You asked and Kerry Washington answered in our first of its kind Scandal-fan driven exclusive interview!

First, let me give a huge, huge thanks for your awesome response, TV Fanatics! I had the idea to have readers submit questions and didn't know if it would work at all and just hoped it wouldn't flop. You guys did not disappoint! If you don't see your submission answered here, it's not because it wasn't a good question. It's that I only had a short amount of time to conduct this interview and I did my best to ask as many of your questions as I could.

So, without further ado, here's YOUR interview with Kerry Washington.

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TV Fanatic: Have you (KW) ever been disappointed by, disagreed with, or questioned any decisions made by Olivia? (in relation to anything: Fitz, Edison, DC5 affiliation, Quinn, Abby...) --lsps07
Kerry Washington: Yeah, I mean playing her really challenges me a lot. I had someone walk up to me in the grocery store over the weekend and say "I actually talk about Olivia in therapy because I don't know why every week I'm rooting for this woman to be with this married man," and I was like "well that makes two of us." I think it's great that her journey really challenges us to ask ourselves about right and wrong and decisions and ethics and moral fiber.

TVF: What has been your favorite surprising twist so far? --kendylsue
KW: They just keep coming. It really keeps me on my toes. There have been times where I've really struggled with the character and her decisions in a very real way.

TVF: You have fantastic style, we've seen your red carpet looks. And Olivia Pope is quickly becoming a fashion icon herself. Is there anything "style wise" that you have brought to the character or that you have borrowed from the character?--JennMW
KW: Lyn Paolo, the costume designer, and I worked very closely together as a team to develop Olivia's aesthetic. When we met for the first time actually, we both had pictures ripped out of magazines and from online and we had about 90% of the exact same images. We work very closely in every fitting together as a team.

TVF: When did you begin to think about acting as a craft and form of storytelling instead of as a way of just entertaining people and making money? Your interviews have made me realize that acting is not just about making money. Thank you for enlightening me in that way.--SallySadie
KW: Interesting! You know, I think in a way, it's always been about that for me. I fell in love with acting at a young age and for a long time the part of it that was about the money and the fame, that made me think that acting was something that I didn't want to do. I was kind of intimidated by the fame part of the business and I thought, "well, I don't think I'm going to be an actor because that's not what I love about it." And then, I guess when I was in college, I started to learn about actors' unions, about SAG and AFTRA and Equity, and the idea that there were actors' unions helped me understand that I didn't have to want to be famous. That there were people who were part of a union, they were workers, they were people who made a living doing what they loved to do. And I could just do that, you know? I didn't have to have the goal of being famous, but I could pursue making a life for myself doing what I love to do.

TVF: Will we get to meet Olivia's mom, dad, sister(s), brother(s)? When will we learn about Olivia's past? --Rocdiva4040, Nikki528, and Valentina13
KW: That's a good question for Shonda [Rhimes, Executive Producer]!

TVF: Does Olivia consider Cyrus a friend or a foe?--overthinking
KW: Olivia and Cyrus have a very complicated relationship. And again, I think their relationship is one of the relationships that people are going to find most intriguing in the next two episodes.

TVF: How invested is Olivia in the relationship with Edison? She was shocked that Fitz chose him over the other candidate. Is she moving on or just doing so to fool Fitz and herself?--Sa'ad702
KW: I think Olivia is really trying to move on. I think she's really trying to do that. There's that great expression, "to go where the love is," you know, and I think that's something. I love reading the responses from our Gladiators because some people are so, they don't want Edison to be around, they only beleive in the love between Fitz and Olivia and yet other people are so happy for Olivia that she has someone who's available to her in a healthy, loving way. So it's really fun to see the responses right now.

TVF: Olivia told the President last season that Cyrus was capable of doing monstrous things - i.e. was behind the Amanda Tanner murder - yet, she's so easily persuaded by people like him and Mellie when it comes to giving up on her relationship with Fitz. Do you think she'll ever stand up to the two of them? --SarahLeeV
KW: That's a good question! I think you'll have to stay tuned!

There you have it, readers, straight from the star of Scandal herself! Tonight's episode promises not to disappoint! Be sure to tune in and then come back here to read the TV Fanatic review of "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" immediately following the episode's end!

Miranda Wicker was a Staff Writer for TV Fanatic. She retired in 2017. Follow her on Twitter.