Kerry Washington tells why she wore one of Whitney Houston’s most iconic dresses to celebrate Black excellence
'Scandal' star Kerry Washington reflects on her decision to wear Whitney Houston's iconic red dress at the American Black Film Festival Honors.
Kerry Washington wore one of Whitney Houston's most iconic dresses to celebrate Black excellence.
The 46-year-old actress was honoured with the Excellence in the Arts Award at the American Black Film Festival Honors, and she marked the occasion by wearing the late singer's red Marc Bouwer gown from 1996 at the ceremony.
She told Extra about her outfit choice: "When you get an award for Black excellence, you gotta go to Black excellence, you know what I mean?”
Kerry added that she was "honoured" to be wearing the piece, while she has been "thinking about (Whitney) a lot" lately.
Asked if the 'I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)' hitmaker - who died aged 48 in 2012 - was an inspiration to her, Kerry said she always tries to remember "all those that have come before us".
She added: "She’s a big inspiration to everybody. I was a huge Whitney fan and she did it all...
"She had the burden of being one of the first, that groundbreaker’s burden… so I try to remember that with all those that have come before us.
"They really laid the path for so many of us that are here tonight, and it was at a cost.”
Meanwhile, the 'Scandal' star - who has kids Isabelle, eight, and Caleb, with husband Nnamdi Asomugha as well as a 17-year-old daughter from his previous relationship - recently opened up about her hopes for her children.
She said: "I think resilience is so important because a lot of times when we get a no in life, it’s really because there’s something better on the horizon, but if we can’t get back up after the fall, then we can’t show up for the better.”
