Kerry Washington Opens Up About Hiding Her Pregnancy on Scandal

"The decision of whether or not a character would be on similar journey, I had nothing to do with that decision," the actress insists

By Alyssa Toomey Apr 16, 2014 10:57 PMTags
Scandal bump-hiding attempts, Kerry WashingtonABC

It's the TV scandal of the spring!

While Kerry Washington is quickly approaching her due date, her Scandal character, Olivia Pope, is not expecting a baby, and the showrunners have done a pretty good job of concealing the star's pregnancy with lamps, pillows and pretty much every inanimate object under the sun.

So how has it been on set for the 37-year-old beauty this season as she copes with her growing belly while playing a wine-loving drama magnet?

"I work very physically as an actor. The biggest thing for me has been the challenge of how to be this person [Olivia Pope] with the personal transformation that's going on for me physically and how to stay true to this character. That hasn't been easy," Nnamdi Asomugha's missus tells The Hollywood Reporter. "It's been an awesome challenge for me as an actor because so much of how I access character is through my body. It's definitely been complicated to say the least."

CLICK: Olivia Pope's Top 10 looks on Scandal

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She continued, noting that her pregnancy has challenged her as an actress in addition to bringing up a variety of emotions.

"I've learned a lot about other ways to access Olivia and be her. It's interesting that Olivia has had such a dark season and that's been hard, too. I have my own understanding about who she is and to watch her go through and have to embody some of the things Olivia had to go through this season has really been challenging," she said. "I've always talked about my favorite thing about the character being the balance between her strength and vulnerability, so to be this very strong woman in these very dark periods of emotional vulnerability has been hard—and fun." 

Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

As for the creative (and sometimes hilarious) ways Scandal has concealed Washington's pregnancy? Kerry says she's proud to be a part of a cast who has supported her during this special time in her life.

"I'm just grateful for how hard everybody has worked to maintain the authenticity of this character in this world," she gushed. "I'm grateful to [costume designer] Lyn Paolo and all our producers."

And, like many of the shows secrets, she insists she had no part in deciding whether her character would also be pregnant on the hit ABC series.

"The decision of whether or not a character would be on similar journey, I had nothing to do with that decision," she revealed. "I trust Shonda [Rhimes] with all things. I feel very grateful that we have such an amazing team that was able to protect the character within the context of what the actress was going through."