Barack Obama reacts to filmmaker daughter dropping surname at work
Former United States president Barack Obama, who now runs a production company, shared his reaction to his filmmaker daughter's decision to drop her surname at work.
When Malia Obama debuted her short film The Heart at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival in February, she opted to be credited as Malia Ann.
In a guesting on The Pivot Podcast, Obama recalled a conversation with Malia, who told him she wanted the audience to watch her movie for the first time and not associate her with him.
"So I think our daughters go out of their way to not try to leverage that," he said of Malia, 26, and Sasha, 23.
Though Malia chose to be credited without her surname, Obama told her that people still know they're related anyway.
"The challenge for us is letting us give them any help at all," he shared, referring to him and his wife Michelle "They're very sensitive about this stuff. They're very stubborn about it."
Obama said her daughters are exploring their passions since entering adulthood—and have gained more public attention.
"Now, as they've gotten older, there's been some paparazzi stuff going on, and it drives them nuts," he said, adding that they have a "We're not looking for all that" kind of attitude.
"So they're grounded," he added.
Obama said he and Michelle made sure that Malia and Sasha were able to have a semi-normal childhood. He even looked back at his presidency, saying he was hesitant to run for office in the first place for fear that their children might "end up weird."
He's also thankful that the American media kept its focus on him. "I basically made a deal with the press pool," he explained. "I said, 'You can follow me around. You can talk about me. You do whatever you need to do. Leave my children alone because they have the right to grow up. They didn't choose this. Let them grow up.'"
Obama served as president from 2009 to 2017. The following year, he and Michelle founded Higher Ground Productions, signing a multi-year deal with streaming giant Netflix to produce scripted and unscripted film and television projects.