How old is White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre? We know she was born in Martinique, graduated high school in 1993, and graduated college in 1997. Yet, public sources seem unable to agree on when she was born. We’re past the generations when the press was expected to be squeamish about a lady’s age. This is a small thing, perhaps, but one would like to think that it should not be hard to get basic biographical details right for prominent people in national politics, especially someone whose entire job is providing the press with information.
In this corner, some sources say she was born in 1974 and was 47 when she took the job last May, which seems consistent with the dates of her education:
- New York Times: “Ms. Jean-Pierre, 47”
- Caribbean National Weekly: “Jean-Pierre was born August 13, 1974”
- Simple.wikipedia.org: “born August 13, 1974”
In this corner, other sources say she was born in 1977, and was 44 last May:
- Business Insider: “Jean-Pierre was born in 1977”
- Yahoo News: “Birthdate: August 13, 1977”
- IMDb: “born on 13 August 1977”
- Washingtonian: “44-year-old”
- Her current Wikipedia page: “born August 13, 1977”
- Washington Examiner: “Jean-Pierre, age 44”
- The Hill, which currently lists her age at 45
- New York Post: “Jean-Pierre, 44”
Then we get the Washington Blade, which last year wrote “Jean-Pierre, 45.”
UPDATE: A reader notes that Jean-Pierre’s own memoir says 1974, so the various press accounts getting this wrong had to have originated somewhere else.