77 Facts About Marianne Williamson

Marianne Deborah Williamson was born on July 8,1952 and is an American author, speaker, and political activist.

Marianne Williamson began her professional career as a spiritual leader of the Church of Today, a Unity Church in Warren, Michigan.

Marianne Williamson rose to prominence through frequent appearances on Oprah Winfrey's show, and becoming known as her "spiritual advisor".

Marianne Williamson ran for the Democratic nomination for president in 2020, eventually dropping out and endorsing Bernie Sanders.

Marianne Williamson ran in the 2024 Democratic Party presidential primaries, challenging incumbent President Joe Biden.

On July 2,2024, Marianne Williamson re-entered the presidential race amidst calls for Biden to drop out after his June 27 debate performance, before later dropping out again on July 29.

Marianne Williamson announced her bid for DNC chair on December 26,2024.

Marianne 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.

Marianne Williamson sits on the board for RESULTS, a nonprofit group which is dedicated to finding long-term solutions to poverty.

Marianne Deborah Williamson was born in Houston, Texas, on July 8,1952.

Marianne Williamson 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.

Marianne Williamson was raised in an upper-middle-class family that practiced Conservative Judaism.

Marianne Williamson 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.

In 1965, after Marianne Williamson came home from school in the seventh grade, she recounted to her parents that her teacher supported the Vietnam War.

Marianne Williamson's father reacted by taking the family to Vietnam to help explain to Marianne why he thought that the war was wrong.

In 1973, Marianne Williamson dropped out of college and lived "a nomadic existence" during what she calls "her wasted decade".

Marianne Williamson moved to New Mexico, where she took classes at the University of New Mexico and lived in a geodesic dome with her boyfriend.

Marianne Williamson then moved to Austin, Texas, where she took classes at the University of Texas.

Marianne Williamson has said that this experience gave rise to a desire to spend the rest of her life helping people.

Marianne Williamson explored spirituality, metaphysics, and meditation as she began reading the Course "passionately".

Marianne Williamson disagrees, describing it as a "spiritual psychotherapy" instead of a religion.

In 1979, Marianne 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, Marianne Williamson had what she has called a "flash" to close the coffee shop and move to Los Angeles.

Marianne Williamson got an apartment in Hollywood, where her roommate was 17-year-old Laura Dern.

Marianne Williamson did not charge for her lectures but had a "suggested donation" of $7 and a policy of not turning people away for lack of money.

Marianne Williamson's style has been described as a "trendy amalgam of Christianity, Buddhism, pop psychology and 12-step recovery wisdom".

Marianne Williamson became the spiritual leader for the Church of Today, a Unity Church in Warren, Michigan, where she had 2,300 congregants and 50,000 television viewers.

Marianne Williamson resigned from the Church Renaissance Unity Interfaith Spiritual Fellowship in 2003.

Marianne Williamson's most popular work is A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles.

Marianne Williamson was a frequent guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show, and became Oprah's spiritual advisor.

In 2014, Marianne Williamson ran as an Independent for California's 33rd congressional district in the US House of Representatives.

Marianne Williamson campaigned on progressive issues such as campaign finance reform, women's reproductive rights and LGBTQ equality.

Marianne Williamson raised $2.4 million, of which she personally contributed 25 percent.

Marianne Williamson finished fourth out of 18 candidates, with 14,335 votes or 13.2 percent of the vote.

On November 15,2018, Marianne Williamson announced the formation of a presidential exploratory committee.

On January 28,2019, Marianne Williamson officially launched her presidential campaign before an audience of 2,000 people in Los Angeles.

Marianne Williamson's campaign had raised $1.5 million in the first quarter of 2019, during which it received donations from 46,663 unique individuals.

In June, Marianne Williamson confirmed that she had moved to Des Moines, Iowa, in advance of the 2020 caucuses.

Later that month, Marianne Williamson participated in the first primary debate.

Marianne Williamson was the most Googled candidate in 49 of 50 states and received the fourth-most attention on X, then known as Twitter.

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

Marianne Williamson gave a compelling answer on reparations and returned again and again to the most important issue for Democratic voters, beating Trump.

Marianne Williamson began "working on putting a machine together" to run for president in 2024, visiting South Carolina and New Hampshire in early 2023.

Marianne Williamson started her 2024 campaign on March 4,2023.

Marianne Williamson has been accused of throwing phones and shouting at staff so intensely they were reduced to tears.

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

Marianne Williamson expressed interest in an open convention after President Biden had announced he was dropping out of the race.

On December 26,2024, Marianne Williamson announced her candidacy in the election of the Democratic National Committee chairperson.

On January 10,2025, Marianne Williamson shared on X that the DNC Ethnic Council informed her that she would be excluded from their DNC candidate forum that day.

Marianne Williamson has spoken in favor of the abortion rights that were guaranteed under the now-overturned 1973 Supreme Court decision in Roe v Wade.

Marianne 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.

Marianne Williamson has said, "People who are prayed for get out of the emergency room faster," and "people who have been diagnosed with a life-challenging illness, who attend spiritual support groups, live, on average, twice as long after diagnosis".

Marianne Williamson has stated her support for the necessity and value of vaccinations and antidepressants, but has been criticized for her skepticism about the pharmaceutical industry's influence in setting guidelines for how they are administered, citing her belief that their profit motive could result in harm to patients.

Marianne Williamson has 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".

In June 2019, Marianne 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".

Marianne Williamson supports Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and expanding protections and naturalization to undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children, regardless of their current age.

Marianne Williamson supported safe withdrawal of all US 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.

Marianne Williamson supports rejoining the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

Marianne Williamson criticized the Trump administration for elevating tensions with Iran.

Marianne Williamson has been referred to as a "New Age guru".

Marianne Williamson has stated that she prefers to be called an author.

Marianne Williamson 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.

Marianne Williamson's grandfather changed his surname from Vishnevetsky to Williamson after seeing "Alan Williamson Ltd" on a train.

Marianne Williamson described herself as a "Jewish woman" in a 2022 interview.

Marianne Williamson was briefly married in 1979 to a Houston businessman.

Marianne Williamson said the marriage lasted "for a minute and a half".

In 2013, Marianne Williamson reported having assets estimated to be valued between $1 million and $5 million.

Since the 1980s, Marianne Williamson has operated charities based on the principles of the Course.

In 1987, inspired by a friend's struggle with breast cancer, Marianne Williamson launched the Center for Living, after a $50,000 donation from David Geffen.

In 1989, having received another advance of $50,000 from Geffen, Marianne Williamson opened a second Center for Living, this time in New York City; this location was hampered by a conflict between staff and the board regarding Marianne Williamson's management style, which an anonymous former associate described as "very controlling".

Marianne Williamson stepped down from her role at the Centers in the summer of 1992.

Marianne Williamson gave the organization an extra $50,000 check and left, but remained an advisor to the organization.

The Los Angeles Times reported that Marianne Williamson was "losing trust" in several board members and "preemptively" fired them before her own potential downfall.

Marianne Williamson disputed this, claiming that she intended to "step down as President," wishing to provide her successor with a "clean slate".

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

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

For several years until 2017, Marianne Williamson was a board member of Results Educational Fund, a 501 nonprofit charity dedicated to finding long-term solutions to poverty by focusing on its root causes, and its sister organization, Results Inc.