Several photos showed up in order from the trip that Ricky, Marty, and I took that first summer at Rensselaer. That was my last free summer, before I ended up in the Army.
Marilyn: "I always liked this one. My idiot boyfriend, who's now my idiot husband, decided to try riding a mechanical bull! This shot is of him flying upside down after being tossed off! And he wonders why our son is an adrenaline junkie."
Oprah: "Who are these other guys?"
Marilyn: "Well, this one has to be Marty Adrianopolis. He's a really good friend of ours. He became Carl's Chief of Staff in Congress and now he's a lobbyist in Washington. The other guy ... I'm not sure ... Dicky, Ricky, something like that. Haven't seen him in years." (Flip to a different photo.) "This one is of him playing blackjack. I didn't know it at the time, but he was already a multimillionaire, and yet here he is playing high stakes blackjack and making a profit! I hated it when he gambled!" (New photo) "Oh, Carl is going to hate this one! This is when he and the guys were arrested in Florida."
Oprah: "The President was arrested!"
Marilyn: "They fell asleep on the beach, and that seemed to be a deadly crime wherever they were. They spent the night in jail, paid the fine, and got their picture taken by the cops. Not exactly hard core criminals. More like a bunch of nitwits if you ask me!"
Thank you, Marilyn Buckman!
Marilyn showed Oprah, trailed by a cameraman, around the house. She stayed out of the bedrooms, and it isn't all that large, at least compared to the White House. They went out onto the back deck and shot some footage of the back yard and the pool and pool house. Stormy joined them so she could take care of her own business. No, that wasn't recorded for posterity. The Secret Service wouldn't allow any other exterior shots, like the landing pad or any of the bunkers on their slabs.
Oprah: "So this is the workout room." (The camera panned over a Nautilus machine of mine, and a treadmill of Marilyn's, and the large pad to the side where I occasionally did some katas. The room isn't big enough to do any real aikido or tae kwan do.) "You look to be in excellent shape. What kind of workout do you do?"
Marilyn: "Thank you. I mostly walk on the treadmill. If Carl's home, he sometimes gets me on the Nautilus, but that's more his thing than mine. Mostly I watch what I eat. It helps that I have enough time to stay in shape. Otherwise, it would be tough. Stormy likes long walks, too."
Oprah: "Does the President walk with you?"
Marilyn: (Shaking head) "He can't, not really. His knee won't take it. If he walks more than about a mile it really bothers him. I know he tried to play golf one time with John Boehner and some of the other Congressmen, and he barely made it through the first few holes."
That was true. I had often worked out with some of the other 'gym rats' in the House gym, but golf was completely out for me. The best I could offer was to drive the golf cart and pay at the 19th Hole. They went back to the living room and resumed taping.
Oprah: "Well, whatever you are doing, it's working. You look to be in great shape."
Marilyn: "Thank you. I appreciate that. Carl and I try to stay healthy, and we've tried to make sure the kids do the same."
Oprah: "There have been some commentators who have reported that you maintain your figure through plastic surgery. Any comment on that?"
Marilyn: "It's a lie, plain and simple. We watch our diets and work out. It's just that it's a whole lot easier to keep the weight off initially than it is to try and lose it afterwards. That's all there is to it."
Oprah: "So you've never had any work done."
Marilyn: "Not really. Not like what you're talking about, anyway. I did have some reconstructive work done after the accident in '89. I had lost the baby and needed a bunch of other work, and had a lot of scarring." (She waved her hands over her abdomen.) "At that time Carl sent me to a surgeon for reconstruction, but that was all."
Oprah: "So, nothing else."
Marilyn: (Laughing.) "No! Carl laughed and offered to pay for some work up top..." (She brought her hands up to her chest.) " ... but I told him no and slugged him."
Oprah: "You punched the President?! What did he say to that!?"
Marilyn: (Laughing.) "Well, he wasn't the President then. He told me two things, that I punched like a girl – I slugged him again for that! – and that he had been a bottle baby and had issues! I told him tough luck, and to get over it!"
They both laughed at that, while I groaned. The First Lady of the United States was talking about her boobs on national television! Ari was going to be fielding questions in the morning! I was also going to end up being challenged by a bunch of female ass kicking karate champions!
Oprah: "So, nothing else. The girls are all your own."
Marilyn: "All original equipment!"
Oprah: "Speaking of plastic surgery, how come President Buckman never had his nose fixed?"
Marilyn: "His nose?"
Oprah: "From when he broke it?"
Marilyn: "Carl's never broken his nose, at least not since I've known him."
Oprah: "We looked at his high school picture and his nose was straight then."
Marilyn: "It's news to me. I'll have to ask him."
They took a break and Marilyn found my high school yearbook, and they showed the picture on the air. It was definitely a different shape than now. Marilyn simply looked mystified.
Oprah: "Interesting. So he didn't break it in the Army?"
Marilyn: "No, I'd have known. Not in college, either. Maybe it was in aikido or tae kwan do when he was younger. I'll have to ask him sometime."
Oprah: "Or in a fight when he was in school?"
Marilyn: "Maybe. I know he was in several."
Oprah: "Why did he fight so much?"
Marilyn: "I don't think it's what he wanted to do. He told me once that up until about the ninth grade he was one of the smallest kids in his entire school, and got picked on constantly. He told me he either had to fight or get stuffed in a locker."
Oprah: "I've heard he was in a lot of fights. Is Carl a violent man?"
Marilyn: "What?! Like abusive or something?! Never! Oh my God, no! Carl would never raise a hand to me or the kids! No, I've talked to him about the fights he was in. I mean, what kind of man did I marry, that sort of thing. If you mean is Carl an angry man, then the answer is no, not at all. Carl is not a violent man, but he is a man who has been around violence, and who is not afraid of violence. I have also talked to some of his friends from school, who saw some of the fights. Carl once told me, and I believe him, that he never started a fight in his life, but he also told me that he always finishes a fight, and he's never left an enemy standing."
Oprah: "You've actually witnessed this, haven't you?"
Marilyn: "Yes, in the Bahamas once, when I had my purse snatched and Carl was in the way. He was outnumbered three to one, and they had knives, and were killers. It was terrifying! I was so scared, and he put all three of them down in a matter of seconds. I once had somebody ask me if having a man fight for me was romantic, and all I can say is that it was absolutely terrifying!"
Terrific! Ari was going to work overtime on this one!
Oprah: "I understand that you and the President are nothing alike, that it was a matter of opposites attracting. Is that true?"
Marilyn: (Laughing.) "Oh, that's very true! We have absolutely nothing in common!"
Oprah: "How so?"
Marilyn: (Still laughing.) "Oh, everything! He's Lutheran and I'm Catholic. He's a Republican and I'm a Democrat. He's a Southerner and I'm a Yankee. He's a city boy and I'm a country girl. Oh, the list goes on and on!"