For Kerry Washington, acting is finally incorporating some of the real-life challenges she deals with on a day to day basis. The “Scandal” alum, whose new Netflix show “American Son” (based on the play of the same name) tackles motherhood, politics, race, social justice and other issues, checked in with ET over the weekend about how rewarding it’s been to play a parent now that she is one, herself. “After playing Olivia Pope for seven seasons, I was having this alternate reality in my real life of becoming a mom and I didn’t get to explore any of the feelings around becoming a mom while I was playing Olivia — because she chose not to be one, which is a choice I totally respect. But to be able to kind of explore how vulnerable parenting makes you is a privilege for me at this point in my career,” Kerry said. “It was so important for me to allow people the privilege of stepping into the lives of this family and being on this roller coaster ride with them,” she continued. “Because I think it gives us all an opportunity to reflect on who we are as a society right now, reflect on who we are in our marriages, in our homes with our kids and just take stock of where we’re at and how we’re doing. …I think we’re at a moment where police violence is such an extraordinary problem in our culture. And I think there’s a danger that these young men and women are becoming statistics. We don’t know their names, or we don’t think about their humanity, we’re just thinking about enormous numbers.” In “American Son,” Kerry plays a woman looking for answers about her missing teenage son. In the process, she reconnects with her estranged husband. Speaking to ET, she explained that thinking about the situation “as a mom,” has put her in touch with “that fear of having a black child and not knowing if they’re going to be OK in the middle of the night.” Kerry added: “And I just feel like tapping into that horror, parental concern and love, is so universal and helps us to protect these young men and women from being statistics and instead being a full, three dimensional, beautiful human beings that they are.” “American Son” arrives on Netflix on Nov. 1.
