Kerry Washington Explains Why She's Notoriously Private About Personal Life

— -- Kerry Washington has been meticulous about keeping her private life out of the public eye.

She even married in a secret ceremony and barely announced the birth of her first child.

It's all been intentional: The "Scandal" star said it's because she over-shared in the past.

"Earlier in my career I was much more super-sharey," she told "Girls" creator Lena Dunham in a profile for Marie Claire magazine. "There were moments when I wanted to process things that were happening to me more privately, and I didn't have the space to do it, because once you let people in, they're in and you don't get to say, 'Oh, I want this for myself.'"

That's why Washington married former NFL player Nnamdi Asomugha in a secret ceremony in Blaine County, Idaho, in 2013, and never officially announced her pregnancy or the birth of her daughter, Isabelle Amarachi, in April 2014. News of baby Isabelle only came after TMZ obtained a birth certificate two weeks later.

Washington told the magazine, on which she graces the cover, that she hopes her daughter learns from her mistakes.

"I just want [Isabelle] to know that she's heard. Really heard, because I feel like that is what we all really want," she explained. "When I think about any of the missteps in my life that I've made, all of which I'm grateful for, it's because I just so wanted to be truly seen and heard for who I am and was afraid I wasn't or wouldn't be. I see you, I hear you, I'm with you as you are."

The Marie Claire article isn't the only time Washington and Dunham have collaborated recently. Dunham is set to guest star on the March 19 episode of ABC's "Scandal."