Kerry Washington made her first public appearance since having a baby yesterday at the Crystal + Lucy Awards in LA yesterday with Shonda Rhimes, the mother of Olivia Pope. I wrote about Shonda earlier this week. About her wonderful commencement speech at Dartmouth. About her approach to the Work and her attitude about the Dream. About how important it is, for her, and for many other women, to have the Work and continue to do the Work. Click here if you missed it. Why isn’t she given the same respect that’s extended to the male showrunners on non-network programs? They don’t talk about Rhimes the way they talk about Weiner, Vince Gilligan, Chase…
Speaking of the Work and the Mother, Kerry had very little to say about her pregnancy when she was pregnant (I have almost completely forgotten about the belly-cupping) and, unlike Mila Kunis’s soon-to-be shredded vagina, isn’t all that forthcoming about it now. During a Q&A with the LA Times earlier this week that also included questions from Twitter, a fan asked:
"Now that you're a mom will it be bittersweet to go back to work?"
I have issues with this question. Because it’s a question based on an expectation: that you SHOULD feel guilty to go back to work, that that is what a woman must feel after having a child, that if, for some reason, she doesn’t feel that way, she must be lacking as a mother.
Kerry’s response:
"So tricky because you know I don't talk about this stuff. But I will say I feel really, really blessed. I just feel really blessed that I'm kind of living extraordinary dreams come true in my work life and in my personal life."
What do you see there? Is that…is that… a clear line? I think it is. I think that might be a clear line. She just showed me a line that she hasn’t kept moving.
