Chelsea Clinton Has A Great Sense Of Body Confidence, Thanks To Mom Hillary
As an author, vice chair of the Clinton Foundation, and adjunct professor at the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, Chelsea Clinton has always stayed busy. Considering how she was thrust into the spotlight from a very young age, it wouldn't be surprising if the daughter of two politicians had some issues around her body image, not to mention diminished confidence. Scrutiny for anybody in the public eye is rough — especially when you're a teenager.
Luckily, the young Clinton rose above any criticism she received and went on to obtain a degree in history from Stanford University as well as a master's degree in international relations from the University of Oxford. Later, in 2010, she also earned a master's degree in public health from Columbia University.
One of Clinton's main goals, though, has always been to promote good health. As a global public health advocate, she has always had a focus on staying healthy, as evidenced by her master's degree. However, in a sweet twist, it appears as though she learned the importance of health from someone close to home.
Chelsea Clinton's focus on health has always been a priority for her
On the program "The View," Chelsea Clinton discussed how her mom brought her up with a mindset focused on health. "I wasn't allowed to eat sugar cereal, except on the weekends, and my parents made sure I really understood what a vegetable was," she said (via People). "And I do remember my mom going on Weight Watchers when I was a kid, and yet even though it was called Weight Watchers, she always talked about it as being good for her health."
Clinton went on to say that she thought her mom's focus on health "did help protect me when I was 12, 13, and my dad was running for office and there were all sorts of largely older white men commenting on my looks, on my weight, on my appearance." The San Francisco Chronicle noted, "Chelsea Clinton is generally awarded the trophy for having the toughest time as a first daughter." Considering that Clinton was so young when her father held political office, she could have very easily taken the words of older journalists and critics to heart. Luckily, this doesn't appear to be the case.
Chelsea has often worked with her mother
Moreover, it seems that Hillary Clinton's parenting approach allowed her daughter to form her own opinions rather than getting caught up in what other people think. Chelsea Clinton said on "The View" (via People), "I give my mom — and my dad, but mainly my mom — a lot of credit for the sense of self that I had and the focus on health and how I felt about myself and not what other people were saying to me, or whatever messages that were coming to me from either other people or 'Cosmo.'"
The closeness of Hillary and Chelsea Clinton's relationship is something that's still strong to this day. The mother-daughter duo has an Apple TV+ show named "Gutsy," which premiered in 2022 and is based on their co-authored 2019 book "The Book of Gutsy Women: Favorite Stories of Courage and Resilience." Plus, in an interview with Stylist celebrating the release of this book, the younger Clinton revealed that she talks to her mom almost every day.
With all of the scrutiny Hillary Clinton has faced being in the public eye for such a long time, it makes sense that she tried to instill courage and self-belief in her daughter from a young age — and clearly, it worked.