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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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