Kerry Washington wants her children to 'define a life for themselves'

Kerry Washington keeps her children out of the spotlight so they can "define a life for themselves".

The 'Scandal' actress and her husband Nnamdi Asomugha largely keep their relationship out of the public eye so feel it is only fair to do the same for their 10-year-old daughter Isabelle, son Caleb, seven, and the former NFL player's teenage daughter, who he has with a previous partner.

Kerry told People magazine: "I think just from the very beginning, Nnamdi and I have been really protective of our partnership and our relationship, because we wanted it to belong to us, and we found that we were able to define and create a relationship for ourselves and with each other outside of the public eye.

"And I think in many ways, we just want to give our kids that same opportunity to define a life for themselves and to enter the public space in their own way."

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But the 47-year-old star admitted she and Nnamdi are "definitely not as protective as [they] used to be," and their kids still get to enjoy their lives.

She laughed: "They're not, like, locked in a dungeon. They do, you know, come to set, we go places, we do things.

"We do feel like we want to give them agency to engage in a public life in the way they want to, because this is what we do.

"We've chosen to be athletes and artists, and that's our choice. But we want to let them be kids."

Kerry previously admitted there are times she's desperate to share some footage of her "amazing" children but has learned to do so in a relatively private way.

She told 'Sunday Today': "I have moments where I take pictures or videos of one of my three amazing kids and I wanna post it online, and I tend to just send it to my parents or my shrink instead.

"I'm like, 'My kids are so cute and I don't wanna post about them, so look how cute they are!' "