On Tuesday, Hillary Clinton and her daughter Chelsea appeared on ABC’s “Good Morning America” to promote their new book “The Book of Gutsy Women,” a collection of the stories of famous women in history breaking down barriers. When asked about their gutsiest moments, Hillary Clinton surprised many by claiming that “the decision to stay in [her] marriage” was the gutsiest personal thing she has ever done.
Politically, she said it was to “run for president and keep going.”
Clinton’s vocalization about her marriage to former U.S. President Bill Clinton has received an abundance of press, resurfacing decades old questions about her personal family choices and ambitions. To some, her decision to stay married to Bill Clinton, who engaged in an inappropriate affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky in the 1990s, was an act of sincere bravery, something that many others feel as though they wouldn’t have the “guts” to do.
But to others, the former First Lady’s decision was severely misguided, part of an “elaborate plan” to secure a future presidency for herself.
It is evident that regardless of whatever choice she could have made, it would still be seen as the “wrong” choice. Yet what people seem to forget is that facing a situation such as this is painful enough when it is dealt with in private, let alone when in the public eye.
Hillary Clinton admitting that her choice to stay with her husband was the gutsiest thing she has ever done demonstrates the stigma still surrounding divorce of public and political figures and the lack of support for women who are victims of infidelity. Yet her recent vocalization on her personal choice represents how she feels she overcame a personal trial with her own definition of bravery.