“When I was happily married and found myself pregnant, I just thought that this would be just the next, normal chapter. I was absolutely thrilled. So what a surprise it was when it turned out to be the hardest thing I've ever done.”

American writer and former CIA officer

Valerie Plame is an American writer, novelist, and former Central Intelligence Agency officer. She became widely known as the central figure in the 2003 Plame affair, also called the CIA leak scandal, when her identity as a CIA officer was revealed and then published by Robert Novak of The Washington Post. That episode brought intense public attention and a prolonged media storm. Plame has later described the experience as deeply humiliating and said she remained in shock for years.