Hillary Clinton is undoubtedly a powerful force in the world of politics, but according to White House staffers, she was a force to be reckoned with during her eight-year tenure as the First Lady. In a new tell-all book, The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House , author Kate Andersen Brower shares the stories of workers who were “unsettled” by Clinton’s battles with her husband, one of which ended with a bloody bed.
The 320-page book, released this week, includes stories from White House staff who not only dish about the Clintons, but presidents and their families going as far back as the Kennedys, and up to the present First Family, the Obamas.
Although all of the stories are interesting tidbits of history, the Daily Beast reports that the information shared by the domestic staff about the Clintons is “the most polarizing.” When Brower spoke to chefs, florists, maids, butlers, ushers, and other former staff members about the Clintons, it was clear that their behind-the-scenes life was not always a pleasant one.
“In the voices of the residence workers themselves—sometimes wry, often affectionate, always gracious and proud — [tell] stories of the Clintons private battles, marked by shouting matches and flying objects, unsettled residence workers.”
The Washington Post states that White House staffers , who use their real names in the book, remember the Clintons as “paranoid” when they lived in the White House, especially during the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
“The residence staff also had a hard time adjusting to life with the Clintons because of their deep concern over privacy. The Clintons rewired the phone system with interior circuitry so they wouldn’t have to call each other through a switchboard.”
It was during this time that Hillary Clinton reportedly hit her husband over the head, resulting in bloody bedsheets and an injury that required the former President to get stitches. The Daily Beast states that this part of the book is “perhaps the juiciest,” a section that includes a recounting of Hillary’s “vicious cursing” and how her daughter, Chelsea called the Secret Service “pigs.”
“There was blood all over the president and first lady’s bed. A member of the residence staff got a frantic call from the maid who found the mess. Someone needed to come quickly and inspect the damage. The blood was Bill Clinton’s. The president had to get several stitches to his head.”
And then there’s the story of the lamp.
An excerpt from Brower’s book appears in Politico , and includes White House florist Ronn Payne’s story about the Clintons arguing “viciously” with each other shortly after President Clinton admitted to having an affair with Monica Lewinsky . The argument that led to rumors that Hillary hurled a lamp at Bill.
“White House Florist Ronn Payne remembers one day in 1998… he saw two butlers gathered outside the West Sitting Hall listening in as the Clintons argued viciously with each other…he heard the first lady bellow ‘goddamn bastard!’ at the president—and then he heard someone throw a heavy object across the room. The rumor among the staff was that she threw a lamp. The butlers were told to clean up the mess.”
Hillary Clinton denied rumors that she threw a lamp at Bill, telling Barbara Walters in an interview back in 1996, “You know I have a pretty good arm. If I’d thrown a lamp at somebody, I think you would have known about it.”
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