Kerry Washington Reached Out To Reese Witherspoon For Advice On Entrepreneurship

Kerry Washington’s relationships with other celebrities have proven quite handy, specifically her friendship with Reese Witherspoon.

Washington, 43, started Simpson Street, a production company to help the actress create more opportunities for minorities, in 2016. In her latest interview with InStyle, the “Scandal” actress opened up about reaching out to Witherspoon for some entrepreneurial advice.

“I knew that Reese had several production companies through the years and had learned a lot during the various stages of their development,” the mother-of-two said. “I said to her, ‘You’re killing it now, but tell me all the mistakes you made so I don’t have to reinvent the wheel.’”

To Washington’s surprise, Witherspoon said that no one had ever reached out to her about the topic before.

“She said, ‘Not a single other actress has called me to have this conversation,’” Washington recalled.

The two can be seen acting alongside one another in “Little Fires Everywhere,” a soon-to-come Hulu miniseries. When it comes to the show, Witherspoon and Washington worked behind the scenes to make the mostly female staff of directors and writers as diverse as possible.

Outside of work, Washington’s female bonds are just as strong. In the interview, the actress talked about her friendships with Jennifer Lopez and Isla Fisher and their conversation surrounding her risque Golden Globes look.

“Isla Fisher was at a table with J.Lo, and Isla was like, ‘I’m so stressed out. I just feel like Kerry’s jacket is going to fly open, and it’s going to be a disaster,’” Washington said. “Jennifer Lopez, who is the queen of Topstick, just turned to her and said, ‘She’s fine!’ Jennifer and I are from the same neighborhood in the Bronx, so she’s always looked out for me.”

Growing up the performer said she admired women like Lopez, Rita Moreno, Diahann Carroll, Cicely Tyson, and Barbra Streisand. Although the actress is definitely all about girl power, she isn’t at all against working with men and representing her cultural roots.

“I’m doing a project with two co-producers who are Black men, and it’s a different kind of safety,” she said. “In a room full of women, I still have to translate my Blackness, in a way. In these rooms there is another kind of safety that comes from speaking to the same cultural, racial identity.”