>>>
now, that's progressive.
>>>
wedding bells
will soon be ringing for a former first daughter.
chelsea clinton
got engaged on thanksgiving day to her longtime boyfriend. nbc's
andrea mitchell
has all the details. andrea, good morning.
>>
good morning, natalie. it seems like yesterday we were watching her grow up in the
white house
, the only daughter of bill and
hillary clinton
. now after a
media frenzy
last summer based on false reports of an imminent wedding back then, it's finally official.
chelsea clinton
is engaged. 29-year-old
chelsea clinton
announcing her engagement to longtime boyfriend marc mezvinsky, a 31-year-old
investment banker
. in an e-mail to friends -- "we didn't get married this past summer, despite the stories to the contrary, but we are looking toward next summer and hope you will all be there to celebrate with us. happy holidays!
chelsea
and marc." all the rumors last august about a wedding at martha's vineyard, flat wrong.
>>
we keep reading it and saying it's not true, it's not true, but it doesn't seem to go away.
>>
reporter: to friends, they seem meant for each other, pals since they were teens.
chelsea
was first introduced to the world as a shy 12-year-old when her father became the democratic nominee in
1992
.
>>
what i would like america to know about my mother and father is that they're great people and they're great parents.
>>
reporter: her parents shielded her from the media spotlight, so fiercely, hillary even left
chelsea
out of a photo for the family's first
white house
christmas card
.
>>
chelsea
's
best interests
was always her primary concern. she protected her like a
mama bear
protecting her cub.
>>
reporter: later,
chelsea
traveled with the first lady, endured the trauma of her father's impeachment, had success at stanford and a career of her own.
>>
hi, everybody!
>>
reporter: it wasn't until her mother ran for president in
2008
that
chelsea
dipped her toe into the
family business
.
>>
thanks for being out here supporting my mom.
>>
reporter: mezvinsky's parents were also political. his mouth marjorie as a member of congress from a swing district cast the deciding vote for
bill clinton
's economic plan in
1993
. she paid the price the following year, defeat at the polls.
>>
i'm being called a villain by the republicans and a heroine by the democrats and i don't accept either one of those mantles. i did it because it was the right thing to do.
>>
reporter: marc's father,
ed mezvinsky
, also a former member of congress, was released from
federal prison
last year after serving nearly five years for wire and
bank fraud
. despite their families'
ups and downs
, marc and
chelsea
, now a
graduate student
in
public health
, have managed to avoid controversy.
>>
we always saw her handle her situations with grace and poise that in many ways exceeded her age and experience.
>>
perhaps if you wait long enough, even false rumors may be true.
>>
now the wedding plans begin. thank you so much.
“ ”