Michelle Obama breaks silence on daughter Malia dropping her famous last name: ‘Very sensitive'
Michelle Obama has finally revealed her honest reaction to her daughter Malia's decision to drop her famous last name. During a recent appearance on Kate and Oliver Hudson's Sibling Revelry podcast, the former first lady explained that she and Barack Obama 'respected' the 26-year-old's decision to change her name to Malia Ann as 'she's trying to make her way' in the film industry.
In 2024, Malia made headlines for using her middle name, Ann, as her last name in the credits of her directorial debut short film, The Heart, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. The name is a nod to her late grandmother, Ann Dunham.
'Malia, who started in film, I mean, her first project — she took off her last name, and we were like, 'They're still going to know it's you, Malia,'' said on Monday's episode, adding, 'But we respected the fact that, you know, she's trying to make her way.'
'I mean, it is very important for my kids to feel like they've earned what they are getting in the world, and they don't want people to assume that they don't work hard, that they're just naturally, just handed things,' the Becoming author went on.
Michelle further noted that her daughters, Malia and Sasha, 23, 'are very sensitive to that -- they want to be their own people.' 'As they're older, I think they are embracing our parenting principles. … They have a clearer understanding of why we did a lot of what we did,' she added.
The former president also addressed Malia's name change during an appearance on The Pivot Podcast last year. 'Her first film went to Sundance and all these fancy film festivals, and she didn't use Obama as a director on the credits,' Barack said at the time.
He explained that when he told Malia that despite changing her name, people will 'know who you are,' she told him, 'You know what? I want them to watch it that first time and not in any way have that association.'
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