Kerry Washington is the cover girl for the September issue of self Magazine.

The main reason Washington likes to work out before most of Los Angeles wakes up is that she wants to get home to her husband, former pro football player Nnamdi Asomugha, and their 17-month-old daughter, Isabelle. “I try to get it in so I can be back with my kid early,” she says.

Truth be told, she’d prefer to be cuddled up with her two loves and their shih tzu–Yorkie mix, Josie, who is undoubtedly asleep at the foot of their bed. But Washington never misses a workout. “I have to take care of myself in order to live life the way I want to,” she says. “It’s important to have rest days. But in the long run, if I don’t work out for, like, three days, I feel worse, not better.”

Credit: self.com