Chelsea Victoria Clinton (born February 27, 1980) is an American writer and global health advocate. She is the only child of Bill Clinton, a former U.S. President, and Hillary Clinton, a former U.S. Secretary of State and 2016 presidential candidate. She was a special correspondent for NBC News from 2011 to 2014 and now works with the Clinton Foundation and Clinton Global Initiative, including taking a prominent role at the foundation with a seat on its board.
Clinton was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, during her father's first term as governor. She attended public schools there until he was elected president and the family moved to the White House, where she began attending the private Sidwell Friends School. She received an undergraduate degree at Stanford University and later earned master's degrees from University of Oxford and Columbia University, and a Doctor of Philosophy in international relations from the University of Oxford in 2014. Clinton married investment banker Marc Mezvinsky in 2010. They have a daughter and two sons.
In 2007 and 2008, Clinton campaigned extensively on American college campuses for her mother's Democratic presidential nomination bid and introduced her at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. She assumed a similar role in her mother's 2016 presidential campaign, making more than 200 public appearances as her surrogate and again introducing her at the 2016 Democratic National Convention.
Clinton has authored and co-authored best-selling children's non-fiction books and co-authored a scholarly book for adults on global health policy, as well as articles and opinion pieces published in major media outlets. She has received numerous awards and honors.
Clinton has worked for McKinsey & Company, Avenue Capital Group, and New York University and serves on several boards, including those of the School of American Ballet, Clinton Foundation, Clinton Global Initiative, Common Sense Media, Weill Cornell Medical College, Expedia Group, and IAC/InterActiveCorp.
Early years
Clinton was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, on February 27, 1980, the only child of Hillary and Bill Clinton. Her name was inspired by a visit to the Chelsea neighborhood of London during a Christmas 1978 vacation. Hillary said that upon hearing the 1969 Judy Collins recording of the Joni Mitchell song "Chelsea Morning", Bill remarked, "If we ever have a daughter, her name should be Chelsea."
When Clinton was two years old, she accompanied her parents as they campaigned throughout Arkansas for her father's gubernatorial race. She learned to read and write at a very young age. Clinton claims that she started reading the newspaper by the age of three and also wrote a letter to President Ronald Reagan when she was only five. In the letter, which was photocopied and preserved by her father, she asked President Reagan not to visit a military cemetery in West Germany, which includes graves of Nazi soldiers. Clinton attended Forest Park Elementary School, Booker Arts and Science Magnet Elementary School and Horace Mann Junior High School, both Little Rock public schools. She skipped the third grade.
As a young child, Clinton was raised in her father's Southern Baptist faith, and later attended her mother's United Methodist church.
White House years
On January 20, 1993, the day of her father's first inauguration, Chelsea moved into the White House with her parents and was given the Secret Service codename "Energy". The Clintons wanted their daughter to have a normal childhood, and they hoped to shield her from the media spotlight.
Hillary Clinton followed the advice of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis on raising children in the White House, and asked the press to limit coverage of Chelsea to her participation in public events such as state visits. Margaret Truman, daughter of former president Harry S. Truman, supported the Clintons, and in March 1993 wrote a letter to the editor of The New York Times about the damage that could be done if the press made Chelsea a subject of intense coverage.