Kerry Washington knew exactly how to keep her baby bump under wraps. The Scandal star joked about concealing her pregnancy while expecting her second child during a segment on Good Morning America on Wednesday, January 25. “You could play a really fun game for the first five episodes of find the bump,” she told host Michael Strahan of the ABC series’ sixth season, premiering Thursday, January 26. “We shot five episodes before I gave birth.”
While leading Strahan on a tour of the set, Washington, who plays the strong-willed political fixer Olivia Pope on the dramatic series, explained that she relied on props and costumes to hide her pregnancy while filming. “Behind flowers, behind Prada purses,” she said of concealing her bump. “Behind big coats and capes.”
The actress, 39, and her husband, former NFL player Nnamdi Asomugha, welcomed their second child, son Caleb Kelechi, in October 2016. The couple are also parents of daughter Isabelle, 2.
Although she used wardrobe to hide her bump on set, in real life Washington relied on clothing to reveal she was expecting. The actress publicly acknowledged her most recent pregnancy for the first time at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute Gala in NYC in May 2016. Following reports that she was pregnant, the actress cradled her bump in a formfitting sparkly Marc Jacobs dress on the red carpet.
During a January 17 appearance on the Ellen Degeneres Show, Washington revealed that she didn’t know her son’s gender until she gave birth. “I had no idea what I was having,” she told told the talk show host. “I said I hoped it was human. That turned out to be right. It’s a human boy.”
Scandal’s sixth season premieres on ABC Thursday, January 26 at 9 p.m. ET.
