One of the most surprising things about Bill and Hillary Clinton is that they were broke and in debt when they left the White House in 2001. But what’s even more interesting is that the former First Couple managed to turn the financial situation around and became multimillionaires in just a decade.
The Monica Lewinsky scandal left them broke
“I left the White House $16 million in debt,” former president Bill Clinton told NBC’s Craig Melvin during an interview which tackled the Monica Lewinsky scandal, CNBC reported. Clinton was millions of dollars in the red due to the legal fees.
Apparently, Bill Clinton’s salary can’t keep up with his mounting legal fees. “The presidential salary of $200,000 had been overwhelmed by defense attorneys’ fees for scandal investigations, the impeachment proceedings against Bill Clinton and action to suspend his Arkansas law license,” NPR reported.
Clintons’ quick financial rise
But Bill and Hillary Clinton quickly bounced back financially. Three years after they became “dead broke,” they were able to pay off all of their debts by 2004. When Hillary ran for the presidency against Trump, Forbes estimated her net worth at that time to be $45 million.
The Clintons were able to quickly reverse their financial situation via multimillion-dollar book deals and paid speeches. The couple reportedly earned more than $153.7 million in paid speeches from 2001 to 2015.
Book deals were also a major source of earnings for the Clintons. For her book “Living History,” Hillary Clinton reportedly got an $8 million advance while Bill Clinton got a $10 million advance for his book “My Life.”
The Clintons’ net worth
Hillary Clinton’s net worth is estimated to be over $45 million, according to Express. Meanwhile, Bill Clinton’s estimated net worth is almost twice that of his spouse at $80 million. Combined, that means that the couple has around $125 million.
Their daughter, Chelsea Clinton, is likewise a millionaire with a net worth of about $15 million. Fresh out of graduate school at Oxford University, she is now employed with McKinsey & Co earning $120,000.