Kerry Washington revealed that she previously kept her engagement ring hidden inside her clothes to keep her relationship with NFL star Nnamdi Asomugha a secret.
“I used to pin my engagement ring to my undergarments because I loved my ring so much, so I would sleep in it at night, and then in the morning, I would pin it to my undergarments so that nobody knew we were engaged,” Washington, 47, recalled during a recent appearance on SiriusXM’s This Life of Mine with James Corden.
Washington and Asomugha, 42, have been married for ten years and share daughter Isabelle, 9, and son Caleb, 7. The Django Unchained star is also stepmother to her husband’s daughter from a previous relationship, Anaiya, 18.
Though she is now open about their romance, Washington explained how she avoided people discovering their engagement over a decade ago when they were both in the limelight. Asomugha played for the Oakland Raiders from 2003-2010, followed by two seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles, before ending his career with the San Francisco 49ers in 2013. He was regarded as one of the top cornerbacks, and Washington recalled they met when she starred in Scandal.
“He had a groundbreaking, record-breaking contract that he had just walked through, and he had been in three or four Pro Bowls, you know. When I met him, he was on the cover of Sports Illustrated, and I was on this hit show,” she explained to Corden. “It just felt like there was a lot of public energy around our careers, but we kept our relationship very private when we were dating, I think mostly because we just wanted to protect ourselves and each other.”
They couple secretly married in June 2013 in Hailey, Idaho. They stayed at a resort on an island off the coast of Zanzibar for their honeymoon, which Washington described as “the happiest two weeks of my life.”
She keeps a collection of shells from her honeymoon which represents how joyful they were being away from the public spotlight.
“It reminds me of the space that we gave ourselves to start our life together as a couple in this really sacred way. You know, having this sort of very private, secretive wedding and then just jumping off into this very remote place to really begin our lives together,” Washington said. “I love that. I love that jar. It always makes me feel so grateful for the life that I have.”
Before meeting Asomugha, the Emmy winner publicly announced she was engaged to actor David Moscow in October 2004. Their eventual breakup in March 2007 was widely publicized. She says having her personal life exposed caused her to keep her love life private.
“I think it’s really hard when people have a lot to say about your relationship,” Washington added. “I had been in a really public engagement that when it ended, I was in the unfortunate position of being on the cover of a bridal magazine and it was a bridal magazine that came out quarterly, so for three months I walked around and I thought, ‘I think I’m done talking about my personal life in the public.'”
