WASHINGTON – Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has been called a “honey badger” and “porky” by an array of slobs in the hallowed halls of the House and Senate, but the New York Democrat has laughed off the sexist slights and pushed back at her boorish colleagues.
In a new interview with People magazine to promote her new book, “Off the Sidelines,” Gillibrand recounts one incident when she was once working out in the House gym during renovations of the women’s facility.
“Good thing you’re working out, because you wouldn’t want to get porky!” one of her older male colleagues said. Her response: “Thanks, a—hole,” she said in an excerpt from her book.
An unidentified southern congressman once held the former upstate House member’s arm while walking her down the chamber’s center aisle. “You know, Kirsten, you’re even pretty when you’re fat,” he told her.
“I believed his intentions were sweet, even if he was being an idiot,” Gillibrand recounted.
Gillibrand has struggled with her weight, going between a Size 4 and Size 16 after giving birth.
She recalled a labor leader once told her: “When I first met you in 2006 you were beautiful, a breath of fresh air. To win [the special], you need to be beautiful again.”
“I knew I was too heavy for my own health,” Gillibrand recalled.
After she dropped 50 pounds and got elected to the Senate, one of her favorite older senators walked up behind her, squeezed her waist, and intoned: “Don’t lose too much weight now. I like my girls chubby.”
By digging up tales of sexism and piggish behavior, Gillibrand is taking a page from Hillary Clinton, who frequently invokes the “glass ceiling” in her political speeches. One of the senator’s top issues has been combating sexual harassment in the military and on college campuses.
But even though her new memoir/manifesto is called “Off the Sidelines,” Gillibrand sounds like she’s ready to stay off the presidential field. “I like where I am,” she says.
But she doesn’t aspire to be in the Senate “for 30 years.”
Gillibrand served in the House from 2007-2009, when Gov. David Paterson appointed her to the Senate. She later won reelection in a special election in 2010.