Kerry Washington opens up about the unconventional ways she learned the man who raised her is not her biological father. In an interview with PEOPLE, the actress shared her parents informed her of the paternity truth in 2018 after she told them she was due to appear on PBS’ ancestry-tracing series Finding Your Roots.
“It really turned my world upside down,” explained the 46-year-old.
She later added, “This is really kind of me working to understand my life up until now, given this new information that I have that, in many ways, felt like sort of the missing puzzle piece.
During a sit-down with her parents, Valerie and Earl Washington, the UnPrisoned star learned her mother and father used an anonymous sperm donor to conceive due to fertility issues. Understanding this information motivated Washington to write her pending memoir Thicker Than Water according to the outlet.
“My parents were not thrilled about me writing this,” explained the New York native. She continued to detail however that through the entire process, her parents grew more supportive and the three were able to strengthen their relationship.
“I really started to have so much more love and compassion and understanding for my parents,” Washington detailed. “Taking this deep dive into our family history made me put myself in their shoes and think about the things that they’ve had to navigate and what they’ve been through and what they’ve sacrificed. And it really made me feel closer to them.”
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