At 32 years old, Chelsea Clinton is the same age her mother, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, was when she gave birth to her only child with former United States President Bill Clinton in February 1980.
With two years of marriage under her belt, the former First Daughter tells the September issue of Vogue she and husband Marc Mezvinsky, 34, are seriously considering starting a family of their own.
According to Chelsea, her politically active mother “always tells me [parenthood] was the greatest thing that ever happened to her. And as the subject of such an amazing compliment, I can’t do anything but be grateful and smile and say that I’m confident that I will feel the same way when I am so blessed. It’s certainly something that Marc and I talk a lot about.”
Despite growing up in the public eye, “I always knew I was the center of my parents’ lives,” Chelsea says. “And I am determined that our children feel the same way. Marc and I are both working really hard right now, but I think in a couple of years, hopefully . . . literally, God willing. And I hope my mom can wait that long.”
A special correspondent for NBC News, Chelsea is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in international relations from the University of Oxford. She now teaches graduate classes at Columbia University in New York City. After a brief stint on Wall Street, Chelsea feels she’s finally found her true calling.
“I’ve always been aware of both how extraordinarily normal and how extraordinarily extraordinary my life has been. It’s always been important, first to my parents when I was younger, and now very much to me, to live in the world. I would never want to live in a cloister,” she tells Vogue. “It’s important to me to walk down the street and hear what people are talking about or go for a run on the West Side Highway. Marc and I go to a movie every Sunday. We ride the subway. It’s one of the great gifts of New York City. Why would I want to miss that?”
According to investment banker Mezvinsky, his wife is “very much the yin to my yang. I don’t want to say I’m aloof, but I definitely can exist in a cloud. I walk into parking meters. She’s the antithesis of that. She’s like, ‘This is where the parking meters go!'” The couple wed on July 31, 2010 during a lavish ceremony in Rhinebeck, New York.
Like her parents, Chelsea has considered running for political office — but it’s not high on her priority list at the moment.
“Before my mom’s [2008 presidential] campaign I would have said no. Not because it was something I had thought a lot about but because people have been asking me that my whole life. Even during my father’s 1984 gubernatorial campaign, it was, ‘Do you want to grow up and be governor one day?’ ‘No. I am four.’ And also because I believe that there are many ways for each of us to play our part. For a very long time that’s what my mom did. And then she went into elected public life,” Chelsea says. “Her life is a testament to the principle that there are many ways to serve.”
“And now I don’t know,” she continues. “I mean, I have voted in every election that I have been qualified to vote in since I turned 18. I believe that engaging in the political process is part of being a good person. And I certainly believe that part of helping to build a better world is ensuring that we have political leaders who are committed to that premise. So if there were to be a point where it was something I felt called to do and I didn’t think there was someone who was sufficiently committed to building a healthier, more just, more equitable, more productive world? Then that would be a question I’d have to ask and answer.”
