Kerry Washington Reveals the 'Relationship' She Already Had with “Scandal” Costar Tony Goldwyn Before They Starred on Show Together

Olivia Pope and Fitzgerald Grant might be one of TV's most iconic couples, but years before they became beloved, Kerry Washington and Tony Goldwyn had already developed a special relationship.

The Scandal costars, who played love interests in the hit Shonda Rhimes series from 2012 to 2018, actually go way back, Washington revealed during an interview on Baby, This Is Keke Palmer.

As she reflected on her involvement in politics before landing the role as Washington D.C.'s fixer, Washington, 47, said, "When I met Tony Goldwyn, who played the president in Scandal, he and I used to advocate on Capitol Hill for arts funding."

Related: Kerry Washington Recalls Alerting the Obamas of Her Spicy Presidential Storyline in Scandal: 'Lil Awkward'

"We used to, like, walk around D.C. talking to senators and congressmen about maintaining funding for the arts in public schools and in museums," she said on the Dec. 17 episode of the podcast. "So we had, like, a D.C. relationship before Scandal even started."

Describing herself as "very political" even before Scandal, Washington said, "It was one of the reasons why, when I read the pilot episode of Scandal, I was like, 'Oh my god. This has been written for me.' Now there were also, like, 35 black actresses in Hollywood who all felt the same way...I feel really, really blessed and lucky that I got to be her."

Washington's revelation about how far back she goes with Goldwyn, 64, is particularly interesting considering she told PEOPLE in June that she "never did a chemistry read" with him ahead of them being cast as love interests. Instead, she said the chemistry was always there between them — which makes sense, given their "D.C. relationship," as she described it to Keke Palmer.

Related: Kerry Washington Uses Black Wife Effect Trend for Tony Goldwyn's Scandal Character: 'I've Upgraded Your Life'

The pair's casting also had to do with Goldwyn's history with another major player in the Scandal world: Rhimes, herself.

"I had met Shonda several years before, when I directed one of the first episodes of Grey's Anatomy and worked for her for a couple of years on that, and then I didn't see her for eight years and suddenly she thought, 'Wow, Tony'd be an interesting choice for Fitz.' And 'Tony, you want to play the president on my new show?'" Goldwyn previously told PEOPLE of the unusual way he landed the role on Scandal. "Wow. 'Okay, sure. Why not?' So it's funny how things come around."

"It's funny the way life works," he added. "In my now-pretty-long career, I've learned to sort of just trust the flow of the way things happen."

The former costars' passion for politics was on display this year as they both were heavily involved in Kamala Harris' presidential campaign. At the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August, Goldwyn surprised crowds as he joined Washington on stage, and they continued to delight fans as they shared several photos from their time together in Chicago on social media.

"Giving the people what they want," Washington wrote in a post on X (formerly known as Twitter) as she shared a selfie with Goldwyn and a silly photo with him. She even tagged the post #Olitz, which is the ship name for their Scandal characters, Olivia and Fitz.

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Scandal can be streamed in full on Hulu.

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