Former President Barack Obama Reacts to Eldest Daughter Malia Dropping Last Name Professionally

Former President Barack Obama is weighing in on his and wife Michelle Obama’s eldest daughter Malia dropping her last name professionally. The 44th President appeared on “The Pivot Podcast,” which premiered Oct. 29, where he explained how he reacted to his daughter going by “Malia Ann” – her first and middle name – instead of “Malia Obama,” as seen in the credits of her directorial film debut. “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. Malia, she’s making movies. So, she made her first movie, and I’ll be a dad – I’ll brag a little bit. Right, she’s working with Donald [Glover.] And her first film went to Sundance and all these fancy film festivals. And she didn’t use “Obama” as director on the credits – it said, “Malia Ann.” She used her middle name – didn’t put “Obama” on there,” he said, adding, “I was all like, ‘You do they know they’ll know who you are,’ 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.” The former president then went on to explain that while in the White House, he made a deal with the White House press corps to leave his children, which also includes Malia’s younger sister Sasha, alone as he said they had “the right to grow up.” “They didn’t choose this, right? Let them grow up. And to the credit of the press, they did leave them alone.”