Channing was born in New York City, the daughter of Mary Alice (née English; 1910-2007),[REF] who came from a large Brooklyn-based Irish Catholic family, and Lester Napier Stockard (died 1960), who was in the shipping business.
Channing is an alumna of The Madeira School, a Virginia boarding school for girls, which she attended after starting out at The Chapin School in New York City [REF].