Kerry Washington thanks Scandal team for concealing pregnancy

Kerry Washington has thanked the team behind her hit TV show Scandal for working so hard to conceal her real life pregnancy onscreen, calling the process "complicated" and "challenging".

The actress is expecting her first child with her husband Nnamdi Asomugha, and she had to film the latest season of the small screen drama while sporting a growing baby bump.

Washington has now revealed the TV team went to huge lengths to help disguise her pregnancy.

She tells The Hollywood Reporter, "I work very physically as an actor. The biggest thing for me has been the challenge of how to be this person (character) with the personal transformation that's going on for me physically and how to stay true to this character. That hasn't been easy. It's been an awesome challenge for me as an actor... It's definitely been complicated to say the least...

"I'm just grateful for how hard everybody has worked to maintain the authenticity of this character in this world. I'm grateful to (costume designer) Lyn Paolo and all our producers... I feel very grateful that we have such an amazing team that was able to protect the character within the context of what the actress was going through."