Chelsea Manning

Some Lesser Known Facts About Chelsea Manning

• She was born Bradley Edward Manning in Oklahoma City.

• She was the 2nd child of Susan Fox (from Wales) and Brian Manning (from America).

• Her father served in the United States Navy for five years as an Intelligent Analyst.

• Her father, Brian, met her mother, Susan, in Wales, while stationed in Wales.

• In 1979, the couple returned to the United States. They first settled in California and then moved to Oklahoma, where they bought a 2-story house.

• According to Chelsea’s sister, Casey, both their parents were alcoholics.

• According to a Navy psychiatrist, Captain David Moulton, Chelsea’s mother drank continually while she was pregnant with Chelsea which resulted in ‘fetal alcohol syndrome’ to Chelsea.

• Chelsea’s sister, Casey, became her principal caretaker. According to the court reports, she was fed only baby food and milk until the age of 2. When Chelsea became an adult, her height reached 5 ft 2 in & weighed around 48 kg (105 pounds).

• Her mother was extremely alcoholic and spent her days drinking.

• Neighbors and friends considered the Mannings a troubled family.

• At the age of 10, Chelsea created a website and learned how to use PowerPoint.

• At the age of 13, Manning told one of his friends that he was gay.

• After the divorce of her parents, she moved to Haverfordwest Wales along with her mother.

• While at the Tasker Milward secondary school in Wales, Manning set up an online message board- angeldyne.com., which offered music and games downloads.

• Being the only American, she became the target of bullying at school.

• In 2005, Manning returned to the United States at the age of 17 and started living with her father in Oklahoma City, where he was living with his 2nd wife and her child.

• She got a job as a developer at a software company, Zoto.

• Manning developed a sour relationship with her stepmother, and in 2006, she reportedly threatened her stepmother with a knife.

• In 2007, Manning’s father asked her to consider joining the Military Services.

• On 2 October 2007, she started training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. She was bullied by her colleagues there. She had a breakdown and was discharged from her training. However, she was allowed to start her basic training again in 2008.

• In August 2008, she was posted to Iraq where she met Tyler Watkins who was studying psychology and neuroscience. She developed a great rapport with Watkins.

• In 2009, Manning wrote to a gender counselor in the United States to discuss having surgery to turn into a female.

• Manning was having a problem living as an openly gay as there was a risk of being discharged.

• In 2010, Manning leaked almost 750,000 documents including 150,000 diplomatic cables to the hacking group WikiLeaks. Manning disclosed details of the identities of American military allies, and American military operations, and placed sensitive and secret American diplomatic relationships at risk.

• She was charged with violating the ‘US Espionage Act’ and sentenced to 35 years in prison. However, her sentence was commuted to 7 years of imprisonment by Barack Obama (the then-US President).

• On 17 May 2017, Chelsea was released from jail.