‘Scandal’ Star Kerry Washington Says She Found Out Her Dad Wasn’t Her Biological Father In 2018: “I Was Birthed Into A Lie”

Talk about a scandal. Kerry Washington is opening up about learning that her dad is not her biological father — and that she was instead conceived using a sperm donor.

While promoting her upcoming memoir Thicker Than Water, the actress detailed the shocking revelation, which she found out about after wrapping seven seasons as the lead on ABC‘s Scandal.

Shortly after the series finale in 2018, Washington was planning to appear on Finding Your Roots — the Henry Gates Jr.-hosted PBS show during which celebrities learn about their ancestry through DNA testing.

While her parents were hesitant to provide their DNA samples, they ended up having a private conversation with Gates prior to filming. Instead of having their daughter learn the truth on television, they had a chat with her where Washington found out that her parents used an anonymous sperm donor to help them conceive amid their struggles with fertility.

“It really turned my world upside down,” Washington — who previously revealed that her eating disorder caused her to contemplate suicide — told People. “I think that dissonance of like, ‘Somebody is not telling me something about my body’ made me feel like there was something in my body I had to fix.”

Until that moment, Washington told the New York Times that she had a “nagging sense” that there was something “fraudulent” about her identity. According to the actress, her mother had planned to tell her the truth by leaving a note in a safety deposit box.

“I was birthed into a lie. I was playing a supporting character in my parents’ story,” she said. “I know that their intention was to protect me, to love me, to take care of me, to keep my world simple. I get many years of not telling me, but I’ve been an adult for over two decades.”

While she has tried to track down her biological father, she said there “remains no way to determine” his identity, despite her “best efforts” to do so.

“I’m still missing this piece of not knowing where half of my biology comes from,” she said. “At least I don’t have any of the wrong pieces in the puzzle anymore.”