Actress Kerry Washington says working on the third season of "Scandal" was not easy as she was pregnant with her first child and struggled to cope with the physical challenges of the role.

The 37-year-old, who gave birth to Isabelle Amarachi Asomugha with husband Nnamdi Asomugha in April, stars as Olivia Pope on the ABC drama.

"All of last season was a challenge for me, on a few levels. For one thing, I was going through this amazing physical transition, this physical journey of having a baby that my character was not going through. And I work very physically. What I do is often grounded in the body," hollywoodreporter.com quoted Washington as saying.

"That meant I had to figure out how to be this woman while my instrument was changing and evolving every day. It was like seeing the keys on a piano jump around on a daily basis. It was tough for me to even maintain Olivia's walk because of the changes," she added.