Who are Priscilla Chan’s parents, who went from ‘boatpeople’ to Mark Zuckerberg’s in-laws? Yvonne and Dennis Chan fled Vietnam in the 1970s and worked several jobs to make ends meet
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.
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
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.”