Marianne Deborah Williamson was born on July 8,1952 and is an American author and political candidate.
91 Facts About Marianne Williamson
2.
Marianne Williamson started her professional career as "Spiritual Leader" for the Church of Today, a Unity Church in Warren, Michigan.
3.
Marianne Williamson became known as an author writing self-help books such as A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles in 1992, which became a New York Times Best Seller.
4.
Marianne Williamson ran unsuccessfully as an independent for California's 33rd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives in 2014.
5.
Marianne Williamson announced her first presidential candidacy in 2019 before suspending her campaign and endorsing Senator Bernie Sanders soon after in 2020.
6.
Marianne Williamson was the first to announce her 2024 presidential campaign on March 4,2023 as a candidate for the Democratic Party seeking to challenge sitting President Joe Biden.
7.
Marianne Williamson describes herself as a progressive Democrat with a platform which seeks to increase the federal minimum wage, pass reparations for racial injustice, address climate change, tackle student loan debt and create a US Department of Peace.
8.
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.
9.
Marianne Williamson currently sits on the board for RESULTS, a nonprofit group which is dedicated to finding longterm solutions to poverty.
10.
Marianne Williamson was the youngest of the three children of Samuel "Sam" Williamson, a World War II veteran and immigration lawyer, and Sophie Ann Kaplan, a homemaker and community volunteer.
11.
Marianne Williamson was raised in an upper middle class family that practiced Conservative Judaism.
12.
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.
13.
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.
14.
Marianne Williamson then moved to Austin, Texas, where she took classes at the University of Texas.
15.
Marianne Williamson has said that this experience gave rise to a desire to spend the rest of her life helping people.
16.
Marianne Williamson disagrees, describing it as a "spiritual psychotherapy" instead of a religion.
17.
In 1983, Marianne Williamson had what she has called a "flash" to close the coffeeshop and move to Los Angeles.
18.
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.
19.
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.
20.
Marianne Williamson resigned from the Church Renaissance Unity Interfaith Spiritual Fellowship in 2003.
21.
Marianne Williamson's most notable work is A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles.
22.
Marianne Williamson wrote her most famous quote in this book, which is often misattributed to Nelson Mandela:.
23.
In 2014, Marianne Williamson ran as an Independent for California's 33rd congressional district in the US House of Representatives.
24.
Marianne Williamson campaigned on progressive issues such as campaign finance reform, women's reproductive rights and LGBTQ equality.
25.
Marianne Williamson raised $2.4 million, of which she personally contributed 25 percent.
26.
Marianne Williamson finished fourth out of 18 candidates, with 14,335 votes or 13.2 percent of the vote.
27.
On November 15,2018, Marianne Williamson announced the formation of a presidential exploratory committee.
28.
On January 28,2019, Marianne Williamson officially launched her presidential campaign in front of 2,000 people in Los Angeles.
29.
On February 16, Marianne Williamson's campaign announced the appointment of former Congressman Paul Hodes, who represented New Hampshire's 2nd congressional district from 2007 to 2011, as New Hampshire state director and senior campaign advisor.
30.
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.
31.
In June, Marianne Williamson confirmed she moved to Des Moines, Iowa, in advance of the 2020 caucuses.
32.
Later that month, Marianne Williamson participated in the first primary debate.
33.
Marianne Williamson was the most Googled candidate in 49 of 50 states and received the fourth-most attention on Twitter.
34.
On January 10,2020, Marianne Williamson announced the end of her campaign and pledged to support the Democratic nominee.
35.
Marianne Williamson gave a compelling answer on reparations and returned again and again to the most important issue for Democratic voters, beating Trump.
36.
Marianne Williamson began "working on putting a machine together" to run for president in 2024, visiting South Carolina and New Hampshire in early 2023.
37.
Marianne Williamson started her 2024 campaign on March 4,2023.
38.
Marianne Williamson pledged to appoint disabled citizens to her cabinet.
39.
Marianne Williamson supported the Disability Integration Act requiring healthcare insurers to cover home healthcare.
40.
Marianne Williamson pledged to try to get the Act passed in her first 100 days in office.
41.
Marianne Williamson supports reforming Social Security Insurance to ensure that people with disabilities are not excluded from entitlement programs if they earn more than $1,220 a month.
42.
Marianne Williamson supports paid leave, pay equity, government support for childcare services, union rights, and a universal basic income.
43.
Marianne Williamson supports making middle-class tax cuts permanent and repealing the corporate tax cuts in the 2017 Tax Bill.
44.
Marianne Williamson supports preventing corporations from engaging in tax avoidance, including tax avoidance for carried interest and ETF income.
45.
Marianne Williamson supports eliminating the sale of assault rifles and semi-automatic weapons, banning bump stocks and high-capacity magazines, and eliminating the current limits on the Centers for Disease Control's ability to track and record gun ownership numbers.
46.
Marianne Williamson has expressed that she would like to develop a "health care" system opposed to what she says is a "disease management" system that the US currently has.
47.
Inclusive of that, Marianne Williamson has expressed support for reimbursement of medical professionals for wellness and preventive care, longer doctor visits, nutrition and lifestyle education and limiting the marketing of hyper-processed and sugary foods.
48.
Marianne Williamson has expressed support for ending subsidies to the agricultural production of "unhealthy" food in favor of "healthy" food production.
49.
Marianne Williamson supports expanding the role of the EPA and FDA to regulate toxin inclusion in the environment and food supplies, to make recommendations of how to lower societal stress, and to help develop healthy habits in local communities.
50.
Marianne Williamson supports limiting the profit motive in medicine as much as possible, being inclusive of seeking non-pharmacological ways to treat mental-health issues, and treating mental-health as important as physical health in order to normalize treatment.
51.
Marianne Williamson expressed that she supports treating drug addiction as a mental-health issue and de-criminalizing drugs.
52.
Marianne Williamson supports reducing the cost of naturalization and increasing resources to help immigrants navigate the process with more ease.
53.
Marianne Williamson supports investing in "smart" border security, which she states, calls for better monitoring of airplanes, ships, trucks crossing the border, and submarines.
54.
Marianne Williamson supports overturning the three-year and ten-year re-entry bars.
55.
Marianne Williamson supports Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and expanding protections and naturalization to undocumented immigrants who were brought here as children, regardless of their current age.
56.
Marianne Williamson has expressed support in protecting the LGBTQ community from marginalization due to Census questionnaire.
57.
Marianne Williamson supports increasing the minimum wage for localities based on an amount determined to be a living wage for a given geographical area, and then adjusting that wage for inflation as needed.
58.
Marianne Williamson supports "redesigning" the partnership between the Defense Department and the State Department that would elevate the need for peace, putting it on equal footing with the need for military preparedness.
59.
In 2023, Marianne Williamson endorsed the Defend The Atlanta Forest and Stop Cop City movement in Atlanta, Georgia.
60.
Marianne Williamson supports returning dominant control of the Black Hills to the Sioux Nation, halting construction of the Keystone Pipeline, recognizing tribal sovereignty over their territory.
61.
Marianne Williamson supports increasing funding to Native lands' justice systems, protecting tribal sovereignty and governance, and protecting Native religious freedom.
62.
Marianne Williamson has expressed support for "rethinking treaties" and continuing annual tribal nations' summits in Washington DC.
63.
In taking this position, Marianne Williamson became the only candidate to ever submit a detailed plan for reparations for black Americans.
64.
Marianne Williamson has spoken out against the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v Wade.
65.
Marianne Williamson believes a peaceful life is attainable by thinking with God, while thinking without God creates pain.
66.
Marianne Williamson maintains that prayer is complementary to medicine, not a substitute for it.
67.
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.
68.
Marianne Williamson has expressed frustration that her skepticism of the pharmaceutical industry has been equated with skepticism of the science of vaccines.
69.
Marianne Williamson has called for the establishment of a Department of Peace to expand global diplomacy, mediation, and educational and economic development.
70.
Marianne Williamson supported the creation of such a department in 2005, backing efforts by Congressman Dennis Kucinich, to try to establish it.
71.
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.
72.
Marianne Williamson, recognizing Africa as the continent with the fastest-growing population, supports engagement with the continent in order to thwart the growth of terrorist groups and health epidemics, which she believes threaten US security, while capitalizing on opportunities in areas where corruption is being reversed, free elections are being held, and economies are growing.
73.
Marianne Williamson supports rejoining the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
74.
Marianne Williamson expressed support for using the power of the Presidency to exert pressure on Israel to restart talks on this solution.
75.
Marianne Williamson supports creating conditions for effective dialogue between factions representing both Nicolas Maduro and Juan Guaido that seek a peaceful transition.
76.
Marianne Williamson has expressed support for existing efforts to promote dialogue, in particular those being led by the Norwegian government.
77.
Marianne Williamson said she believes the best policy in Venezuela is to support efforts that allow its citizens to decide their political future, even if the US does not agree with the outcome.
78.
Marianne Williamson made headlines when she criticized Vogue Magazine for its "insidious influence" when it did not include her in an Annie Leibovitz photo shoot of the 2020 female presidential candidates.
79.
Marianne Williamson subsequently posted a fan-made picture of the Vogue photo with herself edited in.
80.
Marianne Williamson's grandfather changed his surname from Vishnevetsky to Williamson after seeing "Alan Williamson Ltd" on a train.
81.
Marianne Williamson described herself as a "Jewish woman" in a 2022 interview.
82.
Marianne Williamson was briefly married in 1979 to a Houston businessman.
83.
In 2013, Marianne Williamson reported having assets estimated to be valued between $1 million and $5 million.
84.
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.
85.
Marianne Williamson stepped down from her role at the Centers in the summer of 1992.
86.
Marianne Williamson gave the organization an extra $50,000 check and left, but remained an advisor to the organization.
87.
The Los Angeles Times reported that Marianne Williamson was "losing trust" in several board members and "preemptively" fired them before her own potential downfall.
88.
Marianne Williamson resigned from Project Angel Food in March 1992 amid infighting, two months after the board had fired executive director and gay activist Steve Schulte.
89.
The organization briefly struggled as Marianne Williamson was the primary fundraiser.
90.
In 1998, Marianne Williamson co-founded the non-profit Global Renaissance Alliance with Conversations with God author Neale Donald Walsch.
91.
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.