Kerry Washington: Didn’t Grow Up Feeling Pretty + See Her Marie Claire Cover!

The cover slayage continues, compliments of Scandal star Kerry Washington. The 35-year-old new mommy (she pushed out a healthy baby girl, Isabelle, last April) is gracing the April 2015 issue of Marie Claire. For the cover story, Kerry was interviewed by Lena Dunham, the star and creator of HBO series, Girls. Check out a few excerpts.

On privacy:

Earlier in my career I was much more super-sharey. There were moments when I wanted to process things that were happening to me more privately, and I didn’t have the space to do it, because once you let people in, they’re in and you don’t get to say, ‘Oh, I want this for myself.’

On collaborating with Scandal creator Shonda Rhimes:

I’m very respectful of Shonda’s vision of who Olivia [Pope] is, but she has said that she is informed by the choices I make. If we were waltzing, she’s definitely leading. And she picked the song, and she probably dressed us, but it is a waltz.

On fashion:

I just put myself in a boot camp of figuring it out—and realized that I really loved it. I guess because I came to it later in life, I realized, ‘Oh, going to a fashion show is like going to the opening of Degas at the Met or going to see Swan Lake.’

On growing up:

I didn’t grow up thinking I was pretty; there was always a prettier girl than me. So I learned

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to be smart and tried to be funny and develop the inside of me, because I felt like that’s what I had.

On family:

I just want [daughter Isabelle] to know that she’s heard. Really heard, because I feel like that is what we all really want. When I think about any of the missteps in my life that I’ve made, all of which I’m grateful for, it’s because I just so wanted to be truly seen and heard for who I am and was afraid I wasn’t or wouldn’t be. I see you, I hear you, I’m with you as you are.

On Olivia Pope:

I don’t think I consciously say, ‘What would Olivia Pope do?’ but there’s a new thread of belief in my own capacity that I think comes from her. She makes it happen. She figures it out. She fixes it.”

The full issue hits newsstands March 24. [Marie Claire]

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