Clinton Chat Makes Teacher Famous

O S L O, Norway, July 10, 2000 -- A Norwegian schoolteacher who became a national celebrity after President Clinton stopped to chat with her now has her own television show.

Ingeborg Heldal, 27, took her preschool class to the Royal Palace park to see the American leader, who came for an official visit in November.

It was the first visit ever by an American president to this Scandinavian nation.

Clinton walked over to say hello to some of the children and paused to talk with Heldal in full view of the nation’s television and other news cameras.

Looks Like Lewinsky?

Heldal became a star overnight after most of Norway’s major news media used photographs of her with Clinton, and scrambled to get her story. It was the pictures of their meeting that caused the tremendous interest, because the media said they were strikingly similar to those of Clinton meeting Monica Lewinsky in a crowd.

“Maybe I’m a little naive, but I really don’t think I look like Lewinsky,” Heldal, whose only similarity to Lewinsky is her dark hair, was quoted as saying in the Oslo newspaper Aftenposten. “But I see the similarities in the composition of the pictures.”

On Wednesday, Heldal will make her debut as the host of a family game show on Norway’s largest television network, NRK.

“With all due respect, it is strange to think of him sitting there in the United States while he has indirectly had such a big influence on my life and doesn’t even know it,” Heldal added.