Kerry Washington: 'Scandal wouldn't have survived without social media fans'

Actress Kerry Washington credits the power of social media with turning her political drama Scandal into a TV megahit.

The Django Unchained star had previously kept platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at "arm's length" as she valued her privacy away from the cameras, but she soon learned how vital it was to engage with fans online after their support helped to fuel interest in the Shonda Rhimes show, which recently aired its seventh and final series.

"Scandal... would not even have had a second season if it weren't for social media," she admitted to breakfast show Today as she reflected on its launch in 2012.

"I mean, we were a tiny little show with seven episodes in the first season and because of the community on social media, they gave us life," she continued. "They created a community around the show and made people talk about what we were talking about on the show."

Kerry, who portrayed political fixer Olivia Pope onscreen, filmed her final episode in March (18), and after shedding tears as she bid farewell to her cast and crew, she was welcomed home with a sweet surprise.

"The best thing that happened after we wrapped Scandal, because we were there until three in the morning, I came home and my kids had made a sign for me, that said, 'Good job, mama' and... it doesn't get better than that!"

The actress is mum to daughter Isabelle, four, and one-year-old son Caleb, her kids with husband Nnamdi Asomugha.

Kerry is relying on her social media following to help make her new Facebook Watch web series Five Points a hit after premiering on the platform earlier this month (Jun18). The star serves as an executive producer on the teen drama.