In TV interview, Oprah dishes with the Christies
In a cable interview with Oprah Winfrey set to run this weekend, the GOP governor says he knew that he had found a partner for life in Mary Pat Foster when she suggested an illicit late-night doughnut raid.
The governor and Winfrey also dish about presidential politics and their struggles with weight, according to a transcript of the interview obtained by the Associated Press. The hour-long chat, filmed at Christie's home in Mendham, will run at 9 p.m. Sunday on the Oprah Winfrey Network.
Asked by Winfrey what drew him to his wife, whom he met at the University of Delaware in the 1980s when they were in student government, Christie said it was her independence and her faith - and that she was fun.
"She was fun in a different way than I'd ever experienced with anybody I'd ever dated. She was very spontaneous," Christie told Winfrey.
"Spontaneous - like?" Winfrey asked.
" 'Let's go break into the kitchen in the dining hall at college, because we smell that they are baking doughnuts for the next morning,' " he recalled Mary Pat's saying. " 'So let's sneak in and steal some of the doughnuts now.' "
Christie and Winfrey spoke at length about controlling their weight and managing the criticism surrounding it - specifically, what it feels like to be on the heavy end of a Dave Letterman joke.
"It didn't bother you?" Winfrey asked. "Because let me tell you, when David Letterman was making jokes about me, it bothered me."
"I think I was girded for it, Oprah, I really do," Christie responded, saying he had developed "a shell about it."
The conversation also had more serious overtones, such as when Winfrey asked the governor, as well as Mary Pat and their children - Andrew, 18; Sarah, 15; Patrick, 11; and Bridget, 8 - about the pressure of being asked to run for president.
Sarah lamented to Winfrey about being banned from having a Facebook page.
"By the way, who backed us up on yo! u not ha ving a Facebook account?" Christie pointed out.
"Mark Zuckerberg," cocreator of the social-networking site, Sarah answered reluctantly.
Christie, Zuckerberg, and Newark Mayor Cory Booker, a Democrat, appeared on Winfrey's show in September 2010 to announce that Facebook had pledged $100 million to Newark public schools.
Christie said he wanted his daughter to wait until she was a little older, given his position, so that she could better handle the "opportunity for mischief" that Facebook provides - a position he said Zuckerberg supported.
It was at the taping of the show about Facebook's donation that Christie first met Winfrey. Booker - who has been rumored to be a potential candidate to run against Christie next year - is close to Winfrey and her best friend, Gayle King.
Following his election in the Democratic-leaning state, Christie became a YouTube sensation and darling of the Republican Party for his blunt style, and pressure mounted for him to run for the White House in 2012. He briefly considered changing his mind, but instead endorsed Mitt Romney, for whom he has been campaigning hard.
Winfrey, who endorsed Barack Obama during the 2008 campaign, asked Christie what advice he had for the president and what he thought Obama's chances were for reelection.
Christie said those who underestimate Obama do so at their own peril.
"He is as good a politician as I've ever seen. . . . I think he's very charismatic, and I think he's genuine," he said. "I think what he says he believes he believes. That's a very dangerous politician."