Thicker than Water: A Memoir

by Kerry Washington

With that new approach, the scene began to sing. I asked myself, “What new moment can I discover? What new item can I find in his bag of works? How can I respond to him differently?” This felt like freedom.

Eventually I would I join the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, a committee serving the presidency and cochaired by First Lady Michelle Obama.

Through the course of it I learned how to maintain and nurture authentic closeness and vulnerability over the long haul, through weddings and divorces and illness and births and good times and bad times and everything in between. I had come to understand, accept, and even embrace the limitations of intimacy with my parents. We had found an ease and fluidity with the veils and masks we donned.

This is deep. Love it!

“This is not actually a painting—it’s a puzzle. And if you look closely, that isn’t even the right piece.”

So, after they disclosed the news to me, in some ways I went from being her daughter to one of her closest girlfriends, because I was now witness to the most vulnerable parts of her.

Love this I miss my mom.

She doesn’t even remember seeing the child.

There was no visual evidence of the dream that had become a nightmare; everyone was meant to just soldier on in secret as though nothing horrible had happened.

So sad

When I was born, my mother’s office once again became a nursery, and this time her baby was full of life. But there was a new secret to bury in that room, and she hid it masterfully. She kept it from her mother, her sisters, her best friend, and even her husband. She allowed him to abjure reality in order to protect him from it, just like she tried to protect me.

Women can endure so much pain. 😢

We held hands, we hugged, and we gazed into each other’s eyes—we were like a mother-daughter version of newlyweds.