Malia Obama is finding her way in the world, and if that means dropping her last name, her mother is OK with that.
Former first lady Michelle Obama talked about just that on a recent episode of the “Sibling Revelry” podcast with co-hosts Kate and Oliver Hudson.
Malia, 26, dropped Obama from her name on her first film project, The Hill reported.
In her 2023 short film, “The Heart,” Malia Obama, daughter of former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama, went by “Malia Ann.”
“It is very important for my kids to feel like they’ve earned what they are getting in the world,” Michelle Obama said of daughters Malia and Sasha, 23.
“They don’t want people to assume that they don’t work hard, that they’re just naturally just handed things. They’re very sensitive to that,” Michelle Obama added.“Malia, who started in film — I mean, her first project, she took off her last name.”
But the absence of her famous last name does not equal anonymity, her parents told her.
“We were like, ‘They’re still going to know it’s you, Malia,’” Michelle Obama said. “But we respected the fact that she’s trying to make her way.”
As they get older, the Obama daughters have embraced “our parenting principles.”
“They have a clear understanding of why we did a lot of what we did,” she said. “They didn’t want to be little princesses in the White House — they wanted to push the envelope.”
A little independence played a big role in that.
“They needed some rope. They wanted to try some things. They wanted to be out in the world,” the former first lady said. “And I knew that under the circumstances, they needed to have more rope than I probably would have given them if I were my mother.”
Michelle Obama appeared on the podcast with her brother, Craig Robinson.
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