Why Michelle Obama Is Glad She Didn’t Have a Son With Husband Barack Obama

"I’ve loved every phase of parenting," she said. "I loved them when they were little babies, I loved them when they were walking and starting to talk, the teenage years were interesting in the White House."

"But I’ve loved every time with them," Michelle continued, "and watching them become their own people and make their own choices, and figure stuff out, and call me after they figure stuff out."

Her candid comments about her children come after she recently shared her reaction to Malia—who was credited as Malia Ann in her 2024 film The Heart—opting out of using her last name in her professional endeavors.

"Malia, who started in film, I mean her first project she took off her last name," Michelle said on the Sibling Revelry podcast earlier this month. “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.”

“Our daughters are 26 and 23. They are young adult women, but they definitely went through a period in their teens years where it was the push away,” she went on. “They’re still doing that. You’re trying to distinguish yourself. It’s 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 they don’t work hard, that they’re just naturally handed things. They’re very sensitive to that.”

Keep reading for more celebrity kids who ditched their famous last names...