Michelle Kwan may have retired from competitive figure skating, but she’s clearly still doing exciting things. Michelle has become engaged! People reports Michelle is engaged to Clay Pell, director for strategic planning on the National Security staff at the White House. Michelle said about her engagement:
“It was a simple decision and it made sense, that’s what’s so exciting to me. We are working together as a team, like in [pair skating].”
Clay added:
“It was amazing from the very beginning how in sync our way of thinking is, our basic values and our sense of priorities. We just both got each other.”
Clay popped the question on Block Island, which is off the coast of Rhode Island. Michelle shared some details:
“It was hot and we were going to go into the water to cool ourselves off a little bit. I wasn’t anticipating going swimming. I said, ‘I don’t feel comfortable because I don’t have my bathing suit on.’ He’s like, ‘No, come on in,’ so I said, ‘Okay.’ ”
“I was nervous about wanting to do it right, but I wasn’t nervous about what the answer would be,” Clay explains. “We had been talking for a while about how we would like to have a family and the idea of getting married and what we wanted to do with our lives – and public service. So I think we both knew where we were relationship-wise and where we were going.”
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appointed Michelle to serve on the Council to Empower Women and Girls through Sports as well as working with the US State Department as a public policy envoy. Clay is a JAG and Lieutenant in the U.S. Coast Guard; he’s also the grandson of the late Rhode Island Sen. Claiborne Pell, who established Pell Grants for college 40 years ago. Sounds like a perfect match. Congratulations!
Michelle Kwan may have retired from competitive figure skating, but she’s clearly still doing exciting things. Michelle has become engaged! People reports Michelle is engaged to Clay Pell, director for strategic planning on the National Security staff at the White House. Michelle said about her engagement:
Clay added:
Clay popped the question on Block Island, which is off the coast of Rhode Island. Michelle shared some details:
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appointed Michelle to serve on the Council to Empower Women and Girls through Sports as well as working with the US State Department as a public policy envoy. Clay is a JAG and Lieutenant in the U.S. Coast Guard; he’s also the grandson of the late Rhode Island Sen. Claiborne Pell, who established Pell Grants for college 40 years ago. Sounds like a perfect match. Congratulations!
Photos by FayesVision/Apega/Ivan Nikolov/Nikki Nelson/WENN