Why Sarah Ferguson thinks Hillary Clinton is not OK.

This week on Tell Me It’s Going to be OK, Mia Freedman and I sat down with one of Australia’s most respected journalists, Sarah Ferguson, to talk about what it was like interviewing Hillary Clinton.

So, what did she learn after spending 45 minutes with a women who made it to the other side of a political campaign that was unlike anything we’ve ever seen?

Hillary Clinton is not ok…

Sitting across from a woman who lost an election to a reality TV star, Sarah said the one thing she picked up on was that Hillary was not ok.

“Of course she still gets up and puts one foot in front of the other but… she sits and watches what’s happening with Trump, it appals her and she thinks about all the things that could have gone slightly differently which would have meant she was now the President. How do you stop punishing yourself about that?”

She really doesn’t like being asked about her husband…

Hillary is naturally guarded but Sarah really saw her walls go up when she asked about the women who’d accused her husband of sexual assault, attending one of the campaign debates.

“You can see her preparing for the Bill question… her armour comes over her, she withdraws, something comes down on her face, she gets very focused but she’s ready [because] she’s been dealing with this for 20 years.”

Huma Abedin is one tough cookie…

Clinton’s right hand woman was thrust into the spotlight thanks to the sexual exploits of her husband, Anthony Weiner, but behind the scenes she runs the show.

“The sound recordist knelt down to do the microphone and she got very cranky about that so she was being bad cop.”

Sometimes you have to know when to drop a question…

Jim Comey’s decision to re-open the investigation into Hillary’s emails had a significant impact on the election and Sarah planned to ask about emails that led to the second investigation, which were found on Anthony Weiner’s laptop. At the last minute, she decided against it.

“I wasn’t expecting [Huma] to be there so I thought it would look like I’d done it on purpose to embarrass her in some way and it felt unfair. You have to make those calculations all the way through.”

Hillary likes it when you’ve done your homework…

Sarah says one of the key mistakes interviewers make is not researching their subject and she could tell that Hillary liked that she knew her stuff.

“I asked a question about her working on the Nixon impeachment and you can see her [think] ‘OK, this is good, you know I have this long back history… and you’ve bothered to see I had a previous life’ and that’s very important. It’s a form of respect.”

Someone in Hillary’s team REALLY cares about her clothes…

As Sarah was waiting for Hillary, her team was VERY interested in what she was wearing.

“Her staffers kept coming in and asking whether that was my final outfit and taking pictures of the split screen monitor.  I think they matched us because we were wearing the same gear!”