Last week during a Sirius XM Town Hall session with Entertainment Weekly editor Henry Goldblatt, Kerry Washington explained how portraying the role of Olivia Pope on “Scandal” has made motherhood a seamless transition.

“I don’t know if I would be a mom today if it weren’t for her,” she said. “She really has taught me to be resilient and to be able to juggle a lot at once. Both the experience of playing her — because she’s somebody who never backs down, and never gives up and knows there’s always a solution — but also the responsibility of playing her as a professional.”

The Golden Globe-nominated actress explained how balancing work has prompted her to venture outside of her normal comfort zone.

“Being able to juggle those days and juggle those hours and be the No. 1 on the call sheet and all of that — it really opened me up to the possibility of going outside of my comfort zone in terms of what I thought was possible in a lot of ways. She’s taught me to trust in my ability to expand — physically and logistically.”

Check out a portion of Kerry Washington’s Sirius XM Town Hall session in the clip above.

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