Chelsea Clinton announces she is pregnant

NEW YORK (WABC) -- Chelsea Clinton has announced that she is pregnant.

Clinton, 34, daughter of former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, and a Manhattan resident, says she and her husband, Marc Mezvinsky, are expecting their first child later this year.

There is no word yet on whether the child will be a girl or a boy.

She announced the pregnancy Thursday in New York City at a gathering of No Ceilings, a Clinton Foundation initiative on empowering young women.

LINK: WATCH THE ANNOUNCEMENT

"Marc and I are very excited that we have our first child arriving later this year and I certainly feel all the better, whether it is a girl or a boy, that she or he grow up in a world full of strong young female leaders," Clinton said. "So thank you for inspiring me and thank you for inspiring future generations including the one that we will be lucky enough to welcome into our family later this year."

The former first lady says she's "really excited" about becoming a grandmother and it makes the work of empowering future generations even more important. "I want to see us keep moving and certainly for future generations as well so that maybe our grandchild will not have to be worried about some of the things that young women and young men are worried about today," she said.

Chelsea Clinton said last year in a magazine interview that she hoped 2014 would be "the year of the baby."

The former president tweeted, "Excited to add a new line to my Twitter bio...grandfather-to-be! @hillaryclinton and I are so happy for Chelsea and Marc!"

Preparations for the new baby will coincide with Hillary Clinton's deliberations over another campaign for the White House. Mrs. Clinton is set to release a book about her time at the State Department in June, followed by a book tour, and Democrats hope she will be a top surrogate for their candidates in the 2014 midterm elections.

The former secretary of state is expected to announce her decision later this year and polls show her as the leading contender for the Democratic Party's nomination if she runs. If Clinton seeks the White House, her campaign would potentially coincide with her grandchild's first two years.

After growing up in the public eye as a teenager in the White House, Chelsea Clinton graduated from Stanford University and Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and worked in New York for a hedge fund and a management consulting firm.

She and Marc Mezvinsky, the son of two former members of Congress, were married in Rhinebeck, N.Y., in July 2010, and the former first daughter has balanced a number of work and interests, pursuing a doctorate from Oxford University, where her father was a Rhodes Scholar, while taking a leading role in her family's foundation.

She serves as vice chair of the family foundation, which was renamed the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, and helps direct the organization's humanitarian and philanthropic efforts around the globe. She also serves as a special correspondent for NBC News.

She has avoided commenting on her mother's potential presidential campaign except to say that she'll support her in whatever she does. But she would be a strong voice for her mother among young voters if the former secretary of state decides to seek the presidency.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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