People.com Politics Wetting Her Pants & Hiding the Boss's Ugly Clothes — Huma Abedin and Hillary Clinton Talk New Memoir In a 92nd Street Y book talk, the former White House intern and the political icon she's worked for for 25 years revel in the lighter — but revealing! — side of Abedin's debut book, Both/And By Sandra Sobieraj Westfall Sandra Sobieraj Westfall Sandra Sobieraj Westfall is the White House and National Political Correspondent for PEOPLE. She also writes for and occasionally senior edits the magazine's Crime section and the brand's Let's Talk About It mental health series. Westfall joined PEOPLE in 2003 as Washington Bureau Chief and specializes in bringing readers inside the personal experience of political life. She twice won the White House Correspondents' Association Merriman-Smith Award for excellence in presidential reporting under deadline pressure (for her inside-the-room election night exclusives on the "snippy" phone call between Al Gore and George W. Bush in 2000; and the hear-a-pin-drop silent moment in 2008 when Barack Obama, holding his mother-in-law's hand, took in the news that he would be America's first Black president). Prior to joining PEOPLE, Westfall was a White House Correspondent for The Associated Press after beginning her career in Congress, where she wrote legislation on women's health, mental health, and domestic violence. A native of Rochester, New York, she received her Bachelor's degree in politics (with a certificate in Latin American studies) from Princeton University, and a Master's degree in journalism from Stanford University. People Editorial Guidelines Published on November 5, 2021 04:35 PM Share Tweet Pin Email Huma Abedin (left), Hillary Clinton. Photo: Cindy Ord/WireImage; Brian Lawless/PA Images via Getty "The men in the room can close their ears." That content advisory from Huma Abedin to a Thursday night audience at New York City's 92nd Street Y came as the freshly minted memoirist — her Both/And: A Life in Many Worlds was released on Nov. 2 — and her boss, Hillary Clinton, dished on the book's scenes from their 25-year relationship. Like that time Abedin wet her pants in front of Clinton. And her Secret Service detail. "All the men who read the book earlier are like, 'This is too much information I don't really want to know.' And all the women are like, 'You have to leave it in,' " Abedin, 45, said on stage to a vaccinated and masked audience. The anecdote stayed in the book. It happened when Clinton was secretary of state, slipped and fell en route to the White House, hurt her arm and had to detour to the hospital. Huma Abedin Shares Guilt Over Hillary Clinton Losing Presidency — 'Going to Take It to My Grave' "We go to the ER. She takes off her jacket and her arm is disgusting," recounts Abedin. "Like, it's distorted. They're taking an x-ray. It looks horrible. And so I'm just standing there—" With a bit of an eye roll, Clinton interjects: "My elbow was broken, it turns out." "The next thing I know, she's like, 'Get some water, get some juice. She probably hasn't had any crackers.' I have no idea what's going on. She's pointing at me," Abedin continues. "And I realized I had fainted. I was sitting in a chair. Her doctor is not attending to her, but to me. She has the broken elbow. And I had peed in my pants. The first and last time that has ever happened." "We've had some crazy adventures." Turns out some of the anecdotes sprinkled throughout Abedin's 502 pages were news to Clinton, who first hired Abedin as a White House intern when she was a 20-year-old undergrad at George Washington University and Clinton was first lady. The cover of Huma Abedin's memoir. Simon and Schuster In the book, Abedin writes about packing up for the Clintons at the end of 2000 and their eight years in the White House. She had set up shop in the formal President's Dining Room and one day, the White House residence staff wheeled in a few garment racks they'd found upstairs in a third-floor cedar closet. They were things she and another White House aide had "lost" and intentionally hidden from the first lady. How Huma Abedin Discovered Her Husband's Betrayal Was Even Worse Than We Knew — and Learned to Forgive "Like the coat that looked like a carpet .... a tan suede jacket with extra-long strips of matching suede fridge hanging from the arms that she thought was hip," Abedin writes. "Then there was the worst offender of all: what I called the Michelin Man coat, a long, heavy pleather thing with a stamped animal print and a thick faux fur lining that considerably added to the wearer's girth." "I was hiding clothes, yes," Abedin confessed. Evan Agostini/Invision/AP/Shutterstock "She hid some of my favorite pieces of clothes," Clinton, at her side, said with a laugh. "I have not found them yet!" Clinton added, "Fashion is not my forte, so to speak. And so it's been great to have somebody who had this innate fashion sense around. Although, it's a little bit disconcerting when you are the secretary of state of the United States and your deputy chief of staff takes a look at you and says, 'You're wearing that?'" Abedin continued to work for Clinton through her 2000 Senate campaign, then in the U.S. Senate, through two presidential campaigns, one term at the State Department — and still today, as her chief of staff. In an interview ahead of their joint appearance Nov. 4, Abedin told PEOPLE of Clinton: "She always encourages people to spread their wings and try new things. So, I do see myself doing other things in this world. I don't see a world where I'm completely disconnected from Hillaryland, as I call it. I think she'll be a presence in my life for a long time."