Longshot Democratic presidential candidate and spiritual guru Marianne Williamson was prone to fits of physical rage and verbally abusive outbursts at aides during her first campaign for the White House in 2020, according to reports.
The 70-year-old Williamson — nicknamed the “Guru to the Glitterati” for her links to politicians and Hollywood celebrities and the author of New York Times bestsellers including “A Return to Love” — menaced those who worked on her presidential bid, according to interviews Politico conducted with 12 former staff members.
“It would be foaming, spitting, uncontrollable rage,” one ex-aide told the outlet. “It was traumatic. And the experience, in the end, was terrifying.”
Williamson allegedly threw her phone at three of her staffers, shouted so loudly at aides that hotel staff would come to check on their rooms, and once slammed her hand so hard into a car door that she was taken to an urgent care facility.
The 2024 presidential hopeful, who days before her campaign launch called for a more “meaningful conversation” in American politics, also reportedly shrieked at staff until they burst into tears.
“Those reports of Ms. Williamson’s behavior are consistent with my observations, consistent with contemporaneous discussions I had about her conduct with staff members, and entirely consistent with my own personal experience with her behavior on multiple occasions,” said former New Hampshire Congressman Paul Hodes, who worked as Williamson’s 2020 campaign director in the Granite State.
The aides also said Williamson, who wrote the 2010 book “A Course in Weight Loss: 21 Spiritual Lessons for Surrendering Your Weight Forever,” would mock staff for being too heavy.
Others said the Oprah Winfrey-endorsed spiritual adviser pitched tantrums when staff booked her hotel rooms without bathtubs — and blamed aides for canceling events after she asked them to do so.
“She would get caught in these vicious emotional loops where she would yell and scream hysterically,” another aide told Politico. “This was day after day after day. It wasn’t that she was having a bad day or moment. It was just boom, boom, boom — and often for no legitimate reason.”
Williamson also required all her campaign employees to sign nondisclosure agreements, and once floated the idea of tracking aides’ activity on their cellphones.
“The message was: ‘Don’t f— with me because I will make your life a living hell.’ So no one f—ed with her,” one aide told the outlet.
Williamson’s campaign did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
“Former staffers trying to score points with the political establishment by smearing me might be good for their careers, but the intention is to deflect attention from the important issues facing the American people,” the candidate told Politico in a statement. “This Presidential Campaign expects concerted efforts to dismiss and denigrate us. But the amplification of outright lies should not occur.”
Williamson acknowledged that she sought medical care after pounding on the car door and once raised her voice at an aide in a hotel room.
A “car door is not a person. I would never be physically hurtful to a person,” she said. “I find it hard to believe that people in politics have never raised their voice before.”
Williamson also denied mocking anyone over their weight.
The aides interviewed by Politico expressed concerns that female politicians are judged more harshly for such outbursts, but stressed that Williamson’s behavior was unacceptable.
Many said they were drawn to the unconventional politician because her books helped them through difficult times, such as divorce, addiction, and deaths in their family.
Former Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) also received negative press during her 2020 White House campaign for angry outbursts.
Most famously, Klobuchar reportedly ate salad with a hair comb in 2008 after an aide forgot to bring her a plastic fork. She then ordered the same aide to clean the comb.
Another Klobuchar staffer claimed her boss once threw a binder that accidentally hit one of her aides.
Politico noted the Williamson campaign had high turnover in 2020, both due to resignations and firings. One worker ripped his former boss in an email after he quit.
Robert Becker, the Williamson campaign’s director in Iowa, reportedly said her actions toward staff were “belittling, abusive, dehumanizing and unacceptable.”
“I cannot in good faith subject any future campaign hires to this kind of vitriol,” he wrote in the Aug. 14, 2019, email obtained by Politico. “For 30 years I have had zero-tolerance for bullying in the workplace, and that has to include the principle.”
Ironically, Becker himself had been accused of misconduct for forcibly kissing a subordinate while working for Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign.
“I did go out on a limb for you, but more importantly I had no idea that you would’ve seen me that way,” Williamson responded at the time. “Hopefully I will learn from what you have said, and hopefully you will not say such things to others.”
Williamson is the only Democrat so far to challenge incumbent Joe Biden, who appears ready to seek re-election next year despite questions about his mental and physical fitness for the job.
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