Hillary Clinton says that “suggestive” photos taken of her during a state visit to Brazil while she was first lady led her to start wearing her well-known pantsuits.
The photos were later plastered on billboards and used to sell lingerie, prompting Mrs. Clinton to make pantsuits the centerpiece of her public wardrobe.
“I was sitting on a couch and the press was let in, there were a bunch of them shooting up,” she told CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell as part of a promotion for her new Apple TV+ docuseries “Gutsy.” “All of a sudden, the White House gets alerted to these billboards that show me sitting down with — I thought my legs together, but the way it’s shot, it’s sort of suggestive.”
“I also began to have the experience of having photographers all the time,” Mrs. Clinton said. “I’d be on a stage, I’d be climbing stairs, and they’d be below me. I just couldn’t deal with it.”
She and her daughter, Chelsea Clinton, interviewed female public figures as part of their upcoming series. They also used the opportunity to share their own life experiences.
Chelsea said she had no idea there was a story behind her mother’s pantsuits.
“I didn’t know that story. It’s by far and away the greatest revelation I had,” she said. “So creepy.”