Hillary Clinton Reflects on Her Own Mom
In this photo released by Genevieve de Manio Photography, Chelsea Clinton, right, is joined by her grandmother, Dorothy Rodham, center, and her mother, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, on Chelseas wedding day, Saturday, July 31, 2010 in Rhinebeck, N.Y. Associated Press
Vogue published a Mothers Day excerpt of Hillary Clintons forthcoming memoir Hard Choices, on Sunday. In the excerpt, Mrs. Clinton whose daughter, Chelsea, is pregnant with Mrs. Clintons first grandchild reflects on her relationship with her own mother, Dorothy Howell Rodham, who died in 2011. The book is set to be released June 10.
Im preparing for a new role that Ive looked forward to for years: grandmother, Mrs. Clinton writes. And Ive found myself thinking a lot about my relationship with my own mom, as an adult as well as in childhood, and what lessons I learned from her.
Mrs. Clinton had written about her mother previously in her Living History memoir, and revisits the harrowing tales of her mothers childhood.
Here are some highlights from theVogue excerpt:
On the last years of her mothers life, when she lived with the Clintons:
Having her so close became a source of great comfort to me, especially in the difficult period after the end of the 2008 campaign. Id come home from a long day at the Senate or the State Department, slide in next to her at the small table in our breakfast nook, and let everything just pour out.
On her mothers traumatic childhood:
In Chicago her parents fought frequently and divorced when she and her sister were young. Neither parent was willing to care for the kids, so they were put on a train to California to live with their paternal grandparents . The elderly couple was severe and unloving. One Halloween, after Mom was caught trick-or-treating with school friends, a forbidden activity, she was confined to her room for an entire year, except for the hours she was in school. By the time Mom turned fourteen, she could no longer bear life in her grandmothers house. She moved out and found work as a housekeeper and nanny for a kindhearted woman in San Gabriel who offered room and board plus $3 a week and urged her to attend high school. For the first time she saw how loving parents care for their childrenit was a revelation.
On how her mother survived this: