Kerry Washington is opening up about a secret her parents kept from her for decades.
The 46-year-old Scandal star revealed it was only recently that she learned her father, Earl Washington, is not her biological father.
“It really turned my world upside down,” she told People.
During her September 26th appearance on Today with Hoda & Jenna, Washington explained how she was at a loss following the end of Scandal.
“I was already saying, like, ‘Who am I? What will I do next? What is my purpose?’”
Shortly after she agreed to appear on Finding Your Roots, the show where celebrities learn about their family history through DNA testing, her parents asked her to pay them a visit.
“And I went (to them)… and my parents told me that my dad is not my biological father,” she said. “That I was born from a sperm donor.”
Although the revelation was shocking, Washington said it confirmed what she had suspected for many years.
“When my dad told me, I realized every time that I have said, ‘I love you,’ to my dad, that there has been this little part of his brain, conscious or unconscious, that has had to have said, ‘She loves me because she thinks I am her father,’” Washington told ABC News’ Robin Roberts.
“So I’m saying I love him, from his perspective, on the condition of a lie. The moment that he told me, I realized that I had the opportunity to, for the first time, love my father unconditionally. That he got to hear me say, ‘I love you, even though I know.'”
The new information acted as a “call to adventure” for Washington.
“It felt like ‘Well, this is a really exciting opportunity for me to learn more about who I am and who I want to be and to also make sense of my life.’”
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