Scandal, Season 5

Mellie:
It was working.

Olivia:
I'm sorry?

Mellie:
It was working. That's why I stayed. It was working. Fitz and I and you. It was working. You know what I mean?

Olivia:
I'm not sure I do what you ...

Mellie:
Hold on a minute. (takes a sip from her jar of booze) I used to wonder if it was all men or just Fitz that sucked the life out of you. Now, I think it's all the powerful men. They've been told their whole lives they deserve everything, that they should have everything, and it makes them so weak. They think that everything belongs to them by default, and if they don't get it, they just fall apart. Fitz didn't have any fight in him. He didn't know how to stand on his own two feet. I mean, I saw the potential. We all saw it. But I had to work at it. I held his hand, I fluffed, I bled, and I got nothing in return. Except for you. You showed up. I wasn't devastated, Olivia, or numb or empty. I was deserving. I deserved you. I was a 37-year-old governor's wife with two kids, and that was all. I was somebody's wife and somebody's mother. Not my own anything. I deserved you. I warranted you. I justified you. I had lost myself, and in return, I got you. You are my retribution. And it was humiliating. I couldn't even hate you. I couldn't even pretend to. I hated myself. But then I turned a corner. It was quick. Effortless, really. You had become the beautiful kept thing he lusted after. Where you went, he went. Which meant that I ... I suddenly had space. I had air of my own that I could breathe, time to think and plan, and I started liking myself again because I was alone and I was relieved. And I was free. Freedom, baby. I stayed because it was working. I stood by and I allowed the affair to continue because it was working for all of us. He was occupied, thanks to you. He was happy. You lit his fire. We made it all the way to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. And one day, it was gonna be my turn. Fitz would make me President of the United States because he owed me at least that much. And so I stayed. Because the three of us, ugh. We worked! So, what do you say, Olivia? That deep enough for you? Is that honest enough?

Olivia:
Mellie, you can't actually write that anywhere. If you want to be President, you can never, ever tell anyone any of that.

Mellie:
Oh yeah, I know. I know I can't. That's the problem.