Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has revealed that he didn't seek his current role in the U.S. administration and only accepted the job after being convinced by his wife.
"I didn't want this job. I didn't seek this job," he told the Independent Journal Review in an interview during his recent Asia trip which was published on Wednesday.
"My wife told me I'm supposed to do this," he added.
His words come just hours before diplomats from around the world are due to meet at the State Department for a meeting to discuss how to defeat the so-called Islamic State. In the wide-ranging interview, the former chief executive of Exxon Mobil also explained that he had never met President Donald Trump before the election.
The report states that as president-elect, Trump called on Tillerson for a conversation "about the world" but ended with the job offer.
"When he asked me at the end of that conversation to be secretary of state, I was stunned," Tillerson said in the interview. Tillerson added that he then returned home to his wife who shook her finger in his face and said: "I told you God's not through with you."
"I was supposed to retire in March, this month. I was going to go to the ranch to be with my grandkids," Tillerson added.
Read the full interview here.