Michelle Obama Supports Malia Dropping ‘Obama’ in Film Credits
Former First Lady Michelle Obama has publicly supported her daughter Malia’s decision to drop the Obama last name in her professional film work, marking her first comments on the subject since Malia’s directorial debut.
Malia, now 25, credited herself as Malia Ann—using her middle name—for the short film The Heart, which she wrote and directed.
The project premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2024 and drew attention not only for its artistic merit but also for her choice to distance herself from the highly recognizable Obama surname.
Speaking on the podcast Sibling Revelry with Kate and Oliver Hudson, Michelle said both Malia and her younger sister Sasha are in a phase of life where they’re “trying to be their own people.”
“It’s very important for my kids to feel like they’ve earned what they are getting in the world,” Michelle shared.
“They don’t want people to assume that they don’t work hard, or that everything was just handed to them. They’re very sensitive to that.”
Michelle acknowledged the public nature of their family name but emphasized that she and Barack Obama respect Malia’s efforts to establish her own identity.
“We were like, ‘They’re still going to know it’s you, Malia,’” she joked, “but we respected the fact that she’s trying to make her way.”
Barack Obama echoed similar sentiments in an earlier interview on The Pivot Podcast, recounting how Malia told him she wanted people to view her work without the immediate association to the Obama legacy.
“She said, ‘I want them to watch it the first time and not in any way have that association.’”
Michelle also reflected on how her daughters are starting to understand the choices their parents made while in the White House.
“They now understand us as full human beings,” she said, adding that this perspective reminds her of her own journey with her parents during college.
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