Malia Obama opted out of using her family’s last name professionally, and Barack and Michelle Obama see nothing wrong with it.

America was introduced to her as Malia Obama, but now Hollywood is getting to know her as Malia Ann. Malia, former President Barack Obama’s eldest daughter, has been making strides in Hollywood–from working as a writer on the Prime Video series, “Swarm,” to debuting her short film “The Heart” at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, to directing A’ja Wilson’s viral Nike ad. 

However, in building her career as a storyteller, the former first daughter changed her name, dropping her famous last name and opting to go by “Malia Ann” professionally. 

“Malia, who started in film, I mean, her first project, she took off her last name,” former First Lady Michelle told the Sibling Revelry podcast. “And we’re like, ‘They’re still going to know it’s you, Malia.’ But we respect that she’s trying to make her way.”

President Obama echoed a similar message when asked about his thoughts on Malia’s decision to stop using her family name during an appearance on The Pivot Podcast. 

“[Malia’s] first film went to Sundance and all these fancy film festivals, and she didn’t use Obama as director on the credits,” Obama shared, recalling a similar conversation about the public eventually recognizing who she is. “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 [with the Obama last name].’ So I think our daughters go out of their way to not try to leverage that.”

Regarding their daughters, Sasha and Malia, Michelle says she and her husband understand their desire to stray away from the perception of nepotism and the “nepo-baby” label. 

“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 … [where] you’re trying to distinguish yourself,” she explained. 

“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,” she added. “They’re very sensitive to that. They want to be their own people.”