Former first lady Michelle Obama said that she and her husband, Barack, respect her daughter Malia dropping her “Obama” last name into professional projects, and praised how both daughters in general “want to be their own people.”
Malia Obama used her second name, Ann, as her last name For credits of a short film that he wrote and directed, “The Heart”, which Transmitted at the Sundance Film Festival In 2024.
“Our daughters [Malia and Sasha] They are 25 and 23. They are young women, but they definitely went through a period in their adolescence where the thrust was … [where] You are trying to distinguish yourself, “Michelle Obama told actors Kate and Oliver Hudson in a Episode of his podcast “Sibling Revellry” Posted on Monday.
In this archive photo of January 10, 2017, President Obama joins Michelle and Malia after his farewell speech at McCormick Place in Chicago.
Zbigniew BzDak/Chicago Tribune through TNS through Getty Images, Archive
“I mean, it is very important that my children feel that they have earned what they are getting in the world, and do not want people to assume that they do not work hard, that they are naturally, only delivered things,” he said. “They are very sensitive to that, they want to be their own people.
“Malia, who started in the cinema, I mean, his first project: his last name was removed, and we think, they will still know that it is you, Malia,” Michelle Obama added. “But we respect the fact that she is trying to make his way.”
Both Malia and Sasha Obama now also understand more about their parents’ positions when they raised, Michelle Obama added: “As they are older, I think they are adopting our aging principles … They have a clearer understanding of why we did much of what we did.”
“Now they understand us as complete human beings, in the same way that I think I discovered that about my parents when I went to university,” he said.
In this file photo of September 6, 2024, Malia Ann Obama attends the opening ceremony during the 50th American Film Festival in Deauville in Deauville, France.
Foc Kan/Wireimage through Getty Images, Archive
Barack Obama A similar note sounded In October, telling the former soccer player and the presenter of “The Pivot Podcast” Ryan Clark “[Malia’s] The first film was for Sunday and all these elegant film festivals, and did not use Obama as director in the credits. “
“‘You know they will know who you are,” he said, he said. “And she says: ‘Do you know what? I want you to see it for the first time and not in any way that association [with the Obama last name]. “So I think our daughters do everything possible so as not to try to take advantage of that.”
Michelle Obama’s comments occur when the former first lady has begun to speak more openly about her time in the White House and then.
In this archive photo of March 13, 2025, Michelle Obama speaks on stage during the SXSW 2025 conference and festival at the Austin Convention Center, in Austin, Texas.
Julia Beverly/Wireimage through Getty Images, Archive
In an April episode of actress’s podcast Sophia Bush “Work in Progress”, Michelle Obama backed up the rumors and speculations that she and her husband were going through a divorce due to her absence in high profile events, such as the inauguration of President Donald Trump, saying that society has created expectations in which women are expected or more than face criticism.
“You know, that, this could not be an adult woman who only makes a set of decisions for herself, right? But that’s what society does to us,” he said. “We actually start, finally, how to go, what am I? What am I doing? Do you know, who am I doing this for?
“And if it does not fit the type of stereotype of what people think we should do, then it is labeled as something negative and horrible,” he said.
