Kerry Washington reflects on how sexual assault impacted her life

LOS ANGELES: Hollywood actress Kerry Washington, renowned for her portrayal of Broomhilda in Quentin Tarantino's 'Django Unchained', has opened up about the impact of sexual assault on her life.

The 47-year-old 'Scandal' star talked about the assault while addressing her September 2023 memoir, 'Thicker Than Water', at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books held at the University of Southern California, reports 'People' magazine.

In response to a question about how the abuse has influenced her, Washington told Erika D. Smith that it was one of the earliest instances in her life when someone denied the truth to her, causing her to doubt her intuition.

According to 'People', 'Thicker Than Water' chronicles Washington's journey of self-discovery, particularly focusing on the revelation that her father, Earl Washington, was not her biological father, which she learned in the spring of 2018 at the age of 41.

During the event, she explained that she included her experience of sexual assault in the book because it exemplified the truth being withheld from her, hindering her ability to understand her identity.

"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 my truth and experience my truth," Kerry said.

She further elaborated, "And one of those things was that I had survived this sexual assault that was happening at night. And why it was relevant to the story is because of the ways that I was gaslit that I didn't know that something, I didn't know what was happening at night, but I knew that something was happening."

Kerry did not disclose the identity of her alleged abuser in the book but mentioned that the assaults occurred during sleepovers she attended as a child in the Bronx. Allegedly, one of the boys in her neighbourhood would touch her and then deny it.

"When I approached the person who was doing it, he told me that it was in my imagination and that I didn't know what I was talking about and that I was crazy," she shared at the event.