{"id":48923,"date":"2026-03-06T19:56:41","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T19:56:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/?p=48923"},"modified":"2026-03-06T19:56:44","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T19:56:44","slug":"kerry-washington-on-memes-botox-and-imperfect-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/2026\/03\/06\/kerry-washington-on-memes-botox-and-imperfect-women\/","title":{"rendered":"Kerry Washington on memes, Botox and imperfect women"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

But there\u2019s also the roles themselves. The characters Washington plays have bite \u2013 they\u2019re complex women that defy neat categorisation. Her role as Olivia Pope, the sleek political fixer in ABC\u2019s Scandal<\/a>, became a global sensation \u2013 and was the first time a Black woman led a network show in nearly 40 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now Washington is back with a new project offering not just one complicated leading lady but three. Imperfect Women, Apple TV\u2019s adaptation of Araminta Hall\u2019s novel, brings Washington together with Elisabeth Moss<\/a> and Kate Mara<\/a> in a glossy murder mystery that puts female friendship \u2013 its love, loyalty, secrets and rivalry \u2013 at the heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the world we live in, there is so much pressure for women to look a certain way, behave a certain way, to please, to conform, so when we break the rules, when we get messy, it\u2019s riveting,\u201d says Washington when we meet in London.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bubbling<\/a>
Bubbling up \u2026 (from left) Elisabeth Moss, Kerry Washington and Kate Mara in Imperfect Women. Photograph: Nicole Weingart\/Apple TV<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, Imperfect Women has already drawn comparisons to two prestige shows with precisely this recipe \u2013 Big Little Lies<\/a> and The White Lotus<\/a>. Like the former, the drama unfolds in a moneyed milieu in California, though instead of women linked by their children\u2019s school, this time it\u2019s three old college friends \u2013 there\u2019s Eleanor (played by Washington), an award-winning philanthropist from a wealthy family; Nancy (Mara) whose marriage into high society belies her humble beginnings; and Mary (Moss), a stay-at-home writer\/mum with a professor husband. It\u2019s a \u201cchoose your fighter\u201d of idealised womanhood; that is until, much like in Mike White\u2019s luxury resort drama, family secrets, trauma and the age-old faultlines of class and race appear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fans of Washington\u2019s many faces will undoubtedly enjoy her performance, as Eleanor staggers from one high-octane emotional moment to another \u2013 from betrayal by a loved one to being disbelieved by the authorities, all with that background unease of being observed and in turn judged (a pressure that feels distinctly female). These are, after all, classic themes of the psychological thriller, though I do wonder about the power of surveillance as a fear factor. Isn\u2019t such a loss of privacy par for the course now thanks to social media? Aren\u2019t we all living in this nightmare? Isn\u2019t Washington especially, as an actual celebrity?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen something goes viral, it\u2019s so overwhelming,\u201d she replies. For Washington, living in an age without privacy \u2013 \u201cwith the inability to control something once it\u2019s out there\u201d \u2013 is highly scary. She recalls filming the scene in which her character has details of her romantic life leaked online. \u201cWhen we were shooting that scene, a bunch of people that work in my production company were like: \u2018We have never seen that side of you, like the level of anger and terror coexisting in your body.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How did a show like Imperfect Women, which set out to create truly three-dimensional female characters, cope with the way audiences react to \u201cmessy\u201d women? It has long been said that while TV\u2019s male antiheroes get to be morally void (think The Sopranos\u2019 Tony or Breaking Bad\u2019s Walter White), antiheroines still have to ultimately be \u201cgood\u201d \u2013 redeemable, and their bad actions psychologically explained \u2013 to have audiences engage with them. Didn\u2019t this show struggle with the same burden, to make their \u201cimperfect\u201d women sympathetic?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/TKEPv8FBeSw?wmode=opaque&feature=oembed\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

She pushes back on this. In Imperfect Women, she says, there is not one fixed truth; here the viewers are invited to see events from each of the women\u2019s perspectives. That, says Washington, is \u201cone of the really important elements\u201d \u2013 to consider a point of view other than your own. \u201cAt a time when we are so tribal and so unwilling in culture to see things from somebody else\u2019s perspective, I think allowing an audience to actually walk through a set of facts from multiple points of views is a real exercise in empathy and sympathy \u2013 and a service.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With all this talk of meaty characters, one might think that there is a glut of complex female roles these days. \u201cIt\u2019s better [than it was]. And I think it\u2019s mostly better because so many of us have become producers.\u201d Washington is an executive producer on Imperfect Women through her company Simpson Street (which was also behind her work on the multiple Emmy-nominated Little Fires Everywhere<\/a> \u2013 another book to TV adaptation that focuses on messy female relationships). Same for Elisabeth Moss and her company, Love & Squalor Pictures. \u201cWe\u2019re not sitting at home waiting to be invited to the party. We\u2019re throwing our own parties and our parties centre us. That\u2019s part of why there are more of these stories. It\u2019s not by any means equitable. But it\u2019s a lot better.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m curious whether she feels the same thing about roles for women of colour. It\u2019s said that the only reason the much loved character of Olivia Pope in Scandal was allowed to remain as a Black woman was because she was based on a real-life Black woman, Judy Smith, George W Bush\u2019s deputy press secretary. Otherwise, chances are the network would have found it too risky. Has that changed since she herself rewrote the formula of who can be a leading lady?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA little, but there\u2019s also tremendous backlash. There\u2019s a denial of DEI and reversal of policy, so though I think it had gotten better, there\u2019s a lot of pulling in and retreating from inclusivity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Washington<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the original novel, the three main women are white. They\u2019re also British in the book (they meet at the University of Oxford), but in the TV show they\u2019re all from the US (though I suspect that bit of creative licence is unlikely to attract the same ire from those furious about colourblind casting). What would she say to people who might take umbrage at these tweaks?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI mean \u2026 do I have to say anything to them or do I just let them be on their merry way,\u201d she replies wryly. It is a pleasure to see her bat this \u2013 and perhaps in turn, them \u2013 away so elegantly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But she gives a little more. \u201cIt is what it is. It adds something. It adds more complexity and more depth, and I don\u2019t think there\u2019s a right or wrong. I just think we\u2019ve cast a Black woman in this role and it allowed us to play with some different themes and ideas. I also had to ask myself: who is this Black woman who only has white friends? Why?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I tell Washington that in my research for this article I came across an interview with her for Bloomberg where she pressed quite strongly that her work with Simpson Street is not political. (\u201cIt\u2019s just human,\u201d she says in the interview.) Yet much of what we\u2019ve discussed is quite clearly political. Why did she feel the need to say that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople need to be challenged on what it means to create political work. Because when they see work that centres somebody that exists on the margins, they insist that\u2019s political. But I think it\u2019s just inclusive. So when I centre myself, I\u2019m not carving out a space to say something political. I\u2019m just honouring that I\u2019m a human and I deserve to have my story told.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo say to artists of colour that centring ourselves is an inherent political act as opposed to a creative one feels unfair.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Washington<\/a>
Center ground \u2026 Washington as Eleanor in Imperfect Women. Photograph: Courtesy of Apple<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s important to mention that putting aside lofty debates on the relationship between politics and art, Washington is<\/em> political, as in party political. She\u2019s campaigned for the Democrats, and has done her bit to encourage<\/a> voter registration. Surely she has no problem with the label?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t mind it. I said this when I spoke at the [Democratic National Convention] a million years ago, I said: \u2018You may not be thinking about politics, but politics is always thinking about you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cReally, everything is political. When we centre white characters, that\u2019s also political from my point of view. Encouraging empathy and compassion \u2013 which I think the show does \u2013 is political. I just don\u2019t think the burden should be put only on women or artists of colour who do that. Everyone who\u2019s telling a good story is doing that political act.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo I don\u2019t mind the association, but I also want to be able to be an artist and not be accused of having an agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Time is running out, but before I go I do have to ask her about the memes. \u201cIt\u2019s an accolade!\u201d I beam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She doesn\u2019t seem quite as enthusiastic: \u201cIs it?! Why?\u201d she asks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It seems obvious to me: it\u2019s evidence of being a singular acting talent. After all, not many have that additional visual storytelling ability \u2013 but also I have a theory that in the age of Botox, women having expressions is just really important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Washington agrees. \u201cThere\u2019s a study about young men having a hard time embracing emotion from their female partners because they grew up with moms that didn\u2019t express feelings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cActors are such strange people. We wait at home for a phone call that someone wants us to cry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But feelings are good. I like having feelings. I mean, I am not afraid of a dermatologist, I love a laser and I think being proactive about ageing gracefully is a beautiful thing. But I also know my job is to have feelings.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Imperfect Women is on Apple TV from <\/em>18 March<\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

But there\u2019s also the roles themselves. The characters Washington plays have bite \u2013 they\u2019re complex women that defy neat categorisation. Her role as Olivia Pope, the sleek political fixer in ABC\u2019s Scandal, became a global sensation \u2013 and was the first time a Black woman led a network show in nearly 40 years. Now Washington is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":48924,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[80],"tags":[11261,9951,12487,3504,12981,6573,7355,8178,12982,5268,2848,7599,287,10484,3513,12084,913,6576,12978,12310,5455,9026,8057,746,12210,6225,12280,12983,11493,3040,12979,1316,257,9765,5423,3684,6220,3072,5802,12309,5382,12980,6332,7039,5424,7296,10614,10313,6200,8459,12264,6736,5349,5470,11325,10841,11089,146,214,6348,12621,2354,6571,5273,5320,10415,36,594,12347,5140,9550],"class_list":["post-48923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-accused","tag-age","tag-agenda","tag-apple","tag-big-little-lies","tag-black","tag-black-woman","tag-bloomberg","tag-botox","tag-british","tag-california","tag-celebrity","tag-children","tag-convention","tag-culture","tag-dei","tag-democratic","tag-democrats","tag-elisabeth-moss","tag-exercise","tag-family","tag-fans","tag-fear","tag-feel","tag-female","tag-friends","tag-glut","tag-imperfect-women","tag-interview","tag-kate","tag-kate-mara","tag-kelly-washington","tag-kerry-washington","tag-leaked","tag-lies","tag-london","tag-love","tag-mara","tag-marriage","tag-men","tag-murder","tag-olivia-pope","tag-online","tag-phone","tag-politics","tag-pope","tag-privacy","tag-professor","tag-race","tag-rivalry","tag-scandal","tag-school","tag-social-media","tag-space","tag-street","tag-surveillance","tag-terror","tag-truth","tag-university","tag-us","tag-void","tag-washington","tag-white","tag-woman","tag-women","tag-work","tag-world","tag-who","tag-writer","tag-young","tag-youtube"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48923"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48923\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48925,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48923\/revisions\/48925"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}