Marianne Williamson

Marianne Deborah Williamson (born July 8, 1952) is an American self-help author, speaker, and political activist. She began her professional career as a spiritual leader of the Church of Today, a Unity Church in Warren, Michigan. Williamson has written several self-help books, including A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles in 1992, which became a New York Times Best Seller. She rose to prominence through frequent appearances on Oprah Winfrey's show, and becoming known as her "spiritual advisor". She ran for the Democratic nomination for president in 2020, eventually dropping out and endorsing Bernie Sanders. She ran for president again in 2024, challenging incumbent President Joe Biden. She unsuccessfully campaigned for the position of DNC chair in 2025.

Williamson has been actively involved with charity work, founding such organizations as Center for Living in 1987, Project Angel Food in 1989, and the Peace Alliance in 1998. She sits on the board for RESULTS, a nonprofit group which is dedicated to finding long-term solutions to poverty. Allegations of abusive and bullying behavior toward both colleagues and staff have followed her throughout her career.

Early life and education

Marianne Deborah Williamson was born in Houston, Texas, on July 8, 1952. She is the youngest of three children of Samuel "Sam" Williamson, a World War II veteran and immigration lawyer, and Sophie Ann Kaplan, a homemaker and community volunteer.

Williamson was raised in an upper-middle-class family that practiced Conservative Judaism. She learned about world religions and social justice at home and became interested in public advocacy when she saw her rabbi speak against the Vietnam War. She has said that through travel she "had an experience, at a young age, that people are the same everywhere." After graduating, she spent two years studying theater and philosophy at Pomona College in Claremont, California, where she was a roommate of future film producer Lynda Obst.

Williamson moved to New Mexico, where she took classes at the University of New Mexico and lived in a geodesic dome with her boyfriend. Vanity Fair wrote that Williamson "spent her twenties in a growing state of existential despair." She explored spirituality, metaphysics, and meditation as she began reading the Course "passionately". The Course has often been described as a religion or pseudoreligion. Williamson disagrees, describing it as a "spiritual psychotherapy" instead of a religion.

Career

thumb|right|Williamson, 2019In 1979, Williamson returned to Houston, where she ran a metaphysical bookstore coffee shop, sang Gershwin standards in a nightclub, got married and divorced "almost immediately", and underwent a "spiritual surrender".

In 1983, Williamson had what she has called a "flash" to close the coffee shop and move to Los Angeles. She saw this message as a remedy to misinterpretations of the Bible that, through an emphasis on sin and guilt, could lead to harm (e.g., slavery, depression, self-loathing). Williamson's style has been described as a "trendy amalgam of Christianity, Buddhism, pop psychology and 12-step recovery wisdom".

Author

thumb|right|[[Oprah Winfrey|Oprah's SuperSoul Conversations Podcast: Marianne Williamson – "A Return to Love"]]

Williamson has written 17 books . Seven have appeared on the New York Times bestseller list, with four reaching number one. She has sold more than three million books.

Williamson's most popular self-help work is A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles (1992). The book appeared on The New York Times bestseller list for 39 weeks in the "Advice, How To and Miscellaneous" category; it teaches that practicing love every day will bring more peace and fulfillment to one's life. The following quotation is the most famous quotation from the book (it is often misattributed to Nelson Mandela):Oprah Winfrey said of the book, "I have never been more moved by a book than I am by this one." Winfrey bought 1,000 copies and encouraged her audience to purchase it, telling them that after reading it, she experienced 157 miracles. Williamson was a frequent guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show, and became Oprah's spiritual advisor.

Prominent elected and public officials endorsed her campaign, including Ben Cohen; former governors Jennifer Granholm and Jesse Ventura; former representatives Dennis Kucinich and Alan Grayson; and Van Jones. Alanis Morissette wrote and performed Williamson's campaign song, "Today".

Williamson campaigned on progressive issues such as campaign finance reform, women's reproductive rights and LGBTQ equality. She raised $2.4 million, of which she personally contributed 25 percent.

Williamson finished fourth out of 18 candidates, with 14,335 votes or 13.2 percent of the vote. Republican Elan Carr finished first in the primary with 21.6 percent of the vote, but went on to lose the general election to Democrat Ted Lieu.

2020 presidential campaign

On November 15, 2018, Williamson announced the formation of a presidential exploratory committee. On January 28, 2019, Williamson officially launched her presidential campaign before an audience of 2,000 people in Los Angeles. Williamson's campaign committee, "Marianne Williamson for President", officially filed on February 4.

As of May 1, Williamson had a campaign staff of 20. A week later, she announced she had received enough contributions from unique donors to enter the official primary debates. Her campaign had raised $1.5 million (~$ in ) in the first quarter of 2019, during which it received donations from 46,663 unique individuals. Williamson subsequently met the polling criteria, with three unique polls at one percent from qualifying pollsters, on May 23.

In June, Williamson confirmed that she had moved to Des Moines, Iowa, in advance of the 2020 caucuses. In response to the Iowa Democratic Party's proposed creation of "virtual caucuses" in the 2020 race, Williamson's campaign announced it would appoint 99 "Virtual Iowa Caucus Captains" (each assigned to a single county) to turn out supporters in both the virtual and in-person caucuses.

Later that month, Williamson participated in the first primary debate. The LA Times wrote that Democratic voters were "confused" and "transfixed" by Williamson, who declared that her first act as president would be to call New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and say, "Girlfriend, you are so on", a reference to Ardern's emphasis on building a country that treats its children well. Williamson also received media attention for her closing remarks:<blockquote>In the closing moments of Thursday night’s Democratic debate, Marianne Williamson looked straight ahead and told the audience that her plan for her candidacy is to harness the country’s love. “Mr. President, if you’re listening,” she said, addressing Donald Trump directly, “you have harnessed fear for political purposes, and only love can cast that out. I am going to harness love for political purposes,” she continued, raising her eyebrows. “And sir, love will win.”</blockquote>

On July 30, Williamson participated in the second primary debate. She was the most Googled candidate in 49 of 50 states and received the fourth-most attention on X, then known as Twitter. The spike in searches was prompted by her reference to the Flint water crisis and her assertion that President Trump was harnessing a "dark psychic force of the collectivized hatred," which she later described as racism, bigotry, antisemitism, homophobia, Islamophobia, and xenophobia propelled by social media.

On January 10, 2020, Williamson announced the end of her campaign and pledged to support the Democratic nominee.

Many pundits treated Williamson's brief campaign as comic relief, often characterizing her as a novelty candidate due to her unconventional approach and spiritual rhetoric. However, some found her message persuasive and influential. After the July 30, 2019, Democratic debate, New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie wrote, "It feels insane to say this, but Williamson out-debated virtually everyone else on the stage. She gave a compelling answer on reparations and returned again and again to the most important issue for Democratic voters, beating Trump."

2024 presidential campaign

thumb|right|A Marianne Williamson 2024 logo

Williamson began "working on putting a machine together" to run for president in 2024, visiting South Carolina and New Hampshire in early 2023. On February 23, 2023, she confirmed that she would launch a run for president in the future. She started her 2024 campaign on March 4, 2023.

Williamson's 2024 deputy campaign manager, Jason Call, departed from her team on May 20, 2023, a week after her campaign manager, Peter Daou, had announced similar intentions. The two gave substantially different reasons for their actions than did the campaign. Earlier in 2023, a dozen former staffers from her 2020 campaign, who remained anonymous due to having signed non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), described working for Williamson as "toxic," "traumatic," and "terrifying". Williamson has been accused of throwing phones and shouting at staff so intensely they were reduced to tears. According to one account, her anger over logistics in South Carolina led her to strike a car repeatedly to the extent that she had to receive medical attention for a swollen hand. Williamson has denied the phone-throwing charge, admitted to the car incident, and acknowledged that she may have room for personal growth.

More staff, including Williamson's new campaign manager, left Williamson's team in June 2023.

In July 2023, Politico reported that Williamson had contributed $220,000 to her own campaign and that the campaign's most recent financial disclosure showed $270,000 in unpaid debts.

She received 4% of the votes in the New Hampshire primary. Following the New Hampshire primary, she held a volunteer Zoom meeting where she announced a tentative decision to drop out of the race, but after the call was leaked to the X account OrganizerMemes, she decided to stay in, but she dropped out after receiving only 2.1% of the vote in the South Carolina primary and 2.9% of the vote in the Nevada primary with no delegates. After the Michigan primary, Williamson decided to reenter the race when she received 3% of the vote. In the Kansas primary, Greeley County experienced a tie between Biden, "None of these names", and Williamson.

Williamson ended her campaign on June 11, 2024. She re-entered the race on July 2, 2024. Williamson also expressed interest in an open convention after President Biden had announced he was dropping out of the race. On July 29, 2024, she ended her campaign for the final time.

2025 Democratic National Committee chairmanship campaign

On December 26, 2024, Williamson announced her candidacy in the election of the Democratic National Committee chairperson. On January 10, 2025, Williamson shared on X that the DNC Ethnic Council informed her that she would be excluded from their DNC candidate forum that day. Williamson responded with a letter to the DNC Ethnic Council denouncing her exclusion and said, "This elitist choosing who is allowed to speak and who is not allowed to speak dishonors democratic principles and Democrats."

On February 1, 2025, Williamson endorsed frontrunner Ken Martin.

Political positions

Abortion rights

As a candidate for 2024 U.S. President, Williamson has stated her strong support for abortion access, services, and choice. She has spoken in favor of the abortion rights that were guaranteed under the subsequently overturned 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade.

Williamson has shared her belief that it is good to expand women's understanding of alternatives; however, eradicating or limiting women's options would not reduce the number of terminations sought. Instead, it would result in wealthier women having access to safe abortions while poorer women face risks to their health.

Animal rights

In 2020 and 2024, Williamson's presidential campaign published detailed policy proposals to protect animal welfare. In 2019, Williamson stated that she supports a prohibition on the construction and expansion of concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), also known as factory farms. She has stated that the mistreatment of animals is "damaging to the American soul."

Black American reparations

Williamson supports the distribution of $200-$500 billion in reparations for slavery, spread across 20 years for "economic and education projects", to be disbursed based on the recommendation of a selected group of black leaders.

Climate change and energy

Williamson deems climate change to be "the greatest moral challenge of our generation." She claimed support for the Green New Deal, immediate re-entry into the Paris Climate Accords, and has stated that she would be willing to support the Trans-Pacific Partnership if it included greater protections for workers and the environment.

Williamson also supports the U.S. directing subsidies from fossil fuels, including coal, and re-investing them in the development of renewable energy, both in the U.S. and abroad, particularly in developing countries. Williamson also supports independent regulation of the pharmaceutical industry to prevent what she has called "predatory practices".

A "both-and" approach (both prayer and medicine) to physical and mental health has been attributed to Williamson.

Williamson has stated her support for the necessity and value of vaccinations and antidepressants,

She has also criticized overprescription of antidepressants, questioning whether antidepressants play a role in suicide, saying that the prescriptive definition between sadness and clinical depression is "artificial", and having called the process by which clinical depression is diagnosed "a scam".

During Williamson's presidential campaign, several excerpts of her past comments have conflated her skepticism of the pharmaceutical industry's trustworthiness with an embrace of anti-vaccination dogma. As a result, she has been accused of being "anti-medicine" and "anti-science". She denies such accusations, saying they "could not be further from the truth." Williamson has expressed frustration that her skepticism of the pharmaceutical industry has been equated with skepticism of the science of vaccines. She has said, "Skeptical about vaccinations I have not expressed. Skeptical about Big Pharma in general I have expressed. And there is a big difference." In June 2019, Williamson criticized then-President Donald Trump on his immigration policies after reports of children being separated from their families and being put in a detainment center; she called these acts "state-sponsored crimes". After Trump's announcement that ICE would begin mass-deportations, she said it is "no different" than what Jewish people faced in Nazi Germany.

Williamson supports Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and expanding protections and naturalization to undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children.

Other domestic issues

Williamson supports The Equality Act and an increase of the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour, and has called religion a map in which "the route isn't important. It's the destination that matters."

International relations and national security

Williamson supports the creation of a United States Department of Peace to aid in her proposed redesign, which also includes a plan to establish a Peace Academy modeled after military academies.

Williamson supports military engagement when a NATO ally is threatened, when the United States is under threat of attack, or "when the humanitarian order of the world is at risk".

Williamson supported safe withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Afghanistan as soon as possible and would consider the use of a peace-keeping force, such as the United Nations, to assist with the transition. Williamson supports a two-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The label has been associated with her for years, but she has long rejected such terms, calling them "outrageous". a "populist adult educator", a philosopher, and a mystic. She has stated that she prefers to be called an author.

In the context of her political campaigns, Williamson's image has polarized many, with some praising her as authentic and eloquent, while others have criticized her for lacking seriousness. Her performance during the 2020 Democratic presidential debates received praise from a number of politicians, such as Democrats Jennifer Granholm and Ro Khanna, and media outlets like The Washington Post, for providing "surprisingly eloquent" and "meaningful" answers to questions on social issues.

She made headlines when she criticized Vogue for its "insidious influence" when it did not include her in an Annie Leibovitz photo shoot of the 2020 female presidential candidates. The magazine responded that it only wanted "to highlight the five female lawmakers who bring a collective 40 years of political experience to this race." Williamson subsequently posted a fan-made picture of the Vogue photo with herself edited in.

Personal life and family

Williamson's older brother, Peter, became an immigration attorney like his father. Her late sister, Elizabeth "Jane," was a teacher. Her father and her maternal grandparents were Russian Jewish immigrants. Her grandfather changed his surname from Vishnevetsky to Williamson after seeing "Alan Williamson Ltd" on a train.

She was briefly married in 1979 to a Houston businessman. She said the marriage lasted "for a minute and a half".

In 2006, a Newsweek poll named her one of the 50 most influential baby boomers.

In 2013, Williamson reported having assets estimated to be valued between $1 million and $5 million (not including personal residences).

Project Angel Food

In 1989, with the Centers' success, Williamson launched Project Angel Food (a program operated by The Centers for Living) to support HIV/AIDS patients. By 1992, it had raised over $1.5 million and was delivering nearly 400 hot meals a day to homebound AIDS patients in Los Angeles. As of 2018, with expanded food, nutrition and counseling services, it delivered 12,000 meals weekly throughout Los Angeles. As of 2019, Williamson remains a trustee of the organization.

AIDS work

Williamson has helped gay men who she said "were told that they weren't loved by their family and friends, employers, politicians, hospitals." She has officiated at funerals, driven men to their doctors, and paid for patients' AIDS medication.

During her 2020 presidential campaign, Williamson was accused of telling gay men not to take medication for AIDS, of implying that they were "not positive enough" to counter the disease, of telling them that they "deserved" the disease, and of telling them to "pray the AIDS away." Most of the accusations appeared to stem from excerpts or paraphrases of her 1992 book A Return to Love.

The Peace Alliance

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In 1998, Williamson co-founded the non-profit Global Renaissance Alliance (GSA) with Conversations with God author Neale Donald Walsch.

In 2004, the GSA's name was changed to The Peace Alliance and was given a new mandate focused on grassroots education and advocacy organization. The intended purpose was to increase U.S. government support for peace-building approaches to domestic and international conflicts. The Peace Alliance advocated for lobbying congressional representatives directly.

"Sister Giant" conferences

In 2010, Williamson launched "Sister Giant", a series of conferences to "start a new conversation about transformational politics" and encourage more women to run for office:

In 2012, Yale University's Women's Campaign Schoolan independent, nonpartisan, issue-neutral political campaign training and leadership program hosted at Yale Law Schoolpartnered with the series, which focused on how to better address social issues like child poverty, campaign finance reform, and high incarceration rates.

RESULTS

For several years until 2017, Williamson was a board member of Results Educational Fund (RESULTS), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charity dedicated to finding long-term solutions to poverty by focusing on its root causes, and its sister organization, Results Inc., a 501(c)(4) "social welfare" organization that encourages "grassroots advocates to lobby their elected officials" and works "directly with Congress and other U.S. policymakers to shape and advance" anti-poverty policies. The organization has 100 local chapters in the U.S. and is active in six other countries.

Biographies and critics

Biographical and critical works on Marianne Williamson and her work are numerous. Oumano (1992) published the first, and primarily positive biography on Williamson. Fisher (2021) published the first scholarly and journalistic analysis in an intellectual biography of Williamson, that brings out extensive critiques and recommendations for improving Williamson’s leadership style and approach to activist organizing and political campaigns. A critical discussion of Williamson’s approach to the presidential campaign and her philosophy in the context of politics appeared on the podcast called Integral Stage in 2023. There have been in recent years other, less extensive biographical works on Williamson.

Books

A Return to Love (1992, )
A Woman's Worth (1992, )
Illuminata: A Return to Prayer (1994, )
The Healing of America (1994, )
Emma & Mommy Talk to God (1996, )
Enchanted Love: The Mystical Power of Intimate Relationships (1999, )
Imagine What America Could Be in the 21st Century: Visions of a Better Future from Leading American Thinkers (2000, )
Healing the Soul of America: Reclaiming Our Voices as Spiritual Citizens (2000, )
Everyday Grace: Having Hope, Finding Forgiveness, And Making Miracles (2002, )
The Gift of Change: Spiritual Guidance for Living Your Best Life (2004, )
A Course in Weight Loss: 21 Spiritual Lessons for Surrendering Your Weight Forever (2010, )
The Law of Divine Compensation: On Work, Money and Miracles (2014, )
Tears to Triumph: The Spiritual Journey from Suffering to Enlightenment (2016, )
A Politics of Love: A Handbook for a New American Revolution (2019, )
The Mystic Jesus: The Mind of Love (2023, )