- Opinion
- 24 Aug 17
The former First Lady reveals in her forthcoming book how her "skin crawled" having to share a stage with Donald Trump during their hard-hitting presidential debates.
In her new memoir entitled 'What Happened', which is out in September, Hillary Clinton talks about how she felt very uncomfortable when Trump hovered behind her during a live TV debate.
“This is not OK, I thought,” Clinton recalls. "It was the second presidential debate, and Donald Trump was looming behind me. Two days before, the world heard him brag about groping women.
"Now we were on a small stage and no matter where I walked, he followed me closely, staring at me, making faces. It was incredibly uncomfortable he was literally breathing down my neck. My skin crawled.
“It was one of those moments where you wish you could hit pause and ask everyone watching, ‘Well, what would you do?’ Do you stay calm, keep smiling and carry on as if he weren’t repeatedly invading your space?
"Or do you turn, look him in the eye, and say loudly and clearly, ‘Back up you creep, get away from me! I know you love to intimidate women, but you can’t intimidate me, so back up."
Clintons adds how she "kept my cool, aided by a lifetime of dealing with difficult men trying to throw me off.
“Maybe," she writes, "I have over-learned the lesson of staying calm, biting my tongue, digging my fingernails into a clenched fist, smiling all the while determined to present a composed face to the world."