Difficult Conversations (with Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield and Sarah Stewart Holland)

For her season finale, Hillary sits down with her husband, the 42nd president of the United States, to continue a wide-ranging conversation they’ve been having together for over 50 years. From their home in Chappaqua, New York, amid the current war in the Middle East, they recall the eight years of work Bill did during his presidency to find a road to peace for the Israeli and Palestinian people. They tackle other pressing subjects like immigration, climate change, and the urgent need for funding the war in Ukraine. And they also look for hope wherever they can find it—including Northern Ireland and Albania, and, closer to home, through celebrating the holiday season and reflecting on the bond they continue to share with one another after all their years together.    You can find a full transcript HERE.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hillary is traveling, and will be back next week with a new episode. In the meantime, we’re bringing back one of her favorites..   “Believe in yourself.” For some people, that’s a lifelong challenge. Then there are those rare folks, immensely talented and hard working, who always knew that they would be somebody. This week, Hillary talks with two of them—multiple Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter Brandi Carlile, and Broadway legend André De Shields—about the dreams (and setbacks) that led to where they are today.   Brandi Carlile is a six-time Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, performer, and producer. Since her debut in 2004, she has released six studio albums and was the most nominated female artist at the 2019 Grammy Awards with six nominations, including Album, Record, and Song of the Year. Her memoir Broken Horses is a #1 New York Times bestseller.   André De Shields’ acting career spans over 50 years. While currently best known for his performance in the musical Hadestown, he also appeared in The Wiz, Play On!, Ain’t Misbehavin’, and The Full Monty, and has directed and choreographed several shows and appeared on film and television. André has won numerous awards throughout this career, including an Emmy Award, a Tony Award, and a Grammy Award.   You can find a full transcript here.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The overturning of Roe v. Wade in June of 2022 dealt a severe blow to women’s health care in the United States. Today, nearly half of states in the country ban or severely restrict abortion care. The ripple effects reach far wider: hospitals are shutting maternity wards, and OB-GYNs are leaving states that don’t allow them to provide essential care to their patients.    On today’s episode, Hillary talks to two leaders in the fight to provide the reproductive health care all women deserve.    Illinois governor J. B. Pritzker has helped shepherd into law some of the strongest abortion protections in the country, not only for his constituents but for anyone seeking abortion care, regardless of their ability to pay. He talks to Hillary about why this fight is his fight, and about the intended and unintended consequences of anti-choice legislators’ draconian laws.   Dr. Yashica Robinson, an OB-GYN and the medical director of the Alabama Women’s Center in Huntsville, has been on the front lines of reproductive health care in her state for decades. Throughout that time, state legislators and the Alabama Department of Health have thrown up roadblocks to prevent her patients–mostly low income women of color– from accessing the care they need and deserve. She shares with Hillary the work she’s doing to improve their outcomes, in the state with the highest maternal mortality rates in the country, including opening the state’s first birth center, and explains why she cannot give up hope in the face of relentless opposition.   You can read a full transcript HERE.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, we bring you the first ever live recording of You and Me Both before a sold-out audience at Symphony Space in New York City. Hillary was joined by singer, actor, and three time Tony Award winner Patti LuPone, while writer and comedian Amber Ruffin served as MC.   Patti is best known for her roles in the Broadway productions of “Company”, “Gypsy”, “Sweeney Todd”, “Anything Goes”, and “Evita”, among others. She’s also appeared in many films and television shows, including, most recently, Beau Is Afraid, and the forthcoming Marvel miniseries Agatha: Coven of Chaos. She’s currently putting together a new concert: “Patti LuPone: A Life in Notes”. Patti and Hillary talk about her early music education on Long Island and at Julliard, the challenges of performing in “Evita”, and why these days you will find her everywhere but on Broadway, as she seeks out new theatrical experiences as a performer and theatergoer. Together with Hillary, she laughs, she cries, and then she sings!   Event MC Amber Ruffin is an Emmy and WGA Award nominated writer and performer for NBC’s “Late Night with Seth Meyers” and her own “The Amber Ruffin Show.” She and her sister, Lacey, co-authored the New York Times bestseller You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories of Racism and The World Record Book of Racist Stories, and they now co-host the podcast, The Amber & Lacey, Lacey & Amber Show! Amber is also writing a revival of the musical “The Wiz” which began touring America this fall and lands on Broadway in the spring of 2024. She joined Hillary and Patti for an audience Q&A.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A few months ago, Hillary wrote a piece for The Atlantic on what she called “the weaponization of loneliness.” It was inspired, in part, by an important and alarming advisory issued by the Office of the Surgeon General on an underreported crisis in the United States: an epidemic of loneliness that has contributed to increased rates of opioid and alcohol addiction, domestic abuse, suicide, gun violence, as well as diabetes, heart disease, and more. To that list, Hillary added the rise in divisive, even toxic and dangerous, political engagement.   On this week’s episode, Hillary talks with U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy about his own experiences of loneliness as a child, the causes and effects of the loneliness epidemic, and his “We Are Made to Connect” tour, which seeks to raise awareness about the dangers of social isolation and create opportunities for connection on college campuses.   Then she speaks with actor, writer, director, and comedian John Leguizamo, whose work in theater, film, and television helps ease our sense of loneliness and isolation. From his Broadway hit Latin History for Morons to his roles in Super Mario Bros, Chef, and Encanto, and his MSNBC travel series Leguizamo Does America, John has won over audiences while also forging a path for Latino performers who are vastly underrepresented on stage and screens in the United States. Hillary talks with John about the math teacher who nudged him towards theater, performing for and breaking bread with inmates at Rikers Island, and his tireless efforts to make sure Latin people are represented in politics, the arts, and in our understanding of American history.   You can read a full transcript HERE.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hillary has been an admirer of Barbra Streisand’s throughout her remarkable career, and a friend since they first met back in 1992. There’s lots to admire about this iconic singer, actor, writer, producer, and director, known for her best-selling albums, performances on stage and screen, and activism. “Funny Girl”, “The Way We Were”, “Yentl”, and “A Star Is Born” are just a few of the titles that remind us of the profound impact Barbra's made on our cultural landscape.     Now, she’s added a new achievement to the list, with the release of her highly anticipated, expansive, and entertaining memoir: My Name is Barbra. She joins Hillary for a wide-ranging conversation about how she made her way from a cramped apartment in Flatbush, Brooklyn to the EGOT winner she is today; her special friendship with Hillary’s mother-in-law Virginia; and her unflinching honesty, which played out to comic effect on the first date with her now-husband of twenty-five years, James Brolin.   You can read the full transcript HERE.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s almost that time of year  for holiday gatherings with family and friends. And with that comes lots of eating, maybe lots of cooking, and, for many, a growing list of topics that are off the table for discussion, as they run the risk of derailing an otherwise  festive occasion.   Of course, there are times when we need to have difficult conversations, and to be able to disagree with others without threatening our connection to the people we love, or the vital work we need to get done.   On today’s episode, Hillary speaks with Sarah Stewart Holland and Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield,  two people who are highly skilled at navigating difficult conversations, and can share stories and offer advice from the front lines.   Sarah is a progressive Democrat who ran for office (and won!), and is raising three kids, in the very red state of Kentucky. On the Pantsuit Politics podcast, she and her more politically conservative co-host Beth Silvers have been tackling challenging conversations since 2015. They’ve written two books to help others do the same, including the book club favorite I Think You’re Wrong (But I’m Listening): A Guide to Grace-Filled Political Conversation.  Linda, the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, has been engaged in high-stakes, complex negotiations for decades. Over the course of her 35-year career with the Foreign Service, she served as U.S. Ambassador to Liberia, the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, as the Director of Human Resources, and held posts abroad in Pakistan, Kenya, Nigeria, Switzerland, and elsewhere.   You can read the full transcript HERE.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As the world’s attention is rightly drawn to the crisis unfolding in the Middle East, another devastating war rages on. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February of 2022, Ukrainians have shown remarkable courage and determination in fighting to preserve their independence. But it’s come at a terrible cost, and victory is far from assured.   This past September at the annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), together with Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska, Hillary announced the launch of a CGI Ukraine Action Network–a coalition of partners committed to supporting the people of Ukraine. Both of her guests today are partners in that coalition, and have been doing everything they can to support the people of Ukraine in their brave and necessary fight to defend their freedom.   Olga Rudneva shares with us her work as CEO of Superhumans Center, a modern medical center providing prosthetic limbs, rehabilitation, and other essential services to Ukrainian men, women, and children who have lost limbs in the war.    Actor and director Liev Schreiber talks about how and why he co-founded BlueCheck Ukraine, a collective of humanitarian crisis response experts, entrepreneurs, and filmmakers who work to identify, vet, and fast-track urgent financial support to Ukrainian NGOs and aid initiatives providing life-saving and humanitarian work on the front lines of Russia’s war on Ukraine.    You can read a full transcript HERE.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You’ve heard of listening tours, right? Hillary’s done plenty of those. These days, New York City writer, humorist, and cultural icon Fran Lebowitz is in the midst of a talking tour across the United States and abroad. Between destinations, she found time to stop by the studio and chat with Hillary.   Fran used to write. She’s the author of two best-selling essay collections, Metropolitan Life and Social Studies. But she likes talking better, and has gained a following for her sharp wit and her incisive, unapologetic opinions on just about everything.    In their wide-ranging and fast-moving conversation, Hillary and Fran discuss Fran’s early days scrounging for work, food, and heat in New York; the truth about “the American Dream”; how to survive long-distance air travel without a smartphone or cigarettes; why Martin Scorcese’s documentaries about Fran, Public Speaking and Pretend It’s a City, were not collaborations; and much more.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

These days, when Congress is so often paralyzed by in-fighting between the extreme and the more extreme wings of the Republican Party, it’s often up to states to fend for themselves. That puts a lot of responsibility in the hands of our governors - responsibility that some use for good, and others use for ill.   On today’s episode, Hillary talks with two newly-minted governors who are doing everything they can to improve the lives and future prospects of the people whom they serve.   Before taking office as the first woman and first LGBTQ+ governor of Massachusetts, Maura Healey had already proved her mettle—first as a college and pro-basketball player, later as the Chief of the Civil Rights Division of the Attorney General’s Office, and then as the first openly gay Attorney General in the country. She shares her priorities with Hillary, from making life in Massachusetts more affordable, to tackling climate change, easing the migrant crisis, and encouraging young people to see themselves as future leaders.   The first public office Maryland Governor Wes Moore ever ran for is the one he now holds. But his experiences as the child of a single immigrant mother, a U.S. Army Captain, and CEO of the Robin Hood Foundation gave him his “why”—to lift families out of poverty, promote economic growth, and lead young people to public service. He won in a landslide, making him the first Black governor of Maryland, and only the third elected Black governor anywhere in the country. He and Hillary talk about how he’s settling into the job, what he’s been able to accomplish, and why you’ve got to celebrate the wins even when they come with compromises.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.