After fleeing Vietnam for the US, Priscilla Chan’s parents found themselves working 18 hour days to make ends meet – now, their son-in-law is worth US$201 billion
In the last few years, Priscilla Chan – doctor, teacher, philanthropist and wife of Mark Zuckerberg – has increasingly spoken about her heritage, allowing people a glimpse into her humble beginnings.
Chan famously said that, “If you hide, you’re powerless”, and has become a voice for immigrant families, openly speaking about how her parents, Yvonne and Dennis, arrived in the United States after fleeing Vietnam in the 1970s among countless thousands of other “boatpeople”. She’s also said it is her life’s mission to break down problems such as poverty and to provide education and access to healthcare, for example.
Priscilla Chan, disco queen, with MC Mark Zuckerberg. Photo: @priscillachan/Instagram
For his part, 40-year-old Zuckerberg – who’s worth an estimated US$201 billion according to Bloomberg – has also begun to share more about his family in recent months. He recently posted photos of an event he threw for his wife, captioning the snaps: “Disco queen wanted a party”.
So what do we know about Chan’s family and how they reached the US? Here’s their story.
Priscilla Chan’s parents were refugees
Priscilla Chan and her sisters. Photo: @priscillachan/Instagram
According to The Independent, Chan’s parents were ethnic Chinese refugees who fled Vietnam by sea after the 1975 fall of Saigon. In an interview at the 2017 Makers leadership conference in California, Chan said it was a “miracle” that she was in the US. “I’m the daughter of Chinese-Vietnamese refugees that came to this country with nothing. And the systems that help families like mine don’t work very well,” she said. “And so I got through high school, was privileged enough to go to Harvard and [I’m] now a paediatrician because people cared. People cared about me and people were invested in my success.”
Priscilla Chan’s family was separated for years
In an interview with the Stanford Graduate School of Business, Chan said her grandparents sent their children on refugee boats in pairs so that if a boat sank, they would not lose their whole family. She said it took about “a decade” for the entire family to be reunited. Chan added that “refugees were sponsored” and her family was supported by the Catholic Church. She also said they ended up in a very “Irish Catholic town” and were the first refugees to arrive there.
According to The New Yorker, Chan said she grew up in a “disadvantaged family” in Quincy, Massachusetts, part of the Greater Boston area. She was born in nearby Braintree, Massachusetts, where her parents reportedly now live.
She was raised by her grandparents
Chan spoke about her childhood in her first television interview, broadcast on The Today Show in 2014. She said she was raised speaking Cantonese and acted as an interpreter for her grandparents. “My mum working two jobs throughout my childhood, my grandparents not speaking English … so it was my job to interpret for them.”
With her parents working long hours, Chan’s grandparents raised her and her two younger sisters, per The Seattle Times. The Daily Mail reported that Chan’s science teacher, Peter Swanson, said Chan’s grandmother was her “emotional support” and that she had a “huge influence” on Priscilla’s life.
They worked hard
According to the Daily Mail, Chan’s father Dennis eventually raised enough money to open his own Chinese restaurant, working 18-hour days to help support his family. Per the Daily Mail, Chan’s mother worked at the Taste of Asia restaurant in Boston, also spending a lot of time away from home to earn a living.
Her parents stressed the importance of education
Priscilla Chan went to Harvard. Photo: @priscillachan/Instagram
According to The Seattle Times, Chan’s parents didn’t go to college but did go to the US in search of a better future. During her Today Show interview, Chan revealed that her parents never understood the American education system, but wanted their daughter to do better than they had.
