Coming out of the shadows

LONG gone was the awkward curly-haired teenager with braces, fiercely protected from the media during her White House childhood. Gone too, the determinedly private young woman who spent much of her twenties in denial of her status as a public figure.

Chelsea Clinton’s willingness to take to Twitter to talk about her mother’s recovery, and a remarkably open interview last year in Vogue, mark a new phase for a young woman who will be 33 next month and is ready to use her public position to promote the things she cares about.

“Historically, I deliberately tried to lead a private life in the public eye. And now I am trying to lead a purposefully public life,” she told Jonathan Van Meter, who was given two months’ access to her life.