Actress Kerry Washington is married with kids, but some people may not know that. The 47-year-old has done a phenomenal job of keeping her life with her husband, Nnamdi Asomugha, private. During an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, the actress explained why privacy is so important to her.
“I think just from the very beginning, Nnamdi and I have been really protective of our partnership and our relationship because we wanted it to belong to us, and we found that we were able to define and create a relationship for ourselves and with each other outside of the public eye,” she said.
“And I think in many ways, we just want to give our kids that same opportunity to define a life for themselves and to enter the public space in their own way,” she added.
The couple has two children together–a boy and a girl. They welcomed Isabelle on April 21, 2014, and their second child, Caleb, on Oct. 5, 2016. The couple also shares a teenage stepdaughter who Asomugha had in a previous relationship.
That said, over the years, Washington says she has become less protective of her kids than she initially was.
“They’re not, like, locked in a dungeon. They do, you know, come to set, we go places, we do things. We do feel like we want to give them agency to engage in a public life in the way they want to, because this is what we do. We’ve chosen to be athletes and artists, and that’s our choice. But we want to let them be kids,” she explained.
Washington has been married since 2013. It’s a rare occurrence to see her and her husband out in public together and this may very well be a key to their marriage success so far. The couple’s children have also only been seen once, when a photo of the family at an event found its way on online. Otherwise, the Asomughas enjoy their privacy, living a full life away from the cameras.
