Kellie Chauvin is the ex-wife of Derek Chauvin, the ex-police officer who was convicted for the murder of Gorge Floyd, an African American man, who died in police custody, after Derek Chauvin was filmed putting his knee on the man’s neck after detaining him on an alleged suspicion of passing counterfeit bills. He put pressure on Floyd’s windpipe for more than eight minutes while Floyd kept saying in shaking breaths “I can’t breathe”, the phrase that became the war cry of the Black Lives Matter movement that followed in the latter half of the year 2020. Kellie filed for a divorce shortly after Derek was found guilty of second-degree and third-degree manslaughter in April 2021.
Early life and background
Kellie Chauvin, previously Kellie May Thao was born in Laos in 1974 to parents from Hmong community. She has a brother who is in the South Paolo police department. Following the civil war of Laos in the years 1959-1975, she and her family fled to Thailand, and were there as refugees. After living there for a few years, they fled to Wisconsin in 1980.
Education & Career
She went on to complete a degree in Radiology and later completed a course in Real estate. She also won the title of Mrs Minnesota. She started as a Radiology intern technician at the Hennepin county medical centre, and later became a permanent employee there at Wisconsin. She worked the job for thirteen years and then resigned to join the Re/Max results as a realtor. At a friend’s suggestion, she opted to participate in a beauty pageant and went on to win the title of Mrs Minnesota in 2018. She became the first woman of Hmong origin to win that title and used the winnings in helping the Hmong community start-ups. Her hobbies are helping people and she is an animal lover.
Marriage, divorce, and more
Kellie was married to Kujay Xiong at the tender age of seventeen, as her community believes that a girl must marry before eighteen, or she will remain single forever. Her relationship with Kujay Xiong was an abusive one and she filed for a divorce after having two children and she decided to move to Minnesota. Her second marriage was with Derek Chauvin on June 12th, 2010 in Washington county. All seemed good as in an interview she said that Derek was a “softie” and a “gentleman”, and that he fit all her requirements she’d made after escaping her previous abusive marriage. Shortly after Derek was sentenced to at least 22 years of prison time on May 25th 2021 for the cold-blooded murder of George Floyd, she filed for a divorce. In response to being asked about the whole verdict, she commented that she was extremely sad and acknowledged the tremendous pain and suffering that the Floyd family and others who faced similar traumas were going through. The news of her announcing the divorce shortly after the court decision, she was a target of a lot of hate and racist comments, especially from the Asian-American community, who accused her of self-loathing and white supremacy. She was called racial slurs and terms like “Lu”, which describes Asian women who are in relationship with white people as a form of hero-worship or white-worshipping.
FAQs
What was Kellie’s real standing on the George Floyd’s case?
What were the real reasons for her divorce with Derek Chauvin?