Anita Hill praises Kerry Washington's portrayal of her in HBO's Confirmation

Anita Hill has given her stamp of approval to Kerry Washington’s performance as her in Confirmation, HBO’s dramatic account of the firestorm ignited by Hill’s allegations of sexual harassment against then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas in 1991.



“I loved her dignity and emotion,” Hill said of the Scandal star in a new interview with Essence, 25 years after the controversy. “She appeared a lot more dignified than I felt during that moment, but she still lost nothing in terms of how painful the experience was. That is hard to convey, but she did it beautifully.”

Set to debut April 16, Confirmation also stars Wendell Pierce as Thomas, Greg Kinnear as Joe Biden (then chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee), Jennifer Hudson as fellow accuser Angela Wright, and Eric Stonestreet as political lobbyist Kenneth Duberstein. Rick Famuyiwa (The Wood, Dope) directed.

“Let me ask this very basic question,” Hill said. “What if the Senate had actually taken me seriously? … How much pain and anguish could they have saved American women? How might that have changed the way women in this country think about our workplaces and about how we are represented in our government?”ew