Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton celebrated nearly 50 years of marriage to former President Bill Clinton, despite some “dark periods” in their relationship.
“I've said for many years that no one knows what's going to happen in a marriage except the two people involved. As far as I know, marriages have their ups and downs, hidden from the public and hopefully for other people. And you have to make the decision that's right for you. And I would never say, 'Stay married or get divorced,' no matter what the easy answer is. And I think it's fair to say that for me, for us, at this stage in our lives, we are very grateful to have grandchildren and to be able to spend them with us,” Clinton said in an interview with CNN's Fareed Zakaria that aired Sunday morning.
Clinton recently published a new memoir, “Something Lost, Something Gained,” which includes an account of how “both my marriage and Bill's presidency were on the brink” in the late 1990s, when Bill Clinton's presidency was rocked by a sex scandal in 1998, when the 42nd president admitted later that year to having an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
Hillary Clinton never mentioned Monica Lewinsky by name in her memoir or in the interview on Sunday, only talking about a “dark time” and a “very unfortunate” incident that threatened to threaten her marriage.
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Former President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton arrive at the White House for a State Dinner on May 23, 2024. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)
“I write about waking up in bed playing spelling bee, and Bill is such a great player. It's like he's an instant queen bee. We just have a good time. We're married for almost 50 years and we enjoy sharing this life that we've had together. It's right for us and that's really my message,” Clinton said of her married life in the interview.
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The couple married on October 11, 1975, and will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary next year.
President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton sit together during a health care event. (Dirk Halstead/Getty Images)
Bill Clinton was eventually impeached over his affair with Lewinsky and indicted on charges of lying to a federal grand jury and obstructing justice.
Former White House intern Monica Lewinsky meets with President Bill Clinton at the White House. (Getty Images)
Hillary Clinton said during “one of the darkest moments” of the impeachment that she felt “deeply hurt” by the scandal, but “on the other hand” she saw the affair as a “political ploy” to remove her husband from office.
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“I had to view the world that I lived in almost in a binary way,” she said of her feelings during the impeachment trial. “On the one hand, I was deeply hurt, deeply confused, really upset and angry. And on the other hand, I knew this was a political ploy to try to get Bill out of office. I thought he was a really good president, and as an American citizen, I was outraged that these hypocrites, who had their own version of marriage and everything else, were attacking him over a very unfortunate incident in his life.
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President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton at the White House. (Cynthia Johnson/Getty Images)
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“So on the one hand, I was trying to make decisions about my life, my marriage, my future, my children, my family that only I could make. On the other hand, I was witnessing the hypocrisy and cruelty of Republican politicians, a reality that I thought outsiders could never understand.”
“And, you know, I received a ton of unsolicited advice from a variety of observers, but I write an entire chapter in this document about my friends and how grateful I am to them — lifelong friends, friends who stood by me, friends who came to the White House to be with me during those dark times,” she said.
