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'I Don't Know My Own Truth': Kerry Washington Shares How Sexual Assault Impacted Her Life
Washington’s memoir, Thicker Than Water, isn’t just about her assault, it also delves into her journey, including that Earl Washington is not her biological father.
Trigger Warning: This article includes references to sexual abuse
When we think of Kerry Washington, we often think of her dazzling performances in Scandal and Django Unchained. But behind the spotlight, Kerry has a personal story to tell. At the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, she talked about her 2023 memoir, Thicker Than Water.
She opened up about how the sexual assault she experienced as a child has changed her life. Let’s delve further to see how that particular incident changed her perspective of seeing herself and the world now.
Unraveling family secrets
Kerry, spoke to Erika D. Smith about a significant incident from her past. When asked about how the abuse has shaped her, Kerry told Erika, “It was one of the early instances in her life when someone denied the truth to her and made her doubt her intuition.”
Kerry chose to share this deeply personal experience to shed light on the struggles of understanding ourselves when confronted with painful truths. Although Kerry didn’t name the person who hurt her, she revealed that these assaults happened during sleepovers she attended as a child in the Bronx.
Why she chose to share the abuse in her book
She even shared her reason for including her assault experience in the book. “It was important to share this because I was gaslit that I didn’t know what was happening at night, even though I knew something was wrong. When I talked to the person who was doing it, he told me that it was in my imagination, all in my head and that I was crazy,” she explained.
This experience of being told she was wrong when she knew something was off became a pattern in Kerry’s life. Kerry mentioned that she often battled with herself. Whenever she had a gut feeling or an idea, another voice inside her head would dismiss it, saying, “You’re crazy. You don’t know what you’re talking about. That’s not true.” She added, “"And so that's what I feel like I've spent a lot of my life trying to beat back — the messaging that I don't know my own truth.”
ALSO READ: ‘It Is Really The Story Of An Accidental Career’: Tom Selleck Opens Up About His Upcoming Memoir
The truth about Kerry’s biological father
At 41, she discovered that her dad, Earl Washington wasn’t her biological father. At the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, she said, “The version of the story that I want to tell is the version of figuring out the truth of who I am and what were the obstacles that got in the way of me being able to know and experience my truth.”
Like her parents withholding the truth about her biological father, Kerry had also kept her assault experiences hidden. But by confronting her past and speaking her truth, she learned to trust herself again. At the Fest, she shared, “When they gave me this truth about my genetics, one of the things, they gave me was truly a pathway back to myself, a pathway to trust my instincts again.”
Disclaimer: If you need support or know someone who is struggling with domestic violence or assault or abuse, please reach out to your nearest mental health specialist, or NGO or speak to someone about it. There are several helplines available for the same.
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