Kerry Washington is on the cover of October’s Glamour magazine looking gorgeous as usual. She discusses her role on hit TV show Scandal, her style evolution and deftly avoids revealing anything about her marriage to NFL star Nnamdi Asomugha.
On her journey with fashion and becoming the fierce, red carpet head-turner she is:
It started out as, like, Good-Student Kerry. OK, I’m going to admit this: There were a couple of actresses whom I felt were having the upper hand careerwise—because they knew how to work that red carpet. I was like, “I’m missing a really important tool. If I am the CEO of the Kerry Washington Corporation, my marketing department is really lax.” So I sort of developed a new character: Red-Carpet Kerry.
And I researched her like any other character. I actually called Tracee Ellis Ross [the actress and Diana Ross’s daughter], who’s a good friend, and literally asked, “How do you pronounce Hermès?” Red-Carpet Kerry needed to know.
The professor’s daughter kicked in. I was doing library hours on fashion. And then it happened—I was in love.
Who she considers her real life Gladiators:
My closest girlfriends from college, and I’m really close to the girls on the show. It’s a sisterhood.… That’s the big thing that really differentiates me from Olivia: She compartmentalizes her relationships. I really try to let my friends into all of my life. They know that Red-Carpet Kerry is a version of Kerry, and they know that DNC Speaker Kerry is me.
On her surprise marriage and why she keeps her relationships private:
I learned through experience that it doesn’t work for me to talk about my personal life. I’ve had earlier times in my career when I did talk about it. I was on the cover of a bridal magazine [InStyle Weddings, in 2005, when Washington was engaged to actor David Moscow]. But I couldn’t just turn around and say, “I only want to talk about the good stuff, but not the bad stuff.” So I just thought, OK, no more.
I’m walking around in the world with my ring. And when people say congratulations, I say thank you. But I’m going to continue to not talk about it and just let it unfold.
I don’t want to sound smug about it…but the point is to do what’s best for me. I have girlfriends in this business who talk about their personal lives, and it works for them, and I love it. But not for me.
The issue hits stands September 10th. Check out the fab photos from the shoot.
