Kerry Washington to Release Memoir 'Thicker Than Water'
When it comes to books, there is no bigger cosign than getting a thumbs up from Oprah Winfrey.
Kerry Washington recently celebrated getting a shout-out from the 'Oprah's Book Club' founder in a new video on Instagram.
"Oooooh my god. @oprahdaily posted an excerpt of my book #ThickerthanWater!!!! RIGHT NOW! Check it out!"
In the new memoir, Washington opens up about her early life—including coping with her parents' marital issues.
“They manifested first as a rhythm of anxiety that encircled my brain, then evolved into a rapid pulsing, a whirling frenzy of metallic thumps, like those nauseating old spinning rides at a county fair,” she wrote, according to PEOPLE.
Washington compared the experience to “the sound of terror, wholly unnatural and unconnected to the rhythms of my heart.”
“I was dizzied with terror, no ground beneath me; it was crazy-making, endless. And sad,” she recalled. “There was something so sad about the rhythm. And I couldn’t make it stop. I couldn’t sleep. It was as though the alarms within me had been triggered and there was no turning them off.”
She shared that the experience gave her a sense of anxiety even as a young child.
“Lying in bed, I would race to fall asleep before the sounds would leak from my bones. I would force myself to try to have ‘good’ thoughts,” she wrote.
“I hated that the rhythm came from within me,” Washington continued. “I hated that my own brain was not to be trusted. If I lost the race to sleep and got caught by the rhythm, I had no tools to escape it, no way of controlling my own brain as it conspired against me.”
Washington shared that she hopes her memoir will be well-received by her fans and supporters. "Writing a memoir is, by far, the most deeply personal project I have ever taken on," Washington tells PEOPLE. "I hope that readers will receive it with open hearts and I pray that it offers new insights and perspectives, and invites people into deeper compassion — for themselves and others."
According to a press release, Washington's memoir will give readers "an intimate view into both her public and private worlds — as an artist, an advocate, an entrepreneur, a mother, a daughter, a wife, a Black woman."
“Thicker Than Water” will be released on Sept. 26.
