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Michelle Obama is speaking out about her daughter Malia Obama's decision to drop her last name in professional projects. The former first lady told the "Sibling Revelry" podcast that she and her husband, Barack Obama, respect that their daughter is "trying to make her way."
Michelle Obama addressed her eldest daughter's decision during a Monday episode of the podcast, hosted by siblings and actors Oliver and Kate Hudson. Michelle Obama's brother, Craig Robinson, was also a guest.
During a discussion about Malia Obama's career in film, the former first lady noted that her daughter made the decision to remove her famous last name from the credits of her first professional project, the 2024 short film "Heart," instead listing herself by her first and middle name, Malia Ann.
"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,'" Michelle Obama said. "But we respected the fact that, you know, she’s trying to make her way."
The former president spoke publicly about his daughter's professional name during an appearance on the "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 Obama said.
"I was all like, 'You do know they’ll know who you are.' And she was like, 'You know what? I want them to watch it that first time and not in any way have that association,'" he added.
In addition to her 2024 short film, Malia Obama, now 26, directed a Nike commercial starring professional basketball player A’ja Wilson that was released this year, and she was a writer on the Amazon Prime miniseries "Swarm."
On Monday's episode, Michelle Obama also discussed her younger daughter, 23-year-old Sasha, and the sisters' efforts to distance themselves publicly from their famous parents, which began when they were teenagers.
"They are young adult women, but they definitely went through a period in their teen years where it was the push away. … They’re still doing that," Michelle Obama explained.
"You guys know this as the children of parents who are known," the former first lady said, referring to the Hudsons' famous parents, mother Goldie Hawn, father Bill Hudson and stepfather Kurt Russell. "You know, you're trying to distinguish yourself."
"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," she said. "They’re very sensitive to that. They want to be their own people."