Kerry Washington discusses family secrets, generational trauma, and navigating challenging news. She shares her personal journey of transformation, resilience, and healing. Topics include compassion over anger, sharing challenging news, embracing individual journeys, and the transformative power of revealing the truth. This episode is a deep exploration of truth, the human heart, and rewriting one's own story.
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Quick takeaways
Accepting complexity and holding contradictory truths is a reflection of the human experience.
Kerry Washington remains driven by her passion and purpose in the face of challenges and pressure in the entertainment industry.
Portraying characters allowed Kerry Washington to both hide and reveal herself, embracing vulnerability.
Kerry Washington's journey of discovering her true identity taught her the importance of embracing multiple truths and unconditional love.
Deep dives
Finding Truth in Complexity
The podcast episode explores the concept of holding contradictory truths and accepting complexity. Kerry Washington's journey of discovering her true identity and embracing multiple versions of truth is a reflection of the human experience. She shares how she has learned to coexist with seemingly opposite ideas and find beauty in the paradox. This ability to hold multiple truths has come through her yoga practice and her work as an actor, where she is constantly navigating between different identities and emotional expressions.
Navigating the Pressure of Success
As a highly successful actor, Kerry Washington reflects on the pressure and challenges of the entertainment industry. She shares how she has grappled with the business aspects of her career, such as rejection and competition, and how it has sometimes made her question her path. However, she remains driven by her passion and purpose, seeking projects that align with her values and contribute to the emotional truth she wants to express through her work.
Embracing Vulnerability and Emotional Truth
Kerry Washington discusses her journey of embracing vulnerability and revealing her true self through her acting and writing. She found solace in portraying characters that allowed her to express emotions she couldn't always share in her personal life. By embracing these characters, she not only had a safe space to hide, but also to reveal herself. Kerry's commitment to emotional truth has extended to her life off-screen, as she seeks to live authentically and contribute to creating space for emotional vulnerability.
Discovering Truth and Acceptance
Kerry Washington shares her personal revelation about her biological parentage and how it has influenced her perception of truth and acceptance. She describes the shock and sense of puzzle pieces falling into place upon learning about her biological father being a sperm donor. Despite this new truth, Kerry embraces both her father who raised her and the donor who contributed to her genetic makeup, recognizing the complexity and coexistence of multiple father figures in her life. This journey has taught her the importance of unconditional love and embracing truths as they are, rather than seeking a simplified narrative.
The Power of Prayer and Meditation
The best advice Kerry has received is to pray and meditate. She believes that prayer and meditation help her connect to something greater than herself and remind her of her humility. Through these practices, she seeks to foster a deeper understanding of herself and a stronger connection to a higher power.
Rejecting the Notion of Being 'Not Enough'
A belief Kerry is working to unlearn is that she is not enough. She has realized the importance of valuing her own needs and worth, rather than constantly sacrificing herself for others. Kerry is learning to include herself in the equation by prioritizing self-care and recognizing her own importance.
Compassion and Empathy Training for All
Kerry believes that a mandatory compassion and empathy training program for everyone would greatly benefit society. She believes that many social issues and struggles arise from a lack of understanding and care for others. Implementing compassion and empathy training could help prevent abuse, reduce suffering, and foster a more empathetic society.
Thicker Than Water: A Journey of Truth and Discovery
Kerry's memoir, 'Thicker Than Water,' delves into her personal journey of uncovering family secrets and understanding her own story. The book explores themes of sacrifice, love, forgiveness, and the power of truth. Kerry shares her experiences and insights, creating a space for others to reflect on their own family dynamics and explore the importance of self-discovery and authentic connections.
Have you ever resented someone from keeping a secret from you?
Do you often put other people's feelings before your own?
In this incredibly vulnerable episode with Kerry Washington, we dive into the complicated nature of family and generational trauma. We learn about how both compassion and pain co-exist. We explore how to receive and react to challenging news. This episode is one that you definitely do not want to miss if you have ever dealt with navigating familial relationships and dynamics.
Kerry Washington is an Emmy award winning, SAG & Emmy- nominated actor, producer and director, and activist. Washington received widespread recognition for her role as Olivia Pope on ABC’s hit drama Scandal.
Today we get to see a side of Kerry that we’ve never seen or heard before. She takes us through a journey of unveiling a long guarded family secret. A secret that took her down a journey of transformation, resilience and healing. This is a story that we can all relate to in our own ways.
If you love this episode, Kerry’s new memoir is Thicker Than Water and you can hear even more stories about how Kerry has navigated challenges of life.
This conversation is an invitation to explore the depths of truth, the human heart and the transformative power of rewriting your own story.
In this interview, you will learn:
The family secret that changed her life
How she leaned into compassion and not anger
How do you share challenging news to your children or loved ones?
How she embraced her new truth and allowed herself to take control of her narrative
The secret to what has allowed her to be deeply rooted
How we can hold space for many truths at once
How the revelation of a truth can make way for greater and deeper love
We invite you to join us on this deep exploration of secrets, truth, self discovery and witnessing the power of compassion and love in the presence of pain.
With Love and Gratitude,
Jay Shetty
What We Discuss:
00:00 Intro
03:15 What is a childhood memory that stands out to you?
09:11 Kerry describes a panic attack she had at age 7
12:55 “I wasn’t emotionally safe”
16:11 Kerry's feeling of needing to perform at a young age
19:15 Why has Kerry been trying to walk away from acting?
26:30 How we are impacted by our dharma and how we can’t extract our dharna from ourselves
30:37: “I survived a childhood where I learned what truth does not look like and so I am really aware of what it looks like now.”
32:30 How can we get closer to our own personal truth?
33:40: Why keeping ourselves busy = control
37:30 Kerry had to redefine what success means to her
38:08 “Everytime I sat down to write it didn’t feel honest.”
38:50 **book spoiler alert - Kerry shares news that changed her life
39:25 “So my parents sat me down and told me…”
49:25 How to move forward with love after receiving life-changing news
59:08 Growing up with shame
01:03:36 How to have compassion over anger
01:16:16 “Sometimes the truth seems so scary.”
01:16:36 How does a parent tell their kids life changing information?
01:21:19 Bonding together as a family not a part after trauma
01:26:32 How we should allow ourselves to be nurtured by love.
