Kerry Washington on Wearing Whitney Houston’s Red Dress (Exclusive)

Over the weekend, Kerry Washington channeled Whitney Houston by wearing the late singer’s actual red Marc Bouwer gown from 1996 at the American Black Film Festival Honors.

“Extra’s” Melvin Robert spoke with Kerry, who was honored with the Excellence in the Arts Award.

She commented, “When you get an award for Black excellence, you gotta go to Black excellence, you know what I mean?”

Washington said she was “honored” to wear the dress, noting that she would be “thinking about [Houston] a lot, actually.”

When asked if Whitney was an inspiration to her, Kerry said, “She’s a big inspiration to everybody. I was a huge Whitney fan and she did it all… She had the burden of being one of the first, that groundbreaker’s burden… so I try to remember that with all those that have come before us… They really laid the path for so many of us that are here tonight, and it was at a cost.”

Houston died in 2012 at the age of 48.

Kerry was showed her excitement for her current and upcoming projects like “UnPrisoned” and her memoir. She said, “I try to stay as present as can be.”

In the recent issue of Marie Claire, Washington opened up on what she’s instilling in her two kids, like having thick skin, resilience, and knowing that they aren’t always going to have someone holding their hand through things.

She emphasized, “I think resilience is so important because a lot of times when we get a no in life, it’s really because there’s something better on the horizon, but if we can’t get back up after the fall, then we can’t show up for the better.”