People who saw photographer Annie Leibovitz’s photo of the Democratic women running for president in 2020 noticed that someone was missing.
Marianne Williamson noticed her absence as well.
New in Vogue: A story by @amychozick about the women lawmakers running in 2020 for president.
Photograph by @annieleibovitz https://t.co/G03DcguZnm pic.twitter.com/uEZzrWF5oE
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) July 1, 2019
Williamson told CNN that she was never asked to join the picture as it was only supposed to be about the women who were currently in office. Williamson took this as a snub regardless, saying it’s not up to Vogue to be the gatekeepers of who does and doesn’t qualify to run.
“The Framers of the Constitution were very clear about who’s qualified to run for president. They did not make any media, certainly not Vogue magazine, the gatekeeper here,” Williamson told CNN. “The Framers of the Constitution said in order to run for president, in order to be qualified to be president, you have to have been born here, you have to have lived here 14 years, and you have to be 35 years or older.”
“If they wanted to say you had to be an elected official, they would have. And they didn’t for a reason,” she added.
"I just saw it online like everybody else… nobody talked to me."@marwilliamson, on being the only female presidential candidate excluded from a Vogue story.
"When we asked… we were told the decision was to make it only about the elected officials." https://t.co/GNU0Nwmm0m pic.twitter.com/DvLyc8eHVG
— CNN (@CNN) July 3, 2019
Williamson didn’t stop at explaining why Vogue was wrong to CNN. She decided to insert herself into Leibovitz’s photo with her picture hanging above the women in the frame.
!!!!! pic.twitter.com/hnKG80VR6x
— Kyle Blaine (@kyletblaine) July 5, 2019
Superb.
In truth, Williamson should consider herself lucky that she wasn’t included. The photo shoot doesn’t exactly ring empowerment or accomplishment. In fact, it looks like a photo of forced comradery that ends up giving one an awkward feeling. The controversy might even bump her in the polls just off the fact that it makes her seem like an outsider, and people are all about outsiders right now.
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