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Barack Obama is sharing his thoughts on daughter Malia deciding to use a stage name. While premiering her movie The Heart at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival back in February, Malia, 26, decided to drop her last name “Obama,” and professionally uses her middle name, going by “Malia Ann.” In a new interview, the 63-year-old former President explained why Malia using a stage name didn’t surprise him. Keep reading to find out more…“The challenge for us is letting us give them any help at all,” Obama admitted on The Pivot Podcast. “I mean they’re very sensitive about this stuff. They’re very stubborn about it.” When he saw that Malia stopped using her last name professionally, Obama said he told her that people would still know that they were related. “I was all like, ‘You do know they’ll know who you are,’” Obama explained. “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.” However, Obama said that he and wife Michelle Obama have noticed that Malia and younger daughter Sasha Obama have gained more attention since becoming adults and exploring their own passions. “Now, as they’ve gotten older, there’s been some paparazzi stuff going on, and it drives them nuts, because their attitude is, ‘We’re not looking for all that.’ So they’re grounded,” Obama said. He also said that he’s thankful that for the majority of his presidency, the press focused on him and not his daughters. “I basically made a deal with the press pool. 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 recalled. “And to the credit of the press they did leave them alone.” Obama went on to gush over how his daughters have turned out, noting that Malia‘s movie was in “all these fancy film festivals,” and said that he’s especially proud of how his girls matured, despite the difficulties of growing up in the spotlight. “They’ve turned out amazing,” he said with a smile. “I can’t brag about them enough.” This past weekend, Malia and Sasha, 23, joined tons of other stars at Billie Eilish‘s Halloween party!
