Bill Clinton spent his youth as a fat, miserable boy and endured a childhood beset by violence and abuse. And his infamous affair with young White House intern Monica Lewinsky was caused by ‘old demons’ from his youth that have haunted him all his life, the former President reveals in copies of his long-awaited autobiography, My Life, that began circulating yesterday, two days before the official publication date.
For the first time in his own words, Clinton’s describes in the book how his drunken stepfather would beat his mother and once tried to shoot her. It also tells how Clinton’s weight was so out of control as a young boy that he could barely run.
On Lewinsky, Clinton is brutally honest about his deep regret and attributes the liaison to the dark forces of his personality. He says that his wife, Hillary, forced him to sleep on a couch for several weeks after he admitted the scandal.
The book is one of the hottest properties of recent American publishing history but scandal and blaring headlines have accompanied the publicity machine. Early copies of My Life have reached the Associated Press and the New York Times, which have begun printing excerpts despite the protests of lawyers from publishers Knopf, who had launched an extraordinary security campaign to keep the book under wraps.
According to the New York Times the book is ‘sprawling, undisciplined and idiosyncratic in its choice of emphasis’ and accused Clinton of treating ‘large spans of his presidency as a travelogue of campaign cities and foreign capitals’.
The paper says that almost 100 of the book’s 957 pages are devoted to Clinton’s Arkansas childhood. He tells of shaking hands with President Kennedy and of hearing Martin Luther King’s ‘I have a dream’ speech. ‘I started crying during the speech and wept for a good while after Dr King finished. He had said everything I believed, far better than I ever could,’ Clinton writes.
But there is also much sadness. He says he was a ‘fat band boy’ at his junior high school and painfully recounts how one Easter he was the only child not to be successful on an egg hunt. He was simply too fat to outrun other children.
According to the New York Times, he also talks about the death of his 28-year-old father — who was killed in a car crash before Bill was born — and said the tragedy gave him the motivation to live every moment to the full.
Another candid admission recounts the violent temper of his alcoholic stepfather, Roger Clinton. He describes how Roger beat his wife and once fired a gun at her head. Clinton writes that he would witness the savagery at home and then go to school as normal the next day. His family motto was ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’, he says, and he became adept at keeping dark secrets.
One such secret was his affair with the 21-year-old Lewinsky, which overshadowed the achievements of his eight years in office and made him the punchline of countless jokes. As expected Clinton’s account, which agrees with his wife Hillary’s description in her own autobiography, is full of regret and open dismay. He tells how the affair revealed ‘the darkest part of my inner life’. Hillary had reacted like she had been punched in the gut, Clinton says.
America still cannot leave the Lewinsky scandal alone and Clinton is prepared for more questions in the weeks ahead as his relentless publicity schedule kicks in. In an interview to be broadcast today on CBS television’s 60 Minutes Clinton calls the affair ‘a terrible moral error’ and blames his own personality for it. ‘I did something for the worst possible reason. Just because I could,’ he said. ‘I think that’s just about the most morally indefensible reason anybody could have for doing anything.’
But in amid the personal recriminations and struggles, there is also a serious political book trying to get out. Clinton has long felt that his true legacy has been overshadowed by the endless speculation over his love life. Much of the book covers Clinton’s journeys across the globe as he conducted foreign policy over Kosovo, the Middle East and elsewhere in a troubled world emerging from the Cold War. He also devotes time to his fight against terrorism, perhaps seeking to draw a parallel between his actions and the perceived inactions of the current Bush administration.
Yet, as ever with Clinton, the story of the story is often as interesting. Tuesday’s release was tightly planned and secretive. Lawyers for Knopf scrambled late last week to prevent early release of the book’s contents. They failed. In public the Clinton PR team were furious at their launch being scuppered. In private, many experts speculated, they can only be pleased with the free publicity.
Clinton had been locked away in his his upstate New York home, writing out the book in longhand. For his labours, he has reportedly received a $10-million advance. But so far that looks like money well spent. The initial print of 1,5-million is a record for any presidential book and advance orders already top two million. Some bookstores are staying open late to begin selling the books at midnight tomorrow. ‘This is the biggest author event I’ve ever seen,’ said Clara Villarosa, owner of the Hue-Man Bookstore in New York where Clinton will appear on Tuesday night.
Clinton will then embark on a month-long tour across the country. It will include an interview with Larry King on CNN. Oprah Winfrey is devoting a whole show to Clinton. Radio stations are already reading out two pre-released excerpts from the book. But, in a typical Clinton twist that reveals the politician still within him, Knopf publicists have told reporters that Clinton has insisted his tour will only be taking in one venue a day. That means he will be able to sign copies for everyone who wants one.
In Britain, the Clinton book also comes out on Tuesday by the Random House imprint Hutchinson.
There is surprise in literary circles that no newspaper serialisation deal has been struck but Charlotte Bush, of Random House, said: ‘The book is not being serialised and that is a timing thing from the UK point of view. There is a big interview going in Time magazine which, when it hit news stands, would take away from the exclusivity.’
But a source close to Random House said: ‘No newspaper offered what they were looking for. There was also concern about material coming out first in America and they couldn’t get the timing right.’
The publisher declined to comment on Saturday on the leaks of extracts before the publication date but is thought to welcome the free publicity.
Jo Marino, of bookseller Waterstone’s, said: ‘From a retail point of view it’s all creating awareness around the book. In America it will be enormous and we do think it’s going to be very big over here. Even if extracts have appeared elsewhere, Bill Clinton is not holding back and there is a lot in it people will want to read for themselves. Hillary’s book was very successful and our expectations are for double that.’ – Sapa