scene for you to film this season?
I work very physically as an actor. The biggest thing for me has been the challenge of how to be this person [Olivia Pope] with the personal transformation that’s going on for me physically and how to stay true to this character. That hasn’t been easy. It’s been an awesome challenge for me as an actor because so much of how I access character is through my body. It’s definitely been complicated to say the least. I’ve learned a lot about other ways to access Olivia and be her. It’s interesting that Olivia has had such a dark season and that’s been hard, too. I have my own understanding about who she is and to watch her go through and have to embody some of the things Olivia had to go through this season has really been challenging. I’ve always talked about my favorite thing about the character being the balance between her strength and vulnerability, so to be this very strong woman in these very dark periods of emotional vulnerability has been hard — and fun (laughs).
What do you think about all the creative ways Scandal has concealed your pregnancy? Is there one that stood out to you?
I’m just grateful for how hard everybody has worked to maintain the authenticity of this character in this world. I’m grateful to [costume designer] Lyn Paolo and all our producers. The decision of whether or not a character would be on similar journey, I had nothing to do with that decision. I trust Shonda with all things. I feel very grateful that we have such an amazing team that was able to protect the character within the context of what the actress was going through.
Read the rest of Kerry’s Interview here. We’ll be excited to watch Season 4 without noticing Kerry always hiding behind lamps or having to experience the scenes from super low camera angles.
