Hillary Clinton reflects on motherhood in new memoir

Despite a wildly successful political career that took her to the White House, the Senate and the state department, Hillary Clinton says her first priority in life was always raising her daughter Chelsea, according to excerpts released from Clinton’s upcoming book.

The former first lady reveals deeply personal reflections on motherhood and the death of her own mother in her new memoir “Hard Choices,” parts of which were published Sunday on Vogue magazine’s website.

“From the moment I first held Chelsea in my arms in the hospital in Little Rock, I knew my mission in life was to give her every opportunity to thrive,” Clinton writes in the book, set to be released June 10 by publisher Simon & Schuster. “Now that she’s expecting a child of her own, I’m preparing for a new role that I’ve looked forward to for years: grandmother.”

Chelsea Clinton announced last month that she and husband Marc Mezvinsky were expecting a baby.

The excerpt’s release, which coincided with Mother’s Day, also include Clinton’s fond thoughts of her own mom, including the painful memory of her 2011 passing.

“Dorothy Howell Rodham was a fiercely independent woman. She couldn’t bear the thought of being a burden to anyone,” Clinton wrote. Having her so close became a source of great comfort to me, especially in the difficult period after the end of the 2008 campaign.”

“On the evening of October 31 (2011), … I was preparing to leave for London and Turkey. My team was already on board the airplane at Andrews waiting for me to arrive so we could take off. That’s when I got the call that Mom had been rushed to George Washington University Hospital,” Clinton wrote. “I quickly canceled the trip and sped there. Bill, Chelsea, and Marc rushed down from New York … Mom was a fighter her entire life, but it was finally time to let go. I sat by her bedside and held her hand one last time.”

“Hard Choices,” Clinton’s first book since “Living History” in 2003, is expected to offer readers a detailed view into her life after her 2008 White House bid and her tenure as secretary of state.