Kerry Washington Details Her Abortion in New Memoir, ‘Thicker Than Water’

Emmy-nominated actress Kerry Washington had a difficult decision to share about her body in her new memoir, Thicker Than Water.

The 46-year-old Hollywood star got candid about the decision to detail her abortion in the memoir. According to People, Washington, a mom of three, said a romantic situation she pursued in her 20s led to the unplanned pregnancy.

“I struggled a lot in the beginning with whether or not to include my abortion story,” Washington said. “At first, I wasn’t really sure how it fit into this story of my life. But I started to feel like it was really important for me to share this.”

The Scandal actress, who was leveling up in the industry then, said she gave the doctors a fake name to protect her privacy.

“This story had so much to do with my understanding of myself and the world as my career unfolded,” she said. Shame and the feeling of hypocrisy weighed heavy on the actress throughout the abortion process as she spent several of her teen years as a sexual health educator. “It’s just so important to me that abortion is not a bad word and that my abortion is not another thing on the list of things that I’m ashamed of,” Washington said. “We’re at a moment where it’s really important to be telling the truth about our reproductive choices because some of those choices are being stripped away from us.”