Barack Obama ‘s reaction to his daughter Malia’s decision to drop her last name was priceless. The ex-president ‘s 26-year-old daughter went ahead with her middle name Ann as her last name to be taken seriously in the film industry. As per reports, she also did it to dispel any nepo-baby rumors before starting her career. In a recent appearance on The Pivot Podcast, the former president revealed what he told his daughter when she decided to go ahead with her new name.
Former President Barack Obama is weighing in on his and wife Michelle Obama’s eldest daughter Malia dropping her last name professionally, as seen in the credits of her directorial film debut. pic.twitter.com/jrGUURoWid
— Access Hollywood (@accesshollywood) October 31, 2024
“I was all like, ‘You do know they’ll know who you are,'” he said. “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,” he added. The politician then revealed the struggle faced by him and his wife Michelle Obama to help their daughters: “The challenge for us is letting us give them any help at all. I mean they’re very sensitive about this stuff. They’re very stubborn about it.”
Sometime back, Malia’s name was the talk of the town when it appeared in the credits of her directorial debut film, The Heart, at the Sundance Film Festival, which sees over 14,000 entries and selects around 100 to be showcased. Malia’s work shined through with her middle name, which she chose as a tribute to her grandmother who passed away while battling ovarian cancer in 1995.
On the other hand, talking about the growing media attention around his daughters, Obama said that he is forever grateful to them for not following them as kids. The former POTUS explained that when he took office, his daughters were alarmed by the press coverage. To deal with it, he struck a deal with the media personnel and allowed them to follow him and photograph him anywhere and everywhere during his tenure in the White House — as long as they left his daughters alone.
Happy birthday, Malia! No matter how sophisticated, accomplished, beautiful, and gracious a young woman you’ve become—you’ll always be my baby. And I will always be here to lift you up. pic.twitter.com/feS6ayFDOY
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) July 4, 2022
After completing her higher education at Harvard University, Malia worked in Donald Glover’s famous Amazon series, Swarm , as a staff writer. Glover appreciated Malia’s talent and told GQ about the elephant in the room that they addressed when they first met. “The first thing we did was talk about the fact that she will only get to do this once. You’re Obama’s daughter. So, if you make a bad film, it will follow you around,” he said.
According to E! Online , Swarm co-creator Janine Nabers also lauded Malia for brainstorming interesting ideas. Nabers said, “Some of her pitches were wild as hell, and they were just so good and so funny. She’s an incredible writer. She brought a lot to the table… She’s really, really dedicated to her craft.” So, suffice it to say that the elder daughter of the 44th President of the United States has carved her niche in the film industry with her credible talent.