Shonda Rhimes Shares Which Of Her TV Characters Want A ’12 months Of Sure’

Shonda Rhimes is a beloved determine within the leisure trade, identified for creating among the most iconic TV reveals, together with “Gray’s Anatomy,” “Scandal,” “Personal Apply,” and “Tips on how to Get Away with Homicide.” Rhimes, 55, can be identified for penning among the most dramatic storylines which have stored viewers on the sides of their seats for many years.

Throughout a dialog with Robin Roberts on the Shonda Rhimes in Dialog occasion, the TV producer and mom of three opened up concerning the tenth anniversary of her 2015 memoir, “12 months of Sure: Tips on how to Dance It Out, Stand within the Solar and Be Your Personal Individual.” Together with the e book, Rhimes dished on which of her well-known characters may benefit from having their very own “12 months of sure.”

In response to Rhimes, Olivia Pope, the political fixer identified for wreaking havoc throughout Washington, D.C., within the drama “Scandal,” is the one character who wants her personal “12 months of sure.”

Rhimes admitted that Pope, performed by the legendary Kerry Washington, all the time had quite a bit on her plate through the present’s preliminary run. “She’s had a tricky life. I feel she may actually profit from a ‘sure.'”

For these unfamiliar, Rhimes’ memoir, “12 months of Sure,” is concerning the author’s one-year journey of claiming “sure” to something that made her barely nervous or fearful—from talking engagements to having “uncomfortable conversations.”

In truth, Rhimes informed Roberts that the latter is one lesson she’s stored near her coronary heart through the years, primarily as a result of she grew up as an individual who was afraid of battle. As she’s gotten older, nevertheless, Rhimes acknowledged she discovered herself in stickier conditions by not saying what she meant the primary time. “So now, 10 years later, … I say the laborious factor first, as the primary a part of the sentence,” she mentioned.

For Rhimes, popping out of the gate swinging with essentially the most difficult a part of what must be mentioned has helped her navigate powerful waters tremendously. “I say it, , whether or not it is, ‘You possibly can’t work right here anymore,’ or, ‘This relationship’s not working,’ or ‘You have requested for an excessive amount of too many instances,'” she mentioned. “Or to my daughter, ‘You are not getting a nostril ring it doesn’t matter what you say.'”

Lately, Rhimes launched an prolonged model of her “12 months of Sure” memoir, including seven new chapters based mostly on her lived experiences since its preliminary launch. Whereas transforming the publication, Rhimes admitted to getting emotional when wanting again at what she’d written the primary time.

“Identical to anyone else who hadn’t learn the e book in a very long time, I sat down and I reread what I had written, and my coronary heart went out to that individual,” she mentioned. “My coronary heart went out to that lady who was so closed off and so shy.”

Rhimes added that the lady who wrote the primary model of the e book in 2015 is not the identical individual in 2026. “I may really feel the ache that I clearly was feeling at the moment, and it made me understand that there is been a lot happening within the 10 years since that I virtually do not acknowledge the individual on the finish of the e book,” she mentioned.

Rhimes defined that individuals right this moment can discover the author’s demeanor has fully shifted. “Individuals say to me that I appear lighter and extra … simply extra comfy in my very own pores and skin, I feel. And possibly I am having much more enjoyable,” she mentioned.

In 2024, when Washington—who additionally has credit in “Little Fires All over the place,” “Django Unchained,” “The Simpsons,” and extra—obtained her star on the Hollywood Stroll of Fame, the actress and mom of three opened up about how taking part in Olivia Pope (the primary Black lady lead in a community TV drama in 40 years) had a serious affect on her.