Hillary Clinton tells grads of pricey San Francisco school about her troubled youth

Hillary Clinton will be interviewed in New York City for the 2018 OZY Fest. (AP)

Blame it on the bullies?

In a surprise appearance Friday, Hillary Clinton delivered a commencement address to graduates of San Francisco's exclusive Hamlin School.

Media reports said Secret Service personnel whisked the former Democratic presidential nominee and U.S. secretary of state into the all-girls private school -- where tuition is $34,500 per year.

"Tuition includes lunch and snack," the school's website says.

Once inside, Clinton spoke about her own experiences being bullied while growing up in suburban Chicago, as well as the need to be “courageous in a world dominated mainly by men,” graduate Alexa Tabibian told San Francisco's KGO-TV. The event was closed to the media.

“I never thought I’d ever get to see her in person and it was just so great,” Tabibian said.

As Clinton recalled of her youth, in a YouTube video posted by the school: "As I would go out looking to play, the kids who were already there would circle around me, bully me, knock me to the ground, and I would get up and run crying into the house. This went on for weeks. It was a pattern of our lives."

She then described being forced to fight another girl.

"Accidentally, one of my arms touched the girl and she fell over, and so I was now part of the neighborhood -- and she became my best friend growing up."

"Accidentally, one of my arms touched the girl and she fell over, and so I was now part of the neighborhood -- and she became my best friend growing up."

— Hillary Clinton, talking about growing up near Chicago

Ryan Froeb, another eighth-grader, told the station that Clinton’s anti-bullying message resonated with her own experiences.

“It was striking,” the eighth-grader said. “I didn’t know she had those hardships of bullying. I have gone through some bullying as well and that connection just really touched my heart.”

Some said Clinton’s message also touched on her 2016 presidential election loss to Donald Trump, KGO reported.

Details about how Clinton’s appearance was arranged or how much she was paid – if at all – were unknown.

Clinton said her close friend, Susie Tompkins Buell, has a granddaughter who was among the graduates.

The previous night, Clinton appeared at the Hyatt Regency in san Francisco to address the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, the Chronicle reported.

Other attendees included former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona and survivors of February's massacre in Parkland, Fla., who discussed the need for gun control, the report said.