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Chelsea Clinton shares upset over mockery she faced as First Daughter

27/09/2022

‘I wanted to fade into the background’: Chelsea Clinton opens up about the toll of the ‘relentless’ scrutiny and mockery she faced as First Daughter – as she and mom Hillary cover Variety’s Power of Women issue

Chelsea, 42, and her mother, Hillary Clinton, 74, sat down for a joint interview as two of the stars of Variety’s Power of Women issue
The global health advocate reflected on the ‘relentless’ scrutiny she faced growing up as the daughter of President Bill Clinton
Chelsea, who moved into the White House when she was 13, said she ‘really wanted to fade into the background’ at times and not have people looking at her
When she was a young teen, she was called a ‘dog’ by conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh and made fun of on Saturday Night Life
Chelsea said she feels ‘such a palpable sense of responsibility’ to help other children in her position because she wished someone would’ve stood up for her
She repeatedly defended former President Donald Trump’s youngest son, Barron Trump, while his father was in office, despite their families’ political feud
The mom has taken great care to keep her three children out of the public eye, explaining that she wants them to ‘be conscious and not paranoid’

Former First Daughter Chelsea Clinton has opened up about how she wanted to ‘fade into the background’ while growing up because of how she was mocked in the media.

The global health advocate, 42, was just a month shy of turning 13 when she moved into the White House with her parents, then-President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton, after being thrust into the spotlight during her dad’s 1992 campaign.

She became a target for both conservative political pundits and professional comedians at such a young age that she can’t remember a time when she and her family weren’t a source of derision.

Chelsea reflected on being the subject of ‘relentless’ scrutiny and why she has chosen to keep her own children out of the public eye as one of the cover stars of Variety’s Power of Women issue.

Chelsea Clinton, 42, and her mother, Hillary Clinton, 74, sat down for a joint interview as two of the stars of Variety’s Power of Women issue

The global health advocate reflected on the ‘relentless’ scrutiny she faced growing up as the daughter of Bill and Hillary Clinton. She is pictured with her parents in 1997

‘Sometimes I really wanted to fade into the background because I didn’t want as many people looking at me, or as many bright lights glaring at me,’ she explained during her joint interview with her mother, Hillary, who is also honored.

Chelsea recalled the biblical phrase that her mom had learned from her sixth grade teacher, Mrs. Elizabeth King: ‘Don’t hide your light under a bushel basket.’

‘It’s certainly an admonition that I grew up with, and sometimes I really needed to hear it,’ she said of overcoming the urge to want to hide from her critics.

The aphorism is so meaningful to the mother-daughter duo that they named the production company they founded with Sam Branson — the son of billionaire Richard Branson — HiddenLight Productions.

‘One thing that Chelsea has done repeatedly is to tell people to back off from kids. She’s been so consistent, and I really respect that,’ Hillary told Variety.

Chelsea repeatedly defended former President Donald Trump’s youngest son, Barron Trump, while his father was in office, despite their families’ political feud.

‘I feel such a palpable sense of responsibility because I wish more people had been standing up publicly for me,’ she explained.

After everything the former first daughter has been through, she doesn’t fear being in front of the camera or speaking in public — she never has.

‘I thankfully don’t feel that residual fear,’ she said. ‘I didn’t feel fear as a child, because otherwise I would have just been afraid all the time. As I think about raising brave, resilient kids, I try to think more about what I want to learn from my experience as a child instead of being reactionary to it.’

Chelsea shares three children — Charlotte, eight, Aidan, six, and Jasper, three — with her husband, Marc Mezvinsky, and she has taken great care to keep them out of the public eye.

‘It’s being conscious all the time,’ Hillary said of her daughter’s vigilance.

‘And having them be conscious and not paranoid,’ Chelsea added.

The mom (pictured with her daughter, Charlotte, in 2016) has taken great care to keep her three children out of the public eye, saying she wants them to ‘be conscious and not paranoid’

Chelsea repeatedly defended former President Donald Trump’s youngest son, Barron Trump, while his father was in office, despite their family’s political feud

Chelsea (pictured with her parents at the Clinton Global Initiative this month) said she feels ‘such a palpable sense of responsibility’ to help other children in her position because she wished someone would’ve stood up for her

Chelsea and Hillary have been promoting their first series with HiddenLight, ‘Gutsy,’ an AppleTV+ documentary based on their 2019 bestseller, ‘Book of Gutsy Women: Favorite Stories of Courage and Resilience.’

The show follows them as they embark on adventures with ‘some of the world’s boldest and bravest women,’ including Kim Kardashian, Goldie Hawn, Kate Hudson, and Megan Thee Stallion.

In the first episode, Chelsea opened up about her complicated view of comedy after being mocked on national television as a kid.

‘I had a different experience with comedy in some ways, I think, than a lot of people because I was made fun of so much as a child by people who were professional comics,’ she explained during a discussion with a group of female comedians.

Hillary pointed out that Chelsea also faced cruel jabs from conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, who called her a ‘dog’ when she was 13, but she said that didn’t bother her as much.

‘That was different because Rush Limbaugh already hated us and hated everything you and dad stood for,’ she told her mom. ‘So that was actually quite easy to be like, “That’s not about me.”‘

Chelsea and Hillary (pictured with comedian Amy Schumer) have been promoting their new docuseries ‘Gutsy,’ In the first episode, Chelsea admitted she has a complicated view of comedy after being mocked on national television as a kid

‘This episode really taught me a lot, because for so long I thought comedy wasn’t really funny,’ Chelsea told Yahoo Life. ‘I thought maybe it was mean-spirited, and this was really illuminating for me, and I learned a lot about myself’

Chelsea explained that she found it far more upsetting to be mocked on Saturday Night Live as a kid. She didn’t go into specific details, but Mike Myers and Dana Carvey made fun of her in a controversial Wayne’s World sketch that aired in 1992.

The joke sparked public outrage and was later removed from reruns of the sketch.

‘We felt, upon reflection, that if it was in any way hurtful, it wasn’t worth it. She’s a kid, a kid who didn’t choose to be in public life, executive producer Lorne Michaels said at the time, according to the Seattle Times.

Bill Clinton agreed during an interview with People that it crossed a line.

‘I really find it hilarious when they make fun of me,’ he said. ‘But I think you gotta be pretty insensitive to make fun of an adolescent child. I think there is something pretty off-center with people who do that.’

Two decades later, Chelsea explained that the sketch shaped how she viewed comedy and professional comedians.

‘When SNL made fun of me, I was like, “Wow. A group of adults sat in a room [and] all decided this was a good idea,”‘ she said. ‘Nobody thought, like, “Maybe we shouldn’t make fun of children.” I was, like, “Oh, I just don’t think I think that’s funny or okay, so I just don’t think comedy’s funny or okay.”‘

When asked if she had a favorite comedian, she couldn’t think of anyone.

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