Advertisement

Former President Barack Obama Reacts to Malia Obama Dropping Last Name Professionally

Former President Barack Obama Reacts to Malia Obama Dropping Last Name Professionally


This is the picture of Former President Barack Obama Reacts to Malia Obama Dropping Last Name Professionally



Former president Barack Obama wasn't surprised that his daughter Malia Obama chose to drop her last name as a filmmaker, explaining that she and sister Sasha Obama try not to "leverage" their parent's.

Barack Obama understands why Malia Obama wanted a stage name. 

When debuting her film The Heart at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival in February, the 26-year-old daughter of the former president and Michelle Obama opted to drop the last name Obama, instead using her middle name and going by Malia Ann. And according to Barack—who is also dad to Sasha Obama, 23—her choice didn't surprise him.

"The challenge for us is letting us give them any help at all," Barack confessed on the Oct. 29 episode of The Pivot Podcast. "I mean they're very sensitive about this stuff. They're very stubborn about it."

When he saw that Malia was choosing to be credited without her last name, he warned her that people would still know they were related. 

"I was all like, ‘You do know they'll know who you are,'" the 63-year-old explained. "And she's all like, ‘You know what? I want them to watch it that first time and not in any way have that association.' So I think our daughters go out of their way to not try to leverage that."


But still, Barack has noticed that his daughters have gained more public attention since entering adulthood and exploring their passions.  

"Now, as they've gotten older, there's been some paparazzi stuff going on, and it drives them nuts," he said, "because their attitude is, ‘We're not looking for all that.' So they're grounded."


For Barack and Michelle—who are also working in Hollywood with their film company Higher Ground Productions—making sure that Malia and Sasha were able to have a semi-normal childhood was very important, with him explaining one of the reasons he was hesitant to run for office in the first place was the fear that their daughters might "end up weird."

But he was thankful that for the majority of his presidency, the White House press pool kept their focus on him, and left his daughters alone.

"I basically made a deal with the press pool," he explained. "I said, 'You can follow me around. You can talk about me. You do whatever you need to do. Leave my children alone because they have the right to grow up. They didn't choose this. Let them grow up.' And to the credit of the press they did leave them alone."


Source: E! News

Post a Comment

0 Comments