ATLANTA — Outgoing Democratic National Committee chair Donna Brazile, in some of her first public comments since the presidential election, opened up Friday about how Russian hacking of the DNC last year colored not only the outcome of the election but also her personal experience in politics.

In an interview with Business Insider at the DNC winter meeting on Friday, the chair reflected on the effects of the release of hacked emails from the committee and Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman that were published by WikiLeaks last year. She said that included “constant harassment” and “physical threats, harmful threats.” And she said the experience changed her personally.

“It was a campaign that I’ve never experienced before, and I have seven presidential campaigns under my belt. When I assumed the chair role, I assumed, ‘Well, this will only take a couple months out of my life, and I’ll go back to being Donna.’ But it transformed me,” Brazile said.

Brazile’s comments came as Democratic leaders gathered in Atlanta to choose a new chair and top party brass. She was elevated to interim chair after a batch of WikiLeaks emails were released before the party’s convention that displayed some DNC staffers’ clear distaste for Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Read the whole story from Business Insider.

Featured image courtesy of Comedy Central.