Hillary And Bill Clinton Almost Left Daughter Chelsea Stranded In Russia When She Was A Child
The lives of former President Bill Clinton and then-first lady Hillary Clinton were extremely eventful during their eight years in the White House. They were plagued with several scandals, including impeachment and an extramarital affair with White House aide Monica Lewinsky that rocked the news cycle. Despite the controversies that marked President Clinton's term, these challenges never deterred them from their devoted parenting of their only child, Chelsea.
The global health advocate and former first daughter has an array of memorable stories from her years growing up in the public eye. One, in particular, involves nearly being left in Russia during a family visit. The shocking yet hilarious revelation emerged during a September 2022 taping of "The Tonight Show." When host Jimmy Fallon asked Hillary to reveal her family's craziest vacation story, Mrs. Clinton stunned the crowd by confessing that during the trip, they simply forgot the young girl behind as they were gearing up to head to the airport. Thankfully, they realized that Chelsea was missing before getting too far, but both mother and daughter still vividly remember this amusing incident.
The Clintons didn't realize Chelsea was left behind until they were in the limousine
When Jimmy Fallon set up Hillary and Chelsea Clinton for a questions game on his set, he probably wasn't expecting to learn that the now-author was still somewhere inside the Kremlin palace as her parents were departing Russia. Hillary shared that she and Bill were actually about to leave the country when it donned on her that Chelsea was not with them.
"You know, there's the formal goodbye, so Bill and I were ushered into the beast, the big limousine, to head to the airport, not knowing that we had left her behind," Hillary recounted as the audience gasped and laughed. As she toiled over the memories, Chelsea had noise-reducing headphones on. However, once she removed them, she immediately knew which story her mother had told the audience, though Hillary did admit she hoped she wouldn't remember the experience.
During their time as the first family, the Clintons frequently traveled with Chelsea to give her some sense of normalcy. In August 1999, the trio famously spent five days in Central New York, where they visited the New York Stair Fair, an outing that made Bill the first active president to attend the event since Theodore Roosevelt.
It's unclear which of the Clinton's visits to Russia nearly left Chelsea stranded
Though neither of the women confirmed exactly which Russian trip saw young Chelsea almost stranded overseas, Bill Clinton had five visits to the country during his presidential tenure. However, it's safe to assume it wasn't his final visit in 2000, as Chelsea was a 20-year-old, soon-to-be Stanford University graduate at the time. That meeting was historic because it saw Clinton meeting with then-young and newly-appointed President of Russia, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. The interesting turn of events must've taken place during any of Clinton's 1994, 1995, 1996, or 1998 trips to the country.
Chelsea continues to thrive these days, despite her close encounter with accidental abandonment. She worked tirelessly alongside her mother during Hillary's 2016 presidential run. In addition, she has published several children's books and now sits as the vice chair of the Clinton Foundation. Now a mother herself to daughter Charlotte and sons Aidan and Jasper with her husband Marc Mezvinsky, the story of barely making it out of Russia will surely make for a great family tale for years to come.