Fiona Hill Erin Scott/Reuters

Fiona Hill, the former director for Europe and Russia on the National Security Council, has experience facing adverse circumstances under pressure.

When Hill was 11 years old, she was taking a test in class when a boy set her pigtail on fire. Hill simply put out the fire with her hands and finished taking the test, The New York Times reported.

Hill has proven to be a star witness in the impeachment inquiry hearings.

She testified that Rudy Giuliani, US ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland, and others implemented a shadow campaign to pressure Ukraine to intervene in US domestic politics to benefit Trump.

Follow along with our live coverage of the hearings here.

Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Fiona Hill, the former director for Europe and Russia on the National Security Council, has experience facing adverse circumstances under pressure.

When Hill, who was born and raised in northeast England, was 11 years old, a boy set her pigtail on fire in class. Hill simply put out the fire with her hands and finished taking the test, The New York Times reported.

Rep. Jackie Speier, a California Democrat, asked Hill about the story during Thursday’s impeachment hearings.

„It is a true story,“ Hill said. „It had some very unfortunate consequences because afterwards my mother gave me a bowl haircut. So for the school photograph later that week I look like Richard III.“

That comment was met with laughter from the audience.

Speier concluded, „I think it underscores the fact that you speak truth, that you are steely, and I truly respect that.“

Tweet Embed:

//twitter.com/mims/statuses/1197602131609554944?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Fiona Hill confirms the story that at age 11 a boy set her pigtails on fire during a test, which she put out with her hands: „It had some very unfortunate consequences afterwards, my mother gave me a bowl haircut“ pic.twitter.com/KPDjO7Bb0S

Hill, who testified publicly before the House Intelligence Committee, went on to learn Russian, earn a PhD from Harvard, and become an expert in Russia and President Vladimir V. Putin. She served as an intelligence analyst, an expert at the Brookings Institution, and the top Russia expert on the National Security Council until July, 2019.

She testified that President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, US ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland, and others implemented a shadow campaign to pressure Ukraine to intervene in US domestic politics to benefit Trump.

Hill pushed back on Republicans on the committee, some of whom — much like President Donald Trump — have expressed skepticism about the US intelligence community’s determination that Russia interfered in the US election.

„Based on questions and statements I have heard, some of you on this committee appear to believe that Russia and its security services did not conduct a campaign against our country — and that perhaps, somehow, for some reason, Ukraine did,“ she said.

She added, „I refuse to be part of an effort to legitimize an alternate narrative that the Ukrainian government is a US adversary and that Ukraine — not Russia — attacked us in 2016.“