United Kingdom, Sept. 8 -- Kerry Washington "stumbled" into discovering that her dad wasn't her biological father.

The 48-year-old actress previously learned that she was conceived using a sperm donor, after her parents keep it secret from her for decades - and Kerry now considers the revelation to be "a pivotal moment" in her life.

She told InStyle: "It was the perfect time, right? It wasn't planned. We stumbled into this revealing, but when I think about the perfect way things unfold when we're lucky, I was at such a pivotal moment in my life. I was open to redefining myself, what I want, and where I'm going.

"My mom said she felt like the thing that had changed in our family was that we were less afraid to hurt one another. That was...