Celebrity News
Kerry Washington has been minding her happily married and successful life away from the spotlight for the past year or so, shooting and preparing for the release of her new Hulu show, UnPrisoned. And although sis doesn’t need an introduction, her latest character, Paige Alexander -- a therapist who is the daughter of a formerly incarcerated man, the legendary, Delroy Lindo -- does as each of them struggle to find a new normal in her father's transition from lockup to civilian.
The duo recently visited The Late Late Show with James Corden in full press mode, to discuss the show, and what Delroy's character coins as "main bitch energy."
Corden asks, "Kerry, your character has something that's called 'main bitch energy,' what is that and how can I get some?" Her answer?
"Well, it's really--I have to credit Delroy, it's a line that our brilliant writers wrote on the show but his character delivers where he says to his daughter, 'you are a main bitch.' And it's such a beautiful moment where you get to see how sometimes your parents don't tell you exactly what you want to hear, in the way you want to hear it, but what they're saying still has so much meaning and love and is the right thing at the right time."
She continues, "You don't have to be the supporting character in the story of your life, you can be the protagonist of your life. You don't want to be the side piece. You want the main bitch award, you want to be the main bitch."
Kerryyyy. Talk your shit, sis!
And never misconstrue the situation, Washington may be promoting a new character with main bitch energy, but she has always rocked it. For years she has served main bitch realness all up and down the A-list in roles such as Scandal, Django Unchained, Ray, Save the Last Dance, and more. Now, she is bottling that very energy to focus on a bigger picture: prison reform and rehabilitation efforts in the United States, something she says is a main theme and takeaway that she hopes viewers grasp while watching.
“Eighty million Americans are living with a criminal record,” Washington says on a panel to an SXSW audience. “So many of us have been part of the system, or loved someone who was in the system, and many people who have experience with the prison system don’t speak up about their experiences out of shame.”
Creator and producer, Tracy McMillan, who was also present and who the show is loosely based on, agrees, adding, “I hope [UnPrisoned] leads to policy change. That’s the next step."
As for Corden trying to cash in on his main bitch energy lessons, he goes on to point out one of the show producers, who he says runs everything around his studio, to which Washington applauds through snaps, "Yassss, claim your title, claim your power!"
Now that's main bitch energy.
Watch the full clip below:
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Featured image by Josh Brasted/Getty Images for Neutrogena
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