Imagine being able to say, “Yeah, Denzel Washington partially supported me through school.” For This Is Us star Susan Kelechi Watson, who fans know on the show as Randall’s wife Beth, this was absolutely a reality.
During an appearance on Tuesday, Jan. 23 on Live with Kelly and Ryan, Watson revealed that while studying at Howard University as a fine arts major, she and nine other students had the opportunity to study Shakespeare at the University of Oxford in England for the summer.
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“They didn’t have any minority students, much less [people] from a historically black university,” Watson said on the show. She continued to say, however, none of them had the extra $5,000 to go.
And that’s where Washington comes in.
“I’m happy to say he paid for my scholarship,” she said, “and we went and we had this amazing summer that changed all of our lives.”
Years later, Watson said she ran into Washington. “I said, ‘Excuse me, Mr. Washington, you paid for my scholarship to go [to Oxford],'” to which Watson says he responded: “Yeah, you’re welcome.” Way to play it cool, Denzel.
Had such a great time with @LiveKellyRyan today. Kelly said my show game was on point so…mission accomplished. pic.twitter.com/9G47fVDoJE
— Susan Kelechi Watson (@skelechiwatson) January 23, 2018
Watson also talked to Ryan Seacrest and Kelly Ripa about the massive success of This Is Us and revealed she had no idea the show would have gained the following that it has to this day.
“I knew the script was really good, to the point where I read it, I put it down, and I said, ‘I am going to fly out to LA to do this,” she explained. “So, we knew that we loved it, but we didn’t know what everyone else was going to think.”
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And in case you missed it, Watson was also featured in Jay-Z’s music video as fictional adult version of Blue Ivy, “who is now the president of the United States,” Watson said with a laugh during the interview.
It sounds like Watson is well on her way to becoming a household name, and oddly enough, you could almost argue the thanks should go, in part, to Denzel Washington. How about that? You can catch Watson in This Is Us on Tuesdays on NBC.
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