Kerry Washington Reveals She “Contemplated Suicide” While Battling Toxic Eating Disorder

You probably know and love actress Kerry Washington from her starring role in the hit series, Scandal. She is beloved in Hollywood and known for treating everyone on set with respect.

But behind-the-scenes, she was struggling mightily with a “toxic” eating disorder. She made the shocking admission to Robin Roberts during an upcoming 20/20 special, which is set to air this Sunday.

In a teaser clip released, Washington tells Roberts:

I could feel how the abuse was a way to really hurt myself, as if I didn’t want to be here. It scared me that I could not want to be here because I was in so much pain.

She admitted to being in a “toxic cycle of self-abuse that utilized tools of starvation, binge eating and compulsive exercise.” Roberts asked her if she ever thought about suicide during this difficult time in her life, and Washington replied, “Yeah, yeah. The behavior was tiny little acts of trying to destroy myself.”

.@kerrywashington opens up to @RobinRoberts about how she says her relationship with food and her body once became a toxic cycle of self-abuse: “I could not control it.”

“Kerry Washington: Thicker Than Water” airs Sunday 10/9c on @ABC. https://t.co/bnnOTFBDMf pic.twitter.com/z0CxOXBqKd

— Good Morning America (@GMA) September 21, 2023

Thankfully, her relationship with food is better these days and she no longer experiences “suicide ideation” anymore.

The bottom has gotten a lot higher where just a little discomfort with it is enough for me to know this is a way to check myself. But it definitely looks a lot healthier. It’s a lot easier. It’s a lot saner than it used to be.

As mentioned above, this interview will air on Sunday, just a couple days before Washington’s memoir, Thicker Than Water, hits bookshelves across the nation.