Besides Being a Massive Star, Kerry Washington Is a Mum of 3

Actress Kerry Washington is dedicated to keeping her children out of the spotlight. She and husband Nnamdi Asomugha refrain from publicly sharing any photos of their children, instead choosing to shield them from the limelight to allow them to grow up under as normal of circumstances as possible. The “School For Good and Evil” star has opened up about her children in interviews from time to time, though, and allowed us a glimpse of what it’s like growing up in her household.

Washington and Asomugha’s oldest child, Isabelle Amarachi Asomugha, was born on April 21, 2014. Their second child, Caleb Kelechi Asomugha, was born on Oct. 5, 2016. During a 2018 interview with Today, Washington corrected a host when they stated she had two children, saying, “I’m a mother of three.” Though she didn’t elaborate, she seemed to be making it abundantly clear that Asomugha’s teenage daughter from a previous relationship is as much a child of hers as her biological children, an important reminder about blended families.

Though Washington doesn’t share too many specifics about her children, she’s talked about motherhood, telling Entertainment Tonight in 2015 that she brings her kids work with her sometimes. “I’m really blessed because my daughter gets to be at work with me a lot, so that’s really fun and wonderful. Everybody at work really likes it. She brings a lot of joy wherever she is, so it’s fun to have her around.”

Washington, Asomugha, and the kids are very active and love to swim, Washington said. “My husband teased me that if I did the [DNA test] 23andMe, it would come back 11 percent mermaid,” she told InStyle in January 2020. “My kids are the same way. They’re just fish.” And there’s a good chance Kerry shares pictures of her kids swimming – but you probably won’t ever see them. She told Today in 2019 that she has a private Instagram account to share photos with her shrink, including pictures of her kids.

Washington also told PEOPLE in July 2020 that she’d been taking the time in recent months to educate her kids more about the world around them, specifically about racism. “My kids range from age 3 to 14, so it’s different conversations with different folks. We’re actually doing lots of studying of Africa at home right now. We were just building pyramids out of sugar cubes because we’re talking about Egypt. It’s figuring out how to celebrate Black identity and Black lives outside of a context of struggle. I think the struggle is so important, but so is just planting the seed of cultural value and rich humanity, so that the value of who we are doesn’t come from the limitations that have been placed on us.”