In the Before Before Times—a.k.a. how I'm now referring to the period before the 2016 presidential election—former first daughter Chelsea Clinton and current presidential advisor Ivanka Trump were friends.
While People reports their friendship had been "largely private," the two were spotted at Glamour's Women of the Year awards in 2014, and in a 2015 Vogue profile of Ivanka, Chelsea was quoted as saying, "There’s nothing skin-deep about Ivanka."
That friendship then seemed to fizzle after their parents, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, entered into a contentious campaign against each other, even though both women made comments suggesting they wanted their friendship to continue after the race. In March 2018, Chelsea told Stephen Colbert she had not spoken to Ivanka "in a long time."
Then this week, on Thursday night's episode of Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, Cohen asked Chelsea about what happened to their relationship.
"I've not spoken to her since 2016, and Andy, I have no interest in being friends with someone who is not only complicit but actively taking part in this administration's every day collision of cruelty and incompetence," Chelsea said.
Cohen then asked, "Was there ever a moment during that campaign where you wanted to text her and be like, 'Hey, we're friends. This is insane, what your father is saying about my mom'?
Chelsea responded:
"We were in touch at the beginning of the campaign. But it's just really hard when there's someone who's actively embracing their candidate, whether it's their father or not, who is trafficking in racism and sexism and anti-Semitism and Islamophobia and homophobia and transphobia and conspiracy theories and lies and is so fundamentally corrupt. At some point, I don't think they're the same by any standard, but I think she's more than complicit as anyone who has worked for him for so long by definition is. And I don't want to be friends with someone like that."
As Chelsea said, Ivanka has continued to work alongside her father throughout his presidency and celebrated him at this summer's Republican National Convention. "Dad, people attack you for being unconventional," she said. "But I love you for being real, and I respect you for being effective."
