The Obamas and the Bidens are not the only key players in the 2016 election who will be penning books in the upcoming years. Huma Abedin may score a similar publishing deal.
The longtime aid to former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton — and estranged wife of controversial former New York Rep. Anthony Weiner — has been meeting with literary agents over the past weeks to discuss possibly writing a book, The Hollywood Reporter said on Thursday. According to the report, the project "is envisioned as a reflection on how her personal and professional lives collided during the campaign." Abedin is allegedly seeking as much as $2 million in the book deal. She also reportedly has Clinton's blessing.
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In August 2016, Abedin separated from Weiner, after new allegations surfaced of inappropriate messages between him and other women. The Clinton trusted adviser stuck by her husband when he resigned from Congress in 2011 after publishing an explicit photo of himself on his Twitter profile that was meant to be sent as a direct message, and when he was at the center of yet another sexting scandal in 2013 during his run for mayor of New York City. But the third scandal seemed to be the last straw.
"After long and painful consideration and work on my marriage, I have made the decision to separate from my husband,” she said at the moment. "Anthony and I remain devoted to doing what is best for our son, who is the light of our life. During this difficult time, I ask for respect for our privacy."
Even though she did appear in the 2016 documentary Weiner, which chronicled her estranged husband's mayoral candidacy and the second sexting scandal, Abedin has been known to be incredibly private and almost never gives interviews. (For example, last year, while her boss' campaign was in full swing, she only gave one.)
Writing a book about her side of Weiner's sexting scandal and her role in Clinton's 2016 presidential run would be an out-of-character move for Abedin, but it could also be highly beneficial.
"She's more interesting than her husband. We know who he is. She's the ongoing mystery," Julian Zelizer, Princeton University's presidential historian, told The Hollywood Reporter. "But she'll have to put herself out there. That's what the publisher will be looking for."