Life hasn’t always been perfect for our favourite badass Olivia Pope…I mean Kerry Washington. Although we know Kerry Washington as the most beautiful, fashionable awesome chick there ever was… her self esteem wasn’t always so high.

The actress recently sat down with Marie Claire magazine and explained how life was when she was young.

“I didn’t grow up thinking I was pretty; there was always a prettier girl than me. So I learned to be smart and tried to be funny and develop the inside of me, because I felt like that’s what I had,” she says, adding that it also took her some time to get into her fashionista groove. “I just put myself in a boot camp of figuring it out — and realized that I really loved it. I guess because I came to it later in life, I realized, ‘Oh, going to a fashion show is like going to the opening of Degas at the Met or going to see Swan Lake.’”

Althought Kerry had those insecurities she doesn’t want those to be passed on to her daughter Isabelle.

“I just want [her] to know that she’s heard. Really heard, because I feel like that is what we all really want,” Washington said.

“When I think about any of the missteps in my life that I’ve made, all of which I’m grateful for, it’s because I just so wanted to be truly seen and heard for who I am and was afraid I wasn’t or wouldn’t be. I see you, I hear you, I’m with you as you are.”

Although we don’t get to see much of Isabelle, Kerry explains why she likes to keep her life private.

“Earlier in my career I was much more super-sharey. There were moments when I wanted to process things that were happening to me more privately, and I didn’t have the space to do it, because once you let people in, they’re in and you don’t get to say, ‘Oh, I want this for myself.”

I think Kerry is very empowering for women and it’s nice to see a celebrity open up about their insecurities and explain ways to overcome these issues.