Hillary Clinton Laments Being “Mischaracterized” By The Public: “I Have To Bear Responsibility For That”

Hillary Clinton opened up to reporters at this morning’s Winter 2020 TCA press tour. Clinton visited the press tour in Pasadena to promote her new four-part docuseries, Hillary, premiering March 6, 2020 on Hulu. The series, directed by Nanette Burstein, follows Clinton during the 2016 Presidential election and looks back at key moments in her life. The series is an up close and personal look at the public figure and is set for a splashy premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. Clinton fielded questions about everything from the 2020 election — she thinks Democrats should vote for the person who can win, and not just the popular vote, but the Electoral College — and the hurtful misconceptions about her own personality.

“There was nothing off-limits,” Clinton said, explaining that the series started out as a campaign documentary, but over time, it changed. She said director Nanette Burstein came back and said, “Look this is a bigger story, it needs to be told. It’s part of the arc of women’s history.”

Clinton was also asked if we could ever overcome the double standard for women in public life, namely the question of likability. “I sure hope so. Because it’s really an unfair double standard, disadvantage,” Clinton said, adding the more women who get out there, the more we’ll realize that women have the same right to have a range of emotions.

When asked if she was aware of her polarizing effect on people and that the documentary would, in fact, delve into that, Clinton said, “I think I did around 35 hours of interviewing with Nanette and I have to say some of it was clear to me and really she picked up on it early on.” She added that the minute she became First Lady, she became a sort of Rorschach test for women’s roles. “For example, when Bill asked me to lead our efforts on universal health care, it seemed pretty standard to me…little did I know it would cause this extraordinary backlash,” Clinton said.

When asked what narrative she wanted people to take from the docuseries, Clinton demurred and wanted the project’s director to answer. “You know it’s really hard watching yourself for four hours,” Clinton said, sparking laughter in the room. “Thank god it’s only four hours.” She added that so far the reaction to the series has been really gratifying for her.

“The reason why I wanted to expand this and tell her life story is I thought it was so remarkably emblematic of our history,” Burstein said, noting that Clinton’s life story overlapped with huge moments for women’s rights in history. She also wanted to examine partisan politics. “More than anything, I wanted people to understand that this is a historical figure who is incredibly polarizing…and why?” Burstein said, noting that when you get to know Clinton, it “washes a lot of other stuff away.”

When asked about the current election, Clinton said, “We’re in a real struggle with a form of politics that is incredibly negative, exclusive, mean-spirited and it’s going to be up to every voter to recognize that this is no ordinary time. This is an election that will have such profound impact. So take your vote seriously.”  She added that Democrats should vote for the one who is going to win. “I want people to take their vote really, really seriously.”

“We are living in such a transformation age, and whether it winds up on the high side or the low side, we’re not clear yet,” Clinton said.

“There is no substitute for voting. Second thing, you all are in the media…we’ve got to somehow understand that we can’t make good decisions in a democracy if we can’t have basic understanding of the facts,” Clinton said, adding that there needs to be a base reality that people can rely on.

She also said that there’s a lot of research on how authoritarians rise. “Because too many elections are one and done. A guy wins, he takes over, and then he starts manipulating the press,” Clinton said, noting that when there’s no baseline reality, people retreat and let authoritarians take over.

“We’ve got to figure out how to have a more constructive relationship with social media and it won’t surprise you to hear me say that I’m worried, because everything that happens in the political realm is amplified in social media,” Clinton said. “You can choose not to vaccinate your children, but there are facts. You can choose not to believe in climate change, but there are facts.”

“I have often, in my view, been mischaracterized, and I have to bear responsibility for that,” Clinton said, noting it’s her job to rake through the misconceptions about her persona. She said that she doesn’t know what she should have done to correct those misconceptions, but that she thinks she should have done something. Burstein said she wanted to examine how that happens to people in public life.

Clinton finished up by saying that internationally there are many who are thrilled to see the United States torn apart by divisiveness, but that there’s also a deep concern about the country’s role in preserving Western democracy. “It’s a really fraught time,” Clinton said.

Hillary premieres on Hulu on March 6, 2020.