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Chelsea Clinton on track for A-list socialite
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-07-24 17:13
Chelsea Clinton grew up in the public eye, going from an introverted First
Daughter to an A-list public figure friendly with the likes of Madonna and
Gwyneth Paltrow.
 A newspaper advert celebrating Bill Clinton's 2000 visit to India –
accompanied by his daughter for the second time – summed it all up: "Welcome
back Chelsea," it read, "And thanks for bringing your dad."
Chelsea Victoria Clinton was born on February 27, 1980, during her father
William Jefferson Clinton's first term in office as the governor of Arkansas.
The curly-haired only child of politician Bill and his attorney wife Hillary
showed she was razor sharp early on. Describing her as "precocious", a family
friend recalls: "As a toddler, instead of saying, 'I have to get a shot', she'd
say, 'I have to get my immunisations'."
Her parents supported her academic prowess, with dad Bill keeping a miniature
desk for his daughter in the governor's office. Soon, the bright little girl was
nearing her teens, excelling at her studies as she developed an interest in
drama and ballet. "Responsible, trustworthy; just a darn good kid" was how uncle
Tony Rodham described her.
Chelsea's relatively quiet life would change, however, when her father was
elected president of the United States in 1992. Suddenly the typically awkward
adolescent was in the spotlight, her long, frizzy hair and dental braces making
her the butt of often hurtful jokes.
"We really work hard on making sure that Chelsea doesn't let other people
define her sense of her own self worth… It's tough when you are an adolescent,"
said her father at the time. "But," he predicted, "I think she'll be OK."
Nonetheless, the First Couple soon developed an unspoken pact with the press
that Chelsea was strictly off limits.
With her parents trying to provide as normal a life as possible for her,
Chelsea became a vegetarian, dreamed of being a pediatric cardiologist and
reportedly earned the Secret Service code name "Energy".
And like any dad, Bill would worry when his 16-year-old daughter went out at
night with friends. "Whenever she goes out, I wait up until she comes home, even
though the Secret Service is with her," he said in 1996. "Maybe it is
old-fashioned, but I just can't go to bed until she is there."
The protection her parents sought to give her – with the press, at least –
came to an end when Chelsea decided to attend Stanford University in California.
It was then that she began to make headlines on her own, much to the chagrin of
her mum and dad, with her blossoming relationships with Stanford swimmer Matthew
Pierce and former White House intern Jeremy Kane.
And it was during her years as a Stanford student she first earned a
reputation for grace under pressure, symbolically clasping the hands of both
parents in public as the Monica Lewinsky scandal came to light.
"Chelsea is crucial to the family's balance," said Clinton biographer David
Maraniss. "She is the one person her father could love unconditionally, and she
is the centre of Hillary's emotional life."
In 2001, Chelsea delivered her 167-page thesis on the Northern Ireland peace
process (for which she interviewed, among others, her father) and set her sights
on Britain's Oxford University where would pursue studies in International
Relations.
It was during her time at the prestigious institution that Chelsea began to
take on true celebrity status. She set flashbulbs popping in 2002 when she sat
front row with pals Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow at Versace's Paris show sporting
a sleek new look. And it was that year she began her first high-profile
relationship, with Rhodes Scholar Ian Klaus, the son of an exercise-equipment
mogul and horse breeder.
Having learned some lessons during her many years as the First Daughter,
however, Chelsea is savvy when it comes to maintaining a romance in the public
eye. "I try not to thrust Ian into the limelight – I don't think that's good for
any relationship," she says. "It's going great, and I would like it to continue
that way."
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