“She Wanted to Make a Name for Herself” — Michelle Obama Speaks on Daughter Dropping the Family Name

Former First Lady Michelle Obama has opened up about her daughter Malia’s decision to drop the “Obama” surnamefrom her professional work, saying the move is part of a deliberate effort by both her daughters to “be their own people.”

In a newly released episode of the Sibling Revelry podcast hosted by Kate and Oliver Hudson, Michelle revealed, “Our daughters 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 — where you’re trying to distinguish yourself.”

Referring to Malia’s 2024 Sundance-premiered short film The Heart, which she directed under the name Malia Ann, Michelle said, “Malia, who started in film — her first project, she took off her last name, and we were like, ‘They’re still going to know it’s you, Malia.’ But we respected the fact that she’s trying to make her way.”

She explained further: “It is very important for my kids to feel like they’ve earned what they are getting in the world. They don’t want people to assume they don’t work hard or that they’re just handed things. They’re very sensitive to that.”

The former First Lady also spoke about how her daughters now better understand the choices she and Barack made while raising them: “As they’re older, I think they are embracing our parenting principles. They understand us as full human beings now — the same way I did with my parents after college.”

Former President Barack Obama echoed similar sentiments last October during an episode of The Pivot Podcast. Speaking about Malia’s choice to not use their last name in the film credits, he recalled saying, “You do know they’ll know who you are.”

But, according to Barack, Malia responded: “I want them to watch it that first time and not in any way have that association [with the Obama name].” He added, “So I think our daughters go out of their way not to leverage that.”

Michelle’s remarks come amid a period of more public introspection about her post-White House life. Addressing divorce rumours and societal expectations in an earlier episode of Sophia Bush’s podcast Work in Progress, Michelle remarked, “This couldn’t just be a grown woman making a set of decisions for herself? But that’s what society does to us.”

“We start asking, ‘What am I doing? Who am I doing this for?’ And if it doesn’t fit into the stereotype of what people think we should do, then it gets labeled as something negative and horrible,” she concluded.

For the Obamas, Malia’s name change isn’t rejection — it’s reinforcement. Their daughters, it seems, are walking a path of quiet independence with their parents’ full support.