Cherie Blair on being the wife of a world leader

By Michelle Nichols

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - After 10 years being "seen and not heard" as wife of a British prime minister, Cherie Blair decided it was time to tell her story when her husband Tony stepped down in June 2007.

In her autobiography "Speaking for Myself," she writes about raising four children at the prime minister's official residence in Downing Street, being attacked regularly by the media and the amazing people she was able to meet.

The book became a bestseller when released in Britain in May and was recently published in the United States.

Blair spoke to Reuters about life as a lawyer, mother and wife of a world leader:

Q: Why did you decide you wanted to write this book?

A: "In my life I talk for a living. I'm an advocate and I plead people's causes in court and I continued to do that throughout the time that Tony was in No. 10 (Downing Street).

"But my public persona was very much seen and not heard.

"Of course what happened was there was a vacuum and into that vacuum the press created a persona. And it's a strange thing really in some ways, because my husband was so successful and such a compelling politician in many ways it was easier to attack me than it was to attack him.