Huma Abedin has revealed that Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour was the first person to suggest she write a book — and also the ‘very first’ person to read it because Abedin wrote most of the book at her house.
Abedin, 45, recently published her memoir, Both/And: A Life in Many Worlds, which includes details about her marriage to former Congressman Anthony Weiner and her time working for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
But while it was published by Simon & Schuster, Abedin told WWD at her book’s launch party this week that Wintour, 72, was an unofficial editor of sorts, reading the pages before anyone else and providing ‘very clear, concise feedback.’
Unofficial editor: Huma Abedin has revealed that Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour was the first person to suggest she write a book – and also the ‘very first’ person to read it
Life story: Abedin’s memoir includes details about her marriage to former Congressman Anthony Weiner and her time working for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
‘She was the very, very first person to see the pages because I wrote most of the book at her house [in Mastic, Long Island],’ Abedin said.
‘I would literally print the pages and she saw them in very, very raw form,’ she went on.
Not holding back: Abedin’s highly anticipated memoir Both/And: A Life in Many Worlds was released on November 2
‘She gave me the big picture, but very clear, concise feedback. I thought it actually helped with the quality of the book — suggestions on what was missing, how to end it.’
Wintour and Abedin are longtime friends through Clinton, and Wintour even hosted a book release party for Abedin at her New York City townhouse.
‘While I did push her just a little to write this book, I can take no credit at all for the care and sensitivity she’s shown in doing it,’ Wintour said at the event.
In 2007, Abedin was profiled in a Vogue story titled ‘Hillary’s Secret Weapon.’
And it was Wintour who first gave her the idea to write the memoir at all, weeks after Clinton lost the 2016 election.
Though Clinton supported the idea from the beginning, Abedin didn’t begin actually working on it until 2018 — and she forged on even after one unnamed man told her not to.
‘About a year later I went to lunch with a male businessman who was giving me advice and I said “Listen, a few people have suggested I write my book,”‘ she recalled.
‘And he said, “Why would you do that?” I said, “You know it’s a pretty extraordinary story — 25 years of public service, served in the Clinton administration, in the Obama administration,”‘ she continued.
Buds: Wintour and Abedin are longtime friends through Clinton, and Wintour even hosted a book release party for Abedin at her New York City townhouse
‘She gave me the big picture, but very clear, concise feedback. I thought it actually helped with the quality of the book – suggestions on what was missing, how to end it,’ Abedin (far right) said of Wintour
‘While I did push her just a little to write this book, I can take no credit at all for the care and sensitivity she’s shown in doing it,’ Wintour said
‘He said “You will never be able to satisfactorily answer all the questions about Anthony and Hillary in this book, and by the way nobody wants to read anymore about that scandal.” I walked out of that lunch at The Lambs Club in 2018 and said I’m writing this book.’
In addition to covering her marriage and her career working for Clinton, the book also shares details of her childhood in both the US and Saudi Arabia, as well as being a mother.
It also includes a prologue inspired by the former Secretary of State.
‘Hillary actually inspired my prologue. She said you shouldn’t go into this process being defensive. Just write why you’re telling your story,’ Abedin said.
When asked, the political staffer also said that she doesn’t see herself running for office.
‘I’ve been on the sidelines. I’ve done it at the highest levels. I’ve worked for two incredible administrations. I feel like I’ve finally got a balance in life,’ she said.
United front: Weiner was running for New York City mayor when Abedin told reporters she forgave him for sending explicit photos and messages to another woman
Abedin has given several interviews to promote the book. Earlier this month, she appeared on the Tamron Hall Show and said that she doesn’t regret standing by Weiner’s side in a press conference following his 2013 sexting scandal, adding that she felt like she ‘owed it’ to him because she had ‘encouraged him to run for office’ again.
‘I just want to put a little bit in context because I think a lot of people look at my relationship with Anthony from a 2021 perspective,’ Abedin said, noting they were just a year into their marriage when Weiner’s first sexting scandal broke in 2011.
The New York congressman was forced to resign in disgrace after a photo of him in his boxer briefs was posted on his personal Twitter account.
Weiner accidentally shared the photograph on his feed instead of sending it as a direct message to a woman he’d been flirting with on the platform.
He initially claimed it was the work of a hacker, but he later held a press conference confessing that he had sent sexual photos and messages to women online over the course of a few years.
‘We were newlyweds. I had just discovered I was pregnant. I was carrying his child. I wasn’t even 12 weeks pregnant,’ Abedin recalled. ‘I mean, we were living this sort of amazing life. He was my first love. He was the first man I had ever been with.
Happier times: Weiner had been a congressman from New York when he and Abedin first met in 2007. They wed in an elaborate ceremony in 2010
‘And the shock when the first scandal broke was such that I did not understand what was going on. I did not understand what he was struggling with. Now, sure, all these years later it’s a different story.’
Two years later, Weiner unsuccessfully ran for New York City mayor. He was leading in the polls when a young woman from Indiana named Sydney Leathers shared explicit photos and messages he sent her using the alias ‘Carlos Danger.’
Still, his wife stood by his side, making a public appearance in a rare press conference on July 23, 2013, telling reporters: ‘I have forgiven him, I believe in him…I made that decision. That was a decision I made for me, for our son, and for my family.’
Abedin, who shares a nine-year-old son, Jordan, with Weiner, told Hall that she was the one who had urged him to put himself in the public spotlight again.
‘The reason I stood with him at that press conference, and it’s a decision even today I can’t say I regret — because I not only encouraged him to run for office, we had a conversation about it and I felt like I owed it…it was my responsibility, that I encouraged him to run,’ she said.
First scandal: In 2011, Weiner accidentally tweeted a crotch-shot of himself in his underwear to the public on his official page
Disgraced: Shortly after the Twitter photo scandal, Weiner announced that he was resigning from Congress
‘I don’t believe he would have run for mayor in 2013, but we had done the work,’ she added. ‘We’ve been surprised by all the conversations we’ve had from people who thought, you know, he was doing well, and, you know, I didn’t think it precluded him from having a life where he could be back in public service.’
In August 2016, Abedin was working as Clinton’s top aide in her presidential campaign against Trump when the New York Post released a disturbing photo that Weiner had sent to another woman while he was in bed with his son.
The selfie showed Weiner’s erection clearly outlined through his white underwear as he laid in bed with Jordan, who was four at the time.
Not only did that mark the end of the couple’s marriage, according to Abedin, but she also had to persuade New York state’s Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) to let her keep her son after the photo sparked an investigation.
In September 2016, a month after the scandalous selfie was published, DailyMail.com revealed that Weiner had been sending lewd text messages to a 15-year-old girl that included more explicit photographs.
Several months later Weiner became involved in another scandal, this time involving emails found on his laptop that led to FBI director Jim Comey reopening the investigation into Clinton just days before the 2016 presidential election.
More scandals: In August 2016, it was reported that Weiner sexted a photo of his erection that he took while his then four-year-old son, Jordan, was sleeping next him
Caught: DailyMail.com later revealed that the disgraced congressman had an online sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl for months and sent her lewd messages and pictures
Breaking the law: In 2017, Weiner was sentenced to 21 months in prison for sending obscene material to a minor. He served 15 months in federal prison and three more in a halfway house
Abedin admitted to Hall that she feels partially responsible for Clinton losing to Trump, saying: ‘I mean as it relates to the 2016 campaign, I’m going to carry that to my grave.’
She wrote about her fear that her husband’s scandals would ruin Clinton’s run for president in her memoir.
‘That’s how I felt in that moment when the investigation was reopened 10 days before, the shocking reopening of the investigation — and I felt at the time that even feeling anything was selfish,’ she said of that scene in her book.
‘I just shut myself down and guarded myself, and the goal was to get Hillary Clinton elected. We had to make it through the 10 days. Now we know that there were many factors, obviously, that cost her the election. But there was no doubt that it was a factor,’ she added.
‘There is plenty of evidence that it was a factor and that was very, very hard for me to have to deal with and live with and I’ll tell you why: Because every day I wake up and see something that is bad for this country or that wouldn’t have happened if she was president, I think of that a lot.’
Hard to handle: Abedin insisted that her estranged husband was ‘disciplined’ in every aspect of his life, including their marriage, which made his scandals so shocking
Parallels: Abedin’s boss Hillary Clinton also weathered a public sex scandal after her husband, former President Bill Clinton, had an affair with 22-year-old intern Monica Lewinsky
Private: However, when asked during her interview if Hillary had ever talked about the analogies in their personal stories, Abedin replied: ‘Zero’
Abedin’s long-time boss also weathered a sex scandal in the public eye after her husband, former President Bill Clinton, had an affair with a 22-year-old White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
He denied having intercourse with Lewinsky, saying in a televised speech in January 1998 that he ‘did not have sexual relations with that woman.’
But further investigation led to charges of perjury against him, and in 1998 he was impeached by the House of Representatives. He was subsequently acquitted on all impeachment charges of perjury and obstruction of justice in a 21-day trial.
Throughout that time, Clinton stood by his side.
She revealed in a documentary last year: ‘I defended and stood by him because I thought the impeachment process was wrong, but that wasn’t the necessary answer to what I would do with my marriage.
‘It was not — to me — the same. I still had to decide whether I wanted to stay in the marriage, whether I thought it was worth saving.’
Despite Weiner’s many scandals and extramarital affairs, Abedin still remembers why she fell in love with him.
Dedicated: Abedin has served as a top aide for Hillary Clinton for 25 years
‘When I met him, he was this dynamic, brilliant, smart, public servant, and I did find him captivating, as I detail in the book,’ she told Hall. ‘We sort of accidentally fell in love. He was my best friend, and that’s why I write the lines in the book: “When I was with him, I thought nothing bad could happen to me.”
‘He really was a protector, a provider. He was deeply loyal to people and causes he cared about, and that’s what I fell in love with.’
When asked about Weiner’s ‘lack of discipline’ in their marriage, Abedin pushed back and argued that he is an incredibly regimented person.
‘It was actually the opposite, I would counter, and that’s why I write the reason it was such a hard thing to process is he was disciplined about everything, including in our marriage,’ she said.
‘I mean, he was the one who took care of our household. I would often have conversations with girlfriends who were in marriages or in relationships, you know, complaining about their partner leaving their laundry on the floor or coming home after a long trip and the fridge was empty,’ she continued. ‘That’s not the experience [I had].
‘Anthony was disciplined about everything in our lives. He was disciplined, as I write, reading the New York Times cover to cover every day, going to the gym.’
Abedin seemed to imply that Weiner’s downfall was the result of him being able to connect with strangers on social media, which was fairly new at the time.
‘At the time these social media portals were these new things introduced to the world. It gave him access to a much broader array of communications,’ she explained, recalling how she went ‘paint shopping’ through his emails.
‘He was getting all of these adoring messages, all these people were able to reach him, strangers,’ she continued, noting her husband was incredibly popular in New York at the time.
‘I mean there’s no reason you would remember this or even know this, but in 2010, when I was first married to Anthony Weiner, I could not walk down the street in New York City without somebody stopping him on every block, saying, “Thank you for what you’re doing and thank you for fighting for us.” There was a very active healthcare debate going on at the time.’
Abedin said other women have talked to her about what it is like to have partners who lead double lives.
‘I really think with him, you know, he would say, “It’s like I would go on to the computer, and I’d play a game and then I’d come back to reality,”‘ she said. ‘The Anthony I knew in the world we inhabited, he was disciplined about everything.’