Did you know that Hillary Clinton practices yoga? Hillary Clinton may have spent decades
in the public eye, but there's still a lot the world doesn't know about her.
Here's what else you may not have known about the former Secretary of State.
Even though we all know Hillary
Clinton as the woman who almost became the first female President of the United States,
there was a time when her ambitions were very, very different. It turns out,
as a teen, Clinton had dreams of traveling to space. Sadly, however, the eager young
Clinton discovered that NASA only accepted men at the time. Clinton said in a speech in 2012:
"When we decided, under President Kennedy's leadership, that our nation was going to
go to the moon and we were going to have an astronaut program, I wanted to be an astronaut.
So when I was about 13, I wrote to NASA and asked what I needed to do to try to be an astronaut."
"We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things.
Not because they are easy but because they are hard."
Clinton was shocked when she got a response from NASA saying there never had been and never would
be any female astronauts. While Clinton didn't become the first woman in space,
since then, she certainly has proven to NASA that girls can do just about anything they want to do.
Hillary Clinton may be good at getting up on
stage and speaking, but when it comes to singing, it's a different story. Clinton told Us Weekly,
"I can't carry a tune for the life of me. My choir teacher used to ask me to mouth the words."
In fact, when Clinton used to sing to her own daughter, Chelsea,
the then-little girl also asked her to stop, saying,
"No sing, Mommy, no sing."
Even though Clinton is a self-professed terrible singer, she still somehow gathered
the courage to sing "Lean On Me" during a cameo on Saturday Night Live alongside Kate McKinnon,
who famously played Clinton on the show. Hillary told the Today Show
"All of my friends from literally grade school and high school were,
you know, just emailing me like crazy, 'I can't believe you sang.'"
It might be hard to believe,
but before Hillary Clinton was the Democratic presidential nominee,
she was a staunch teenage Republican. Growing up in the Chicago suburb of Park Ridge, Clinton was
raised to be a Republican — and, according to people who knew her during those days,
she took it quite seriously. As one Park Ridge resident told Chicago magazine,
"In Park Ridge in the 1960s,
it wasn't really accepted to be a Democrat. Everybody was a Republican."
An old friend of Clinton's added that, as a teen, she and Clinton had read Republican
Barry Goldwater's book The Conscience of a Conservative and "found it very striking."
"Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice."
The pair went on to walk around school in "Goldwater Girl" sashes, proclaiming their
support for the Republican politician. Despite her early political convictions,
Clinton eventually moved to the left and even became a "hippie" by the time she
entered college. Clearly, her Republican days were already a thing of the past.
Hillary and Bill Clinton's daughter,
Chelsea Victoria, was born in 1980. It turns out, the inspiration for her name
originally came from the Joni Mitchell song "Chelsea Morning," a song which, in turn,
was inspired by New York City's Chelsea Hotel. But the Clintons weren't actually inspired by
Mitchell's version of the song — instead, they were inspired by Judi Collins' cover of it.
In his biography, My Life, Bill recalled that he and Hillary had been in the area of Chelsea
in London on a quick visit when inspiration struck. They happened to hear Collins' version
of the song playing on a speaker outside. Writing in his biography, Bill remembered:
"We agreed on the spot that if we ever had a daughter we'd call her Chelsea."
You may have assumed that the future president and first lady of the United States would have
a pretty elaborate wedding — but, for Bill and Hillary Clinton, things weren't quite so grand.
The pair started dating while both studying at Yale. Eventually, Hillary moved to Arkansas to
see what her relationship to Bill meant to her, as she said in the documentary Hillary.
Shortly after, they got engaged. In 1975, the couple tied the knot in a very understated
ceremony that took place in their living room. Hillary's dress cost only $53, and there were just
15 guests. The couple did later have a more extravagant backyard party with many more guests.
Many people have speculated on the reason why the Clintons only had one child. Their daughter,
Chelsea, was born in 1980, but even up until the '90s, Hillary
Clinton expressed a wish to have more kids. At the age of 48, Clinton told Time magazine:
"I must say we're hoping that we have another child. I would be surprised but
not disappointed. My friends would be appalled, I'm sure. But I think it would be terrific."
Clinton went on to explain that she had trouble conceiving her first child and that she and
her husband had even considered adoption. While Clinton has never openly discussed her particular
fertility issue, it is widely reported that she has a condition known as endometriosis,
which, according to the Mayo Clinic, tends to have symptoms that include abdominal pains,
heavy periods, nausea, and fatigue. As her biographer, Carl Bernstein, explains in A
Woman in Charge, after a long struggle, the couple eventually arranged to see a fertility
specialist in 1979. Luckily, Hillary learned she was pregnant just before the appointment.
Just like the rest of us,
Hillary Clinton has a few idiosyncrasies — especially when it comes to food. It turns out,
the almost-president has a big soft spot for hot sauce. In fact,
she's spoken about her obsession in multiple interviews, telling Us Weekly,
"I love to snack on hot chili peppers, and I put hot sauce on everything."
Furthermore, when asked on a radio show what she always carried in her purse,
Clinton immediately replied,
"Hot sauce."
"Because I think it keeps my immune system strong.
I really do. I think hot sauce is good for you, in moderation."
To find out more, Time reached out to Clinton. Apparently, the former presidential candidate's
preferred brand is Ninja Squirrel, the Whole Foods brand, with a Sriracha flavor.
In 1999, Hillary Clinton was photographed kissing Suha Arafat, the wife of Palestinian
President Yasser Arafat shortly after she made a controversial statement about Israel. After
photos were soon plastered all over the front pages, it was suggested that Clinton supported
the anti-Israel remarks. However, as Clinton later explained, the kiss was intended to be a simple
formality. During a 2000 campaign trip to the Bell Park Jewish Center in Queens, Clinton said,
"Some of you may or may have not been to the Middle East,
but a kiss is a handshake. [...] I was in a very difficult position,
and I am the first to admit that. I did what I was expected to do."
Later, Clinton also made a statement about Arafat's speech,
saying she "condemned" the anti-Israel sentiment and thought her remarks had been "outrageous."
Even though Hillary
Clinton isn't exactly a talented singer, she is a Grammy Award winner. That's right. In 1997,
Clinton took home a Grammy for Best Spoken Word or Non-Musical Album for her recording
of the book It Takes a Village. And, seven years later, Clinton received
another nomination for her recording of her book Living History. In her acceptance speech in 1997,
Clinton expressed her delight at winning the award, saying,
"I'm amazed. I didn't even know that Grammys were given to tone deaf singers like me."
She went on to thank her publishers and her family,
before speaking about the importance of the arts. Clinton said,
"[The arts are] not a luxury but a necessity for the American culture identity and experience."
Hillary Clinton, it seems, is an avid reader. According to Bustle, she's a fan of writers
that include Alice Munro, Pablo Neruda, and Maya Angelou, to name just a few. But,
when asked by an interviewer for The New York Times in 2014 about her favorite book ever,
Clinton said it was The Brothers Karamazov by Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky,
explaining that she had always remembered it after reading the classic novel years earlier.
The book centers on two brothers and their relationships with their father.
According to Clinton, the book contains a powerful message about "the dangers
of certitude." As she explained to The New Yorker,
"One of the greatest threats we face is from people who believe they are
absolutely, certainly right about everything."
According to Clinton, The Brothers Karamazov helped her see that we
should always keep our minds open and never be entirely certain about anything.
While it may be difficult to picture Hillary Clinton in a downward dog, in her spare time,
that might be exactly where you would find her. In a 2016 interview with Us Weekly, Clinton revealed,
"I do yoga. Not enough."
Additionally, after losing the 2016 election,
Clinton's yoga routine seemed to get even more serious. In her book What Happened,
Clinton mentioned that doing "alternate nostril breathing," a common yoga breathing technique,
had helped her stay centered after the crushing loss. Later, during an appearance on Anderson
Cooper 360, she went into more detail about the breathing technique. Clinton told the CNN host:
"I would highly recommend it."
Clinton went on to add:
"I can only say from my personal experience that if you're sitting cross-legged on the yoga mat,
and you're doing it, and you're really trying to inhale and hold it,
and then have a long exhale, it is very relaxing."
As for her favorite pose? Well, as she told People,
"Warrior two is my favorite. It doubles as a great power pose."
Sounds like Clinton has found the perfect way to stay calm
and focused after a pretty horrible defeat.
Hillary Clinton doesn't only share similar looks with her daughter, Chelsea Clinton — it seems they
also share similar interests and opinions. One of their main shared interests? Empowering women.
In fact, the mother-daughter feminist duo even wrote a book together called The Book of Gutsy
Women about a series of incredible, brave women throughout history. Hillary explained
to Stylist that she'd been hoping to write the book ever since Chelsea was young:
"The idea has been around ever since Chelsea was a little girl.
We've always talked about inspirational role models, heroines, people who inspired us."
For the most part, the mother-daughter co-writers got along well while working together — although
they did have some disagreements about which women to include in the book. Hillary told Stylist:
"We had some vigorous conversations. The publisher kept coming back and saying,
'We have to cut some more.' Oh my gosh. It was horrible."
As the pair joked to The Times, the only thing that made working together difficult was Hillary's
tendency to write her parts in longhand, which Chelsea confessed she found pretty irritating.
It turns out,
Hillary Clinton is quite the music buff. In 2006, Clinton spoke to the New York Post about
some of her favorite songs she had on her iPod Shuffle. Hillary told the newspaper:
"I've got everything – a total smorgasbord."
Her playlist included "Respect" by Aretha Franklin, "Beautiful Day" by U2, and "Hey
Jude" by The Beatles. She also mentioned liking The Rolling Stones as well as the genres of Motown
and classical music. In 2009, Clinton spoke about her musical tastes again in an interview with
Entertainment Weekly, this time again citing The Rolling Stones and The Beatles. At the same time,
the former first lady has also referenced pop singers like Beyoncé, Demi Lovato, and Adele
as some of her favorites. In 2016, Clinton once again name dropped The Beatles, telling Us Weekly,
"I am, and always will be, a Beatles fan."
It sounds like, while Clinton does have eclectic musical tastes,
at heart, she's just a diehard Beatles fan girl. As she told the Post,
"I'm a child of the '60s and '70s."
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