Michelle Kwan Engaged; Who Is Clay Pell?
Michelle Kwan, who has won five world championships in figure skating, is engaged. Her soon-to-be husband is Clay Pell.
The famous American figure skater confirmed the engagement to People magazine Tuesday. Kwan, 32, said it was a "simple" decision that "made sense."
Pell, 30, is director for Strategic Planning on the National Security Council at The White House. He has served in this role since 2011, the year he met Kwan.
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Kwan first began working in Washington, D.C., in 2006 when then Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice named her public diplomacy ambassador, a non-salaried position.
Today, she serves on the Council to Empower Women and Girls Through Sports and continues her work as an envoy in the State Department.
Kwan told Fox News early this summer that "life after skating is fantastic." After living a tightly-scheduled life revolving around skating from 7 years old until 25, she now finds herself thinking in the mornings, "what do I have to do today?"
She said she might even run for office in the future.
Her fiancé is a graduate of Georgetown University and Harvard University. Before his job in national security, he was a JAG and Lieutenant in the U.S. Coast Guard. Pell is also the grandson of the late Claiborne Pell, who served six terms as senator of Rhode Island. Claiborne Pell may be more known for creating the Pell Grants which provides financial aid funds to U.S. college students.
Clay Pell told People that he and Kwan had been "talking for a while" about having a family and the idea of getting married.
