US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, reflecting on her life in the public spotlight, said on Saturday she misses ordinary pleasures but has no regrets about her choice of public service
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"It's very hard to go out shopping and just enjoy yourself out with your friends; it's hard to go out to a restaurant and have just a meal with some people you want to talk to without being recognised," she said during an interview on a popular women's programme onu00a0a Turkish channel.
The former First Lady even answered questions about her marriage to Bill Clinton and the scandal of the Monica Lewinsky affair that overshadowed his presidency in the late 1990s.
When asked if it was love or friendship which enabled her to get past her husband's adultery, she answered smiling: "Oh, love! And forgiveness, and friendship, and family.
"You know, family, faith, friends are the core of my life and I don't know anybody whose life is smooth sailing. If you meet such a person, I want to know them, because I've lived a long time and I have yet to meet that person."
She added, "I sacrificed a lot of my privacy, which I regret, I wish I did not have to."
After leaving the White House, she was elected US senator from the state of New York and last year lost her bid for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination to Barack Obama.
After Obama's election victory in November, she accepted his offer to become the US secretary of state - a high-profile position on the world stage with little privacy.
She admits it is the ordinary things of life she misses.
"I like sitting in sidewalk cafes and coffee shops and watching people. That's impossible for me now. I enjoy shopping and I am not actually able to shop.... So it's the little daily activities and pleasures that you may not be able to enjoy quite as much."
Still, she added she had no regrets about her career choice.
"But there are a lot of benefits because I do feel that I can help people.... So I lose something but I gain something. That's kind of life, you know. You can't have everything, you have to make some choices, and I am very excited that I get a chance to serve my country in working with President Obama."
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