Chiara de Blasio, 19, the daughter of New York City Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio. In a video upload she has come clean about about her alcohol and drug use, blaming her substance abuse issues on depression and anxiety.
Here’s what you need to know about her video and the first daughter of NYC:
1. Her Drug of Choice Was Weed
Speaking straight into the camera, de Blasio eloquently lays out that she smoked weed and drank alcohol to deal with her anxiety and depression. The video was uploaded by de Blasio herself. In it, she says:
It made it easier, the more I drank and did drugs, to share some common ground with people. It didn’t start out as, like, a huge thing for me, but then it became a really huge thing for me.
2. Her Battles Went On During Her Father’s Election Campaign
She says in the video that she was helped by group therapy centers in New York City. Also adding that her parents were extremely supportive of her and that her father, despite his mayoral commitments was always there for her. Doctors have come out publicly to endorse de Blasio’s decision to become open about her substance abuse issues.
3. She Tried to Escape to California
(Getty)
She’s a college sophomore in California. In the video, she states that moving to the West Coast did nothing to halt her descent into addiction. During her father’s election she told New York Magazine about college:
It was a difficult transition. I go to school in California, and it was very different from New York. It’s a pretty small campus and wasn’t really diverse, racially or economically. My main reason for going was scholarship purposes. The way that people pay for college nowadays will affect them for decades, having to get crazy loans and stuff. It was hard, but I’m really excited to go back now. I’m going back on Friday. I live in the dorms.
4. Addiction Runs in Her Family
Her father had been open about his father’s alcohol abuse. Warren Wilhelm was a World War II veteran who struggled with alcohol and committed suicide in 1979.
5. She Was One of the Public Face of the de Blasio Campaign
De Blasio and her brother, Dante, played a key role through their father’s successful run for City Hall in 2013. About being on the campaign trail, de Blasio said:
I like understanding what’s going on better. In every way I think that I’m lucky to live the life that I live. I don’t have a lot of the problems that other people have. It’s very important for me to see what other people go through.
