As Malia Obama launches her directorial career with her first short film, the former first daughter is attempting to make her own name.
Michelle Obama recently shared her reaction to her and Barack‘s 25-year old daughter “trying to distinguish” herself by dropping her last name with the release of her short film The Heart at last year’s Sundance Film Festival, instead crediting herself as Malia Ann.
“Our daughters [Malia and Sasha] are 25 and 23. They are young adult women, but they definitely went through a period in their teen years where it was the push away,” said Michelle during an appearance on the Sibling Revelry podcast.
“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,’” she added. “But we respected the fact that, you know, she’s trying to make her way.”
The former first lady of the United States explained that Malia wanted audiences “to watch it that first time and not in any way have that association” of being Barack and Michelle’s daughter.
“You guys know this as the children of parents who are known. You know, you’re trying to distinguish yourself,” she told podcast co-hosts Oliver and Kate Hudson. “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. They’re very sensitive to that. They want to be their own people.”
After serving as a staff writer on the 2023 Prime Video series Swarm, Malia Ann made her directorial debut with The Heart, a short film about a lonely man grieving the death of his mother after an argument about groceries and an odd request in her will.
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