Kerry Washington Opened Up About the Reasoning Behind Her Abortion for the First Time

Kerry Washington is getting candid about the secret abortion she had in her 20s in an effort to help women in similar situations know they’re not alone. When talking to People about her new memoir, Thicker Than Water, the actress opened up about an abortion she had following an unplanned pregnancy that occurred in the early 2000s — and why she’s choosing to shed light on it now.

“I struggled a lot in the beginning with whether or not to include my abortion story," Washington told People shortly before her memoir’s Sept. 26 release. "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.”

Washington wrote in her memoir that she gave a false name to her doctors in order to protect her privacy during the early days of her career when getting the procedure done, explaining to People that “this story had so much to do with my understanding of myself and the world as my career unfolded."

The actress added, "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. 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."

Kerry, who now shares two children and one step-child with husband Nnamdi Asomugha, also explained that she hopes sharing her story will help other women feel less “shame” surrounding the topic of abortion: "I'm telling my truth about my life, excavating some of my secrets," she shared. "I don't want my not telling it to make anybody think there is shame to be had."