Stockard Channing recalls Bill Clinton and Barack Obama’s contrasting reactions to meeting her
Stockard Channing recalls Bill Clinton and Barack Obama’s contrasting reactions to meeting her
Leigh BlickleyFri, August 14, 2026 at 6:48 PM UTC
93
Barack Obama, Stockard Channing, and Bill ClintonCredit: Win McNamee/Getty; Dave Benett/Getty; Rob Kim/GettyKey Points -
Stockard Channing recalled a funny meeting between herself, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama.
The former presidents shared their taste in her work while greeting her.
Clinton was a fan of The West Wing, while Obama preferred Grease.
There are worse things two former presidents could do than flatter Stockard Channing upon meeting her.
According to the Practical Magic 2 actress, both Bill Clinton and Barack Obama are respective fans of her work, and made sure to let her know their favorites when they met her at a fundraiser. (Seemingly the Barack on Broadway eventin June 2012.)
In a chat with BBC Radio 4, Channing recalled greeting Clinton and Obama at the same time.
“There was a long line of us sort of shaking hands, this, that, and the other. And they got to me, and Bill Clinton said, ‘Oh, yeah, hi, hi, happy gala, first lady,’” Channing explained, referencing her West Wing character, First Lady Abbey Bartlet, whom she played from 1999 to 2006.
She then noted what Obama said in return.
“Obama went, ‘No, no, no, Greased Lightnin’,’ and started doing a little dance,” Channing said, smiling.
Channing played Pink Lady Betty Rizzo in the iconic 1978 movie musical Grease, a role for which she’s constantly recognized. (“For younger girls it’s Practical Magic, for grown-ups it’s The West Wing, and for real grown-ups it’s Grease,” Channing wrote in U.K.’s Sunday Times this week of her most well-known projects.)
Of her presidential meetup, Channing added that the trio was in hysterics over the pop culture references.
Advertisement
“They were taking pictures of us on the receiving line, and when they said that to me, I burst out laughing,” Channing recalled. “And someone took a photograph, and I just look like a donkey, I’m laughing so hard. Then the three of us are just laughing, and I thought, isn’t that a fabulous moment in time?”
Stockard Channing on ‘West Wing’ and in ‘Grease’Credit: NBC/Getty; Shutterstock
Clinton is a known fan of The West Wing, with Martin Sheen—who played President Josiah “Jed” Bartlet on the series—telling Happy Sad Confused’s Josh Horowitz earlier this year that the politician refers to the actor as his “favorite president.”
“He loved the show,” Sheen said. “Mind you, he was in his last year when we were in our first year and he was just enamored with the show. He loved it. He would occasionally make suggestions about some scripts, maybe.”
Sheen noted that Clinton even invited the cast of the show, which ran on NBC from 1999 to 2006, to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in 2000.
Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our EW Dispatch newsletter.
In the same chat, costar Dulé Hill joked that when Sheen met Clinton at the event, he gave him “a grand gesture,” which the president returned.
“It’s seared in my mind,” Hill said of the moment. “I was like, ‘What is happening with my life right now? I was just looking for a job a few months ago, and this is crazy!’”
on Entertainment Weekly
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
