How Chelsea Clinton and Marc Mezvinsky Found Love

Celebrity Body July 31, 2010 AT 9:26AM
How Chelsea Clinton and Marc Mezvinsky Found Love Credit: Greg Allen / Rex USA

Chelsea Clinton's lavish, top-secret wedding this Saturday to Marc Mezvinsky in Rhinebeck, New York is the most talked-about union of the year -- but how did the former First Daughter fall in love with her husband-to-be?

Both from political families, Chelsea, 30, and 32-year-old Mezvinsky -- the Philadelphia-raised son of former Iowa congressman Ed Mezvinsky and former Pennsylvania congresswoman Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinksy, now divorced -- first met as young teenagers at a 1993 Democratic political retreat in Hilton Head, S.C.

PHOTOS: See how Chelsea has grown up  

They became fast friends.

When Chelsea was choosing colleges in 1997, he even showed her around Stanford University, where he was a student. His tour worked: she enrolled, but her mother Hillary Clinton (now Secretary of State) took pains at the time to tell reporters the two were "really good friends, just dear friends."

Chelsea went on to date writer Ian Klaus, but they split in 2005 after four years together.

PHOTOS: Chelsea, Sasha and other First Kids

The same year, she and Mezvinsky, by then both living in New York City, went public with their romance. The duo weren't afraid to be "cuddly and affectionate" at parties and public events, according the New York Times.

A one-time employee of investment banking giant Goldman Sachs, Mezvinsky now works as a banker at the hedge fund G3 Capital; Clinton, who has worked as a consultant and as a financial analyst, is attending graduate school at Columbia University's School of Public Health. ("I will somehow serve my country," she said in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks.)

PHOTOS: Remember these lavish weddings?

They announced their engagement in an email to friends last November. "We are engaged!" the letter read. "We didn't get married this past summer despite the stories to the contrary, but we are looking toward next summer and hope you all will be there to celebrate with us."

Former President Bill Clinton couldn't help but gush when he learned that the two planned to wed. Last December, he told reporters he was "very" happy. "He is great," he said of his future son-in-law. "He is a great human being."

Getting his hair cut for the big day, Ed Mezvinsky told Inside Edition on Thursday about the upcoming wedding. "I'm a proud papa," he said. "These are two wonderful human beings that have sensitivity about life and have a warm regard for family and that's what it's really all about."

PHOTOS: Stars flash their huge engagement rings

(Former congressman Mezvinsky served five years in prison for swindling a swathe of investors out of $10 million; released in 2008, he is still on federal probation and owes $9.4 million. "I'm remorseful for what happened, " he said.)

One difference between the future husband and wife: Clinton is Methodist, while Mezvinsky is Jewish. While it is not known whether their ceremony will be presided by a rabbi, minister or public official, Clinton was spotted attending a Yom Kippur prayer service at NYC's Jewish Theological Seminary last fall, and has expressed interest in learning more about the Jewish faith, according to the New York Times.

Of the interfaith union, Chelsea's mom Hillary recently said, "Over the years, so many of the barriers that prevented people from getting married, crossing lines of faith or color or ethnicity have just disappeared."

PHOTOS: A style expert tells Us what stars should wear on their wedding day

The Secretary of State added that both she and Bill are "going to be so emotional" at the ceremony.

"I always thought being her father was my most important job, so it's a big day for me," Bill Clinton said in February. "It is the biggest day in her life, probably, and I'm happy."

Tell Us What You Think

43
Comment by signing in with or creating your Facebook account by clicking below.
  • August 14, 2010 - 12:16am Patricia

    She is a homely thing....I have seen her perhaps half a dozen times. She has also had various cosmetic procedures - nose (more than once) chin, cheeks, new teeth, hair bleached and straightened.....need I say more????? And those who say she is a "lovely person" - have you MET her?????

  • August 07, 2010 - 9:54pm Princess April Ann

    Congrats to Chelsea may she find happiness.

  • August 07, 2010 - 9:54pm Princess April Ann

    Congrats to the new lovely couple may happiness be with you always.

  • August 07, 2010 - 9:53pm Princess April Ann

    Congrats to Chelsea may she find happiness with her groom.

  • August 02, 2010 - 11:16am HEY TOM

    How West Virginian of them to mate inside their political circle.. The article is wrong though.. He went to feed the horses and they were gone and she was there and he couldn't tell the difference

  • August 02, 2010 - 8:49am Insecktorb

    RIGHT ON CC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HER NEW FATHER-IN-LAW IS A CROOK WHO SWINDLED PEOPLE OUT OF THEIR LIFE SAVINGS....... YOU WOULD THINK A LOW-PROFILE WOULD HAVE BEEN THE WAY TO GO!!! ONCE AGAIN, NICE ONE CC, I COULDN'T AGREE MORE!!!!!!!!!!!

  • August 02, 2010 - 3:44am ses

    try to be happy and do not change your faith

  • August 02, 2010 - 3:43am ses

    Try to be happy

  • August 01, 2010 - 11:20pm Alexia Leigh

    @ Clare Mac And no one here really gives two s.h.i.t.s. about your incestuous royal family or WAGS.

  • August 01, 2010 - 6:48pm Tcat

    Oh, and I forgot to mention. For someone that is really not all that attractive, she looks stunning in her wedding gown. She is definitely a beautiful bride. I hope her day was all she dreamed it would be.

  • August 01, 2010 - 6:46pm Tcat

    After reading everyone's comments on here about how much money Chelsea spent on her wedding, maybe you can understand why she wanted to keep the event private. First of all, no one knows how much money was spent on the wedding. The media is only guessing. And there is a big difference btwn $2M and $5M. Second of all, it's their money. Stop telling other people where to spend their money. It's none of your business. Third, I'm a Republican and can't believe I am defending the Clintons. However, I think every bride should have the wedding day they dream of and as long as they are spending their money, what do I care? I would like to point out, the Clinton's are getting what they give. When you go around telling people what to do with their money and calling them "greedy", you can't really complain when they criticize where you spend yours.

  • August 01, 2010 - 1:26pm k

    It's not Chelsea's place to save the world. The girl got married. She looks gorgeous. Put your hate aside for one moment.

  • August 01, 2010 - 1:18am Amy

    Oh cripes, just be happy for the girl! Marriage is a big deal and something only intended to happen once in a person's life- no use in trying to make them feel guilty about it. Seems like it was a beautiful wedding- so happy for the wonderful couple and both families =)

  • July 31, 2010 - 11:45pm CC

    I'm sure it was lovely. My last word on this: constructive criticism (too late)--maybe for future do's you two plan to have: Chelsea and Marc If you haven't noticed there is a war on and a recession. People are dying (I recently went to the funeral of a former student)and people are losing their homes. If you had been just another rich celeb, I wouldn't care how much of an orgy your wedding was. But you are the daughter of a former President and, in solidarity with the american people, both you and your parents should have shown a little class and known that it would have been better to tone it down. A "royal wedding" wasn't necessary for you to have all the attention you wanted. Okay, I get the security expenses---- but the $6,000 per person estimated costs of your day? Why? How about expenses of any normal bride? A wedding in your backyard like Amy Carter? Or a local place of worship close to your home? Why an estate? A regular wedding dress and a nice reception at your home? or the local hall? To show off that you can have that? I noticed you had a "vegan" cake--to show how much you care about animals? what about the American people? If you are going to go the "caring" route--please go all the way and stop the elite rich "liberal" fakey posturing. I voted for Mr. Carter and I voted for your dad... twice. I never voted for a Bush, but here you have outspent them many times over on a wedding. I expected better of your family, at least. Have a good life and when you are hobnobbing with your husband's rich investment banker friends that ran this country into the ground , please try to remember there are lots of good working people out here suffering while you party.

  • July 31, 2010 - 9:33pm Clare Mac

    I live in Dorset, Uk and this is all dull, no news, over here. How can somthing so basically "done before" be such big news in the US? I would like to care, but you have to make me care first. xx Clare Mac

  • July 31, 2010 - 9:00pm SIKE

    @Lin.......nah. He's too frugal with his money. He knows the right way to spend it. Not only this wedding, but paying Monica hush money to keep her mouth shut for once. Unlike all the times she opened it in the Oval Office. Scumbag! And Hillary looks like a MORON for staying with him. She only stayed with him to try to run for President. Now she's such an ugly hag no one else would want her. So they are stuck with each other, although I'm sure he still has his girls on the side!

  • July 31, 2010 - 7:39pm C.C.

    Yes, it is their money (well, some of it was scammed from innocent folks in the grooms' dad's case---remember he went to prison? and remember the groom used to work for Goldman Sachs--the nice folks who helped give us the Recession and who had to be bailed out using , umm, oh yes-- OUR money) and any celebrity is going to have issues with paying for security,etc. more than the rest of us IF you make your plans known all over the planet. (Makes me wonder how Amy Carter got away with having such a dignified, quiet nuptual.) But I'm sure much is sure secretive because the family knows it is a bit tactless to have such an expensive event when folks are cutting back on or canceling their own weddings--and losing their jobs and homes. Or maybe she and her husband really don't care. They're the royal american rich--and they'll never have to worry after all. they have friends in high places. But let them have a good time. Forget about the rest of us. Business as usual. Maybe they can donate some of their wrapping paper to be auctioned off for cash for folks like my friend who just lost her home with two kids to care for. But they are likely just saying : "Let them eat cake!"

  • July 31, 2010 - 7:12pm Allison

    I am not a Dem, but wish them both luck, and I also applaud them for practicing birth control.

  • July 31, 2010 - 7:06pm gb...

    Congratulations!!!!!!

  • July 31, 2010 - 6:38pm KOURTNEY

    IM SO HAPPY FOR THEM

ADVERTISEMENT