Thirty years ago, Gillian Anderson met former President Bill Clinton. The encounter has stuck with her for decades, in part because the moment was one that she could only describe as "intimate."
Anderson shared the story while appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in mid-April 2022. It turns out she met Bill Clinton while he was on the campaign trail for his first presidential run.
Anderson described the exact moment the two interacted. She said, "He did the most miraculous thing in the world, he shakes your hand, then he grabs your elbow and at the same time he holds your arm further up."
She continued, "Slightly intimate little thing. [He] makes eye contact. And he moves on to the next person. Then he looks back at you."
Anderson went on to add that Clinton greeted everyone this way, but that the moment really stuck out for her.
Jimmy Kimmel joked that he had more or less the same experience … minus that look back. Anderson laughed and then went on to say that the meeting truly left a mark on her. As she put it, "I went home, I thought — this was in the days of answering machines — I literally thought that I was going to go home to a message from him. I did. It was that real."
Stories of Bill Clinton's charisma and mastery of eye contact have followed the former president for years. As Vanity Fair notes, "He knows where to put the emphasis on certain words, where to insert pauses — keeping the audience in his orbit."
Author Michael Ellsberg has written about Bill Clinton's charisma as well. As he recounted on the podcast The Tim Ferriss Show, it's the kind of charisma that is tough to shake. Ellsberg told the story that a friend told him about what it's like to be in the Clinton bubble.
He shared, "I have a friend who has always despised Bill Clinton. Yet, somehow my friend found himself at a function that Bill Clinton was attending. And, within the swirl of the crowd, he was introduced to Clinton."
He continued, "In that moment, face-to-face, all of my friend’s personal animosity towards Clinton disappeared, in one instant. As they were shaking hands, Clinton made eye contact with my friend in a way so powerful and intimate, my friend felt as though the two of them were the only people in the room."
