Hillary Clinton Talks to Lena Dunham About Marrying Bill: 'I Actually Turned Him Down Twice' 
 
 Barbara Kinney / HillaryClinton.com 
 
 When it came time for Lena Dunham to interview Hillary Clinton for her new digital newsletter Lenny , which launches September 29, she went right for the most interesting question: her marriage to Bill Clinton "Did you have anxiety about that?" Dunham inquired. "About the concept of losing your own identity in the process of joining forces with someone who clearly had political ambitions?"Clinton's answer was unusually candid. "I was terrified about losing my identity and getting lost in the kind of wake of Bill’s force-of-nature personality," she told Dunham. "I actually turned him down twice when he asked me to marry him. He asked, we were in England on a trip after law school graduation. He asked me to marry him. I said, 'You know, I can’t say yes. No, I can’t do that right now.' And then, about a year later he asked me again, and I said 'No.' He said, 'Well, I’m not asking you again until you’re ready to say yes.' And that was a large part of the ambivalence and the worry that I wouldn’t necessarily know who I was or what I could do if I got married to someone who was going to chart a path that he was incredibly clear about.""My ideas were much more inchoate," she tells Dunham of her younger years. "I wasn’t sure how to best harness my energies. And so I was searching. And when I taught at the law school, I set up a bigger legal aid clinic. I sent students to represent prisoners. I did a lot of poverty cases. I loved doing that. And I wasn’t quite sure how everything I cared about might fit into a marriage with him. And so eventually I said yes. It was a big leap of faith, and I think most marriages are. I mean, you really do just sort of say, 'Okay, I think I know what it’s gonna be like, but I don’t know for sure. Let’s find out.'""It was great," she says. "We were both teaching at that time. We got married in the living room of the house we had bought. And I was excited about it, but still, somewhat apprehensive. And then he did get elected to be attorney general about a year after we were married. And we moved from where we were living in Fayetteville, Arkansas to Little Rock, Arkansas. And I switched gears to practice law instead of teach law. So at every step along the way, I never could have predicted what I would have ended up doing."Looking back, she said,"If somebody had said when I was twenty or twenty-one, 'Are you gonna marry somebody from Arkansas? And you’re gonna teach law school at the university there, and you’re gonna move there, and, you know, that’s where your daughter’s gonna be born…' It would have never been in, you know, my mind. It’s just not something that I had ever imagined.""And, I often tell young women who ask me about my life or my career: you just make the best decision you can at the time," she advises. "Don’t be reluctant to make decisions, and don’t rush into them. I mean, give them some thought. And then finally you say to yourself, 'I think this is right for me. I’m going to, go ahead and do it.' And you just do the best you can. And I have a piece of wood that there’s a slogan on in our house up in Westchester County, which says, 'Bloom where you’re planted.' And I’ve been in lots of different places where I’ve had to learn how to bloom. And it’s been an incredible experience."Clinton's entire interview will be sent to Lenny subscribers on their launch date September 29.The Girls writer and creator cofounded Lenny , with her producing partner Jenni Konner. The weekly newsletter will cover topics ranging from politics, style, art, health and wellness to sex and relationships. As Dunham describes it: "Lenny is an email newsletter where there's no such thing as too much information." ||||| Politics 
 
 In this series, we interview female candidates who are winning historic primaries across the nation. This week, Dana Balter talks about her run for Congress in New York. If she wins, she’ll be the first woman to represent her district. ||||| Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump (the five worst words in the world, there) has turned his sights briefly away from appraising Carly Fiorina’s looks and taking digs at the other male Republican contenders to focus on what really matters — spouting horse dung about Hillary Clinton. 
 
 First, at a rally in South Carolina, he called Hillary Clinton shrill, repeating himself a few times in the span of about 30 seconds: ““Hillary, who is very shrill — do you know the word ‘shrill’? She can be kind of sha-riiiiill,” intoning upward on the last. Did he elaborate? Did he say what he meant by “shrill”? Did he give any examples of Hillary Clinton speaking in a high-pitched tone? No, of course not. He just repeated the word over and over, hoping that it would catch on with his supporters, which, let’s be honest, it probably did. And yes, it’s sexist, because as Fast Company explains: 
 
 “Studies have found that women who succeed in male domains (violating incompetence) are disliked, women who promote themselves (violating modesty) are less hirable, women who negotiate for higher pay (violating passivity) are penalized, and women who express anger (violating warmth) are given lower status.” 
 
 Hillary Clinton does her job, and as a public servant, she’s had to assert herself to do it. That’s what Trump is really referring to, here, when he called her “shrill.” But between Trump and Clinton, I’d say this wins out for shrillness: 
 
 And then! Trump tried to blame Clinton for the “birther” scandal, claiming that “in 2008 she was the original birther. She’s the one that started the whole thing. Hillary is a birther.” And on Twitter: 
 
 Just remember, the birther movement was started by Hillary Clinton in 2008. She was all in! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 23, 2015 
 
 If you want a detailed analysis of why anyone would think that Clinton was a birther, FactCheck.org has a great disassembly of this lie. There were certain Clinton 2008 supporters who, jilted after her endorsement of Barack Obama, started the rumor that Obama was born in Kenya and had his birth “registered” in the United States. Clinton never jumped on the bandwagon, but guess who did? Trump promoted the idea that Obama wasn’t a natural-born citizen for years. 
 
 For catharsis, I suggest watching Barack Obama shred Donald Trump to bits over the birther scandal at the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Dinner: 
 
 Remember, folks: Over half the statements Donald Trump has made during the course of his campaign fall in the range of completely to flamingly false, and as of right now he has released official positions on all of two-count-’em-two issues. The man is running his campaign on a foundation of hot air. It has to give out sometime. 
 
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 [Fast Company] 
 
 [Gawker] 
 
 [FactCheck.org] 
 
 [Politifact] 
 
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 [Image via Instagram] 
 
 Send me a line at rebecca@thefrisky.com. ||||| R29: What do you want to say to those women who feel a little bit afraid to negotiate, afraid to ask for equal pay? 
 
 
 
 HRC: "I understand that; I know that it's not easy. I remember very well: The first job I had out of law school, I didn’t negotiate; the second job out of law school, I didn’t negotiate. I was just so happy to have a job, and have a job that I thought would be purposeful and give me some real opportunity to grow. But the more I represented people, the more I was a lawyer for people, the more I saw what was happening out in the work world, the more convinced I became that young women need to follow Sheryl Sandberg's advice about leaning in. Doing it in a smart way, not in a way that's going to cause a lot of waves, but a way in which it's going to put your worth front and center. 
 
 
 
 "I've worked with a lot of young people in my various jobs over the years, and often when I come to a young woman and I say, 'I want to give you more responsibility' or 'We think you're ready for a bigger job,' she will say, 'Do you really believe that?' or 'Are you sure?' And that's kind of ingrained in us: 'Wait a minute — are you really talking to me?' When I go to a young man and I say, 'We're looking for greater responsibility for you, maybe a different job,' honestly, they will say, in not exactly these words, but the message will be, 'What took you so long? Of course, I am ready, I am able.' So part of my message to young women is, 'First and foremost, believe in yourself, believe in who you are. You have a unique contribution to make to the world; we all have gifts and they are all different gifts. And you have something that can make life better. Not just in your home, with your relationships, but in the broader world of work and society and politics.' 
 
 
 
 "So study what experts — people who have been very successful, like my friend Sheryl Sandberg and others — tell you about how to do this, and how to take that deep breath. It is scary, but go ahead and try it out with your friends, and just be specific, like, 'Here is what I've done, here is the feedback I've gotten. I really believe I am the best person to continue this project or this work plan, and I want to be sure that I am paid accordingly.' 
 
 
 
 "It's scary, but we need women supporting other women, too; we need to remove the mystery about pay. In some places, you can't even find out what somebody else doing the same job is getting. And so, we have to get more transparency and more information, so that young women are supported in the risk they feel they are taking in trying to get paid fairly and equally." 
 

– Hillary Clinton's desire to connect with millennial women has led her to chat with Refinery29 on sexual assault and now to an interview with "queen of oversharing" Lena Dunham. The Girls star chatted earlier this month with the sometimes "overly scripted" Clinton in Manhattan in an interview that will go up on Dunham's LennyLetter.com digital newsletter on Tuesday, Politico reports. The odd conversational couple dishes on student debt, women's health, and, yes, feminism, Politico notes. Highlights, per Politico and People: "Do you consider yourself a feminist?" Dunham asks. "Yes," Clinton replies. "Absolutely. I'm always a little bit puzzled when any woman of whatever age, but particularly a young woman, says something like, 'Well, I believe in equal rights, but I'm not a feminist.' Well, a feminist is by definition someone who believes in equal rights. I'm hoping that people will not be afraid to say that doesn't mean you hate men. … It just means that we believe that women have the same rights as men." "Did you have anxiety about" marrying Bill Clinton, Dunham asks. Responds Clinton: "I was terrified about losing my identity and getting lost in the kind of wake of Bill’s force-of-nature personality," she told Dunham. "I actually turned him down twice when he asked me to marry him. ... And that was a large part of the ambivalence and the worry that I wouldn’t necessarily know who I was or what I could do if I got married to someone who was going to chart a path that he was incredibly clear about." She calls her eventual yes "a big leap of faith." (Click for Donald Trump's latest Hillary Clinton insult.)