TV drama Scandal has garnered fans of political intrigue in every house – including a certain White one. ALIZA LICHT, aka social- media phenomenon DKNY PR Girl, speaks to its star, KERRY WASHINGTON, about the show’s strengths and the importance of Olivia Pope’s heels.
Every Thursday evening during Scandal season, millions of us tune in not just to watch Olivia Pope do battle with her White House enemies, but to Twitter, to read actress Kerry Washington’s live tweets of each show. Those in the know also hang on to every word of @DKNY, the account of Aliza Licht, Senior Vice President of Global Communications for Donna Karan and DKNY, who tweets her reactions during every episode to her 500,000+ followers. So what happened when The EDIT took it offline and invited the two to meet during New York Fashion Week? Over to Licht…
“Don’t ever ask me to make dinner plans on a Thursday, because I will decline. You see, on Thursday nights, millions of Scandal fans sit on a virtual couch together and wait with bated breath to see what Olivia Pope – the Washington DC crisis manager portrayed by Kerry Washington, 38 – has in store for us. Using #TGIT, we know that if we don’t watch an episode live, then we better run and hide from social media.
Which is why, on the morning of the recent Donna Karan FW15 runway show, instead of doing my last-minute prep, I found myself sitting in the restaurant of New York’s Mandarin Oriental hotel, waiting for Washington to arrive. As a ‘gladiator’ – the pet name that Olivia Pope gives her employees and Scandal gives its fans – I couldn’t wait to chat…”
AL: Now that you have established this huge presence in social media, do you feel like you can’t make plans on Thursdays?
KW: Oh yes, I have no social life on a Thursday! Every Thursday within three weeks of my [daughter Isabelle’s] due date, I loaded up pre-tweets based on the episodes and what I would want to say.
Did you tweet while you were actually in labor?
I tweeted in the very early stages of my labor. I figured that if I went completely silent on social media, then people would know I was in the hospital!
In the online world, everyone can air their opinions. Do you ever feel people take Scandal too seriously?
[Some people] do get caught up. Bellamy Young [who plays Olivia’s nemesis, Mellie Grant] and I are really good friends and sometimes when people see us out together they get very confused. I take it as a compliment.
How do you deal with negativity?
I’m really open to freedom of expression and I’m open to differences in opinion. But I draw the line at any level of sexism, racism, hatred or violence, so I block or report those people to [Twitter’s] security.
What do you think of Olivia Pope? Is there anything that you don’t like about her?
I love her. To me she’s like family, and with family, it doesn’t matter if you like them or not, you love them no matter what. I don’t always agree with her choices, but I have a lot of compassion for them.
What is the biggest difference between you and Olivia?
I do a lot of therapy! Not to say that I have it all together, but I think I have a little bit more awareness about my behavior patterns and I do the work it takes to get out of them.
What do you think Olivia’s main message is?
I don’t think [Scandal writer] Shonda Rhimes thinks in terms of messages, she thinks in terms of storytelling. She never wrote Olivia Pope to be a role model; she wrote her to be a human being, and part of what people identify with so much is that she is conflicted. In some ways, she’s so aspirational – you want to walk like her, dress like her, command attention like her and control a situation like her. In other ways, she’s a warning of what not to be.
Is your husband [former NFL player Nnamdi Asomugha] ‘Team Fitz’ or does he want Olivia to stand in the sun?
I have never asked my husband that, actually. But I would say that we are all ‘Team Shonda’. I really love that in the episode Where The Sun Don’t Shine, Olivia said, “I choose me.” That is a really powerful message.
Let’s talk about Scandal style. The clothing did something from the very beginning.
The fashion on the show is almost another character – [costume designer] Lyn Paolo and I were on the same page about that from day one. When we sat down to discuss Olivia’s wardrobe, we had pulled all the same images off the internet and from magazines. I think because Lyn had worked on [political] shows like The West Wing before, she really understood the aesthetic of Washington, and I had already been working for the White House for two years when I started this job. We wanted to get out of the typical navy-blue, boxy, ‘woman in a man’s suit’ definition of power dressing.
How do you get into the ‘Olivia Pope’ mindset?
The biggest thing for me are the shoes. I’ll wear Uggs around set, but I can’t rehearse a scene in them because I don’t feel like Olivia until I put the shoes on. Shoes define how you walk in the world and how you stand, like: what is your posture in life?
How would you define your personal style?
I’m a very moody dresser. For the red carpet, I am totally a stiletto girl. But in the rest of my life, I would say I’m 50/50. I love a good heel, but I also have a really great sneaker collection – that’s the Bronx girl in me.
Do you feel an obligation to be politically active?
I have a sense of responsibility that was ingrained in me as a kid, but I’m not perfect; I haven’t voted in every election. But I’m trying to be better about it because so many people put their lives on the line for me to have this right.
If you weren’t an actress, what would you be doing? Do you think you would be in politics?
I would be involved in politics, but I would probably be teaching. It’s what my mother did, so it’s in my blood. My mother is so badass. I watched her get her doctorate when I was a little girl: she got that around the same time that I graduated from kindergarten so we both had caps and gowns. I grew up with a belief in the importance of a woman’s mind and that has been a real gift for me.
Did Scandal appeal to you because of the Washington DC tie-in?
When my agents called me about the script, they said, ‘It’s almost like Shonda Rhimes wrote it for you.’ I read it and thought, ‘What do I have to do to get this?’
Let’s talk about cashmere at home and red wine. I’ve seen many a Donna Karan cashmere piece in that apartment.
Yes, we love our Donna! I remember early on in season one, Shonda came on set to talk to me about one of those ‘Olivia alone in her apartment’ moments. She looked at me and was like, ‘Well, of course that’s how Olivia sits at home, in her silk and cashmere.’
I feel like, in the beginning, everyone was like, wait, are we supposed to look that good at home, too?
I love that I get to feel elegant at home. When you’re at home, be good to yourself. It’s not about trying to impress anybody.
It’s a great mantra. What’s your favorite wine?
I don’t really drink.
This is such a problem.
I know. I drink Welch’s organic grape juice on the show.
How have Scandal fans surprised you the most?
By giving us life. We wouldn’t have a show if it weren’t for people like you. You know, I had a relationship with the President and the First Lady from my work for the [Obama 2012] campaign. When Scandal first came on, they all pity-watched, like, oh, Kerry’s been good to us, we should tune in because maybe nobody will watch. Now the First Lady’s Chief of Staff and the President’s Senior Advisor are like, ‘What’s happening next week?’ and I’m like, ‘What’s happening with healthcare?!’
How do you hope Olivia Pope will be remembered?
I hope people remember her as a complicated, fully realized human being; she’s not a stereotype and she’s not an accessory. I think that it’s important for women to know, in film and in TV and in life, that you can be the lead of your own story. I hope she’s remembered for that, as somebody who is the driving force of her own life.
Watch Season 4 of Scandal now. Aliza’s book, Leave Your Mark, is out May 5.
