In 1973, Arianna (as Stasinopoúlou) wrote a book titled
The Female Woman, attacking the Women's Liberation movement in general and
Germaine Greer's 1970
The Female Eunuch in particular. In the book she wrote, "Women's Lib claims that the achievement of total liberation would transform the lives of all women for the better; the truth is that it would transform only the lives of women with strong lesbian tendencies." In the late 1980s, Huffington wrote several articles for
National Review. In 1981, she wrote a biography of
Maria Callas,
Maria Callas – The Woman Behind the Legend, and in 1989, a biography of
Pablo Picasso,
Picasso: Creator and Destroyer. Huffington rose to the national U.S. prominence during the unsuccessful Senate bid in 1994 by her then husband, Michael Huffington, a
Republican. She became known as a reliable supporter of conservative causes such as
Newt Gingrich's "
Republican Revolution" and
Bob Dole's 1996
candidacy for president. She teamed up with
liberal comedian Al Franken as the conservative half of "Strange Bedfellows" during
Comedy Central's coverage of the 1996 U.S. presidential election. For her work, she and the writing team of
Politically Incorrect were nominated for a 1997
Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Variety or Music Program. As late as 1998, Huffington still aligned herself with the Republican Party. During that year, she did a weekly radio show in Los Angeles called
Left, Right & Center, that "match[ed] her, the so-called 'right-winger', against self-described centrist policy wonk
Matt Miller, and veteran 'leftist' journalist
Robert Scheer." In an April 1998 profile in
The New Yorker,
Margaret Talbot wrote, "Most recently, she has cast herself as a kind of Republican Spice Girl – an endearingly ditzy right wing gal-about-town who is a guilty pleasure for people who know better." Huffington described herself by side-stepping the traditional party divide, saying "the right–left divisions are so outdated now. For me, the primary division is between people who are aware of what I call 'the two nations' (rich and poor), and those who are not." and in 2000, she co-convened the "Shadow Conventions", which appeared at the
Republican National Convention in
Philadelphia and the
Democratic National Convention in
Los Angeles at
Patriotic Hall. , 2003 Huffington headed
The Detroit Project, a public interest group
lobbying automakers to start producing cars running on
alternative fuels. The project's 2003 TV ads, which equated driving
sport utility vehicles to funding
terrorism, proved to be particularly controversial, with some stations refusing to run them. In a 2004 appearance on
The Daily Show with
Jon Stewart, she announced her endorsement of
John Kerry by saying, "When your house is burning down, you don't worry about the remodeling." Huffington was a panel speaker during the 2005 California Democratic Party State Convention, held in Los Angeles. She also spoke at the 2004
College Democrats of America Convention in Boston, which was held in conjunction with the
2004 Democratic National Convention. She was also a regular panelist on the nationally syndicated weekend radio program,
Both Sides Now with Huffington & Matalin, hosted by
Mark Green. Huffington serves on the board of directors of the
Berggruen Institute, the
Center for Public Integrity,
Uber, and
Onex Corporation. She is also a One Young World Counsellor, speaking to delegates at summits in
Johannesburg,
South Africa, in 2013 and
Dublin,
Ireland, in 2014. She spoke about her "third metric" for success and the value of youth leadership. during a dinner hosted by Coca-Cola CEO
Muhtar Kent on the sidelines of the
World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2014 On May 22, 2016, she gave the commencement address and received an
honorary degree from
Colby College in Waterville, Maine. Also in 2016, she was named to
Oprah Winfrey's SuperSoul100 list of visionaries and influential leaders. Huffington has authored 15 books in her career. She faced 37 rejections before securing a publishing contract for her second book. Huffington also wrote the foreword for Marina Khidekel's book 'Your Time to Thrive,' published in 2021.
The Huffington Post In 2005, Huffington founded
The Huffington Post (now known as
HuffPost) with
Andrew Breitbart,
Kenneth Lerer, and
Jonah Peretti. It was launched on May 9, 2005, as a commentary outlet, blog, and an alternative to news aggregators such as the
Drudge Report. The site historically published work from both paid staff writers and reporters and unpaid bloggers. In February 2011,
AOL acquired
The Huffington Post for US$315 million, making Huffington editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post Media Group. In 2012,
The Huffington Post became the first commercially run United States digital media enterprise to win a
Pulitzer Prize. In 2016, Huffington left
The Huffington Post.
Thrive Global In 2016 Huffington stepped down from her positions at AOL and
Huffington Post to launch her new enterprise, Thrive Global, which claims to offer "science-based solutions" to end stress and burnout. •
Meditative Story Podcast – In August 2019, Thrive Global launched the podcast
Meditative Story in partnership with WaitWhat – a media company led by former TED executives
June Cohen and Deron Triff. The podcast supposedly combines first-person stories with meditation prompts and original music to create a "mindfulness experience" in audio.
Variety has described it as "part first-person narrative podcast and part guided meditation."
Forbes has described it as "a completely new kind of listening experience that blends intimate first-person stories with mindfulness prompts, enveloped in beautiful music composition." Huffington described Meditative Story as "a response to a deep cultural need in our hyper sped up world to have a moment to recharge. The podcast is a tool-set for wellness combining intimate storytelling, that we’re all hardwired to respond to, plus moments of reflection." •
Thrive Global Podcast – In 2017, Thrive Global launched a podcast with iHeart Radio featuring Huffington as host.
California recall election participation Huffington was an
independent candidate in the
2003 California gubernatorial recall election of California Governor
Gray Davis. She described her candidacy against frontrunner
Arnold Schwarzenegger as "the
hybrid versus the
Hummer", making reference to her ownership of a hybrid vehicle, the
Toyota Prius, and Schwarzenegger's Hummer. The two would proceed to have a high-profile clash during the election's
debate. She dropped out of the race on September 30, 2003, and endorsed Governor Gray Davis' campaign to vote against the recall. Polls showed that only about 2 percent of California voters planned to vote for her at the time of her withdrawal. In the announcement of her withdrawal, Huffington stated, Though she failed to stop the recall, Huffington's name remained on the ballot and she
placed 5th, capturing 47,505 votes – less than 1% of the vote.
Presence in media Huffington was a panelist on the weekly
BBC Radio 4 political discussion programme
Any Questions?, and the BBC television panel games
Call My Bluff and
Face the Music. She served as co-host of BBC's late-night chat show
Saturday Night at the Mill for four weeks before viewer complaints caused her to be dropped from the show. Huffington at one point was the co-host of the weekly, nationally syndicated
public radio program
Both Sides Now, along with
Mary Matalin, former top aide to the
George W. Bush administration. Every week on
Both Sides Now, Huffington and Matalin discussed the nation's relevant political issues, offering both sides of every issue to listeners.
Both Sides Now was hosted by former
Air America Radio president and
HuffPost blogger
Mark Green. In November 2008, Huffington joined the cast of
Seth MacFarlane's animated series
The Cleveland Show, where she lent her voice to the wife of
Tim the Bear, also named
Arianna. ,
Moby and
Lou Reed at a screening of the film
Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers, 2006 Huffington was spoofed by actress
Tracey Ullman in her
Showtime comedy series ''
Tracey Ullman's State of the Union''. Huffington spoke glowingly of the impersonation. She appeared as herself in the May 10, 2010, episode of the
CBS sitcom
How I Met Your Mother. Huffington participated in the 24th annual "Distinguished Speaker Series" at the
University at Buffalo, New York, on September 16, 2010. She headlined a debate against radio co-host Mary Matalin on current world events, political issues, and the local Buffalo economy. The University at Buffalo "Distinguished Speaker Series" has featured a multitude of world-renowned politicians and celebrities such as
Tony Blair,
Bill Nye,
Jon Stewart, and
the Dalai Lama. Huffington offered to provide as many buses as necessary to transport those who wanted to go to Jon Stewart's
Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear on October 30, 2010, from
The Huffington Post headquarters in New York City. Ultimately, she paid for 150 buses to ferry almost 10,000 people from
Citi Field in Queens to
RFK Stadium in DC. Huffington played herself in the
Family Guy episode "
Brian Writes a Bestseller" along with
Dana Gould and
Bill Maher in a
live segment of
Real Time with Bill Maher. In 2012, Huffington became a
LinkedIn influencer, writing about success and sharing professional insights. ==Claims of plagiarism==