Former first lady Michelle Obama has finally spoken out about her daughter Malia’s decision to ditch her famous last name. Her eldest daughter, Malia, is seeking to establish a career in the entertainment industry.

The daughter of the former president has already written and directed a short film called “The Heart,” which premiered at the prestigious 2024 Sundance Film Festival. Rather than using her last name in the credits, Malia used her middle name.

Michelle Obama discussed Malia’s decision during an episode of the podcast “Sibling Revelry,” with co-hosts Oliver Hudson and actress Kate Hudson.

She stated during the episode that both of her children are “young adult women, but they definitely went through a period in their teen years where it was the push-away.”

Obama added, “They’re still doing that.”

She then explained why she’s decided to support Malia’s decision to drop “Obama” as her last name for her chosen profession.

“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 told her co-hosts.

The former first lady continued, “They’re very sensitive to that. They want to be their own people.”

Michelle then said, “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.”

According to Obama, the girls “didn’t want to be little princesses in the White House.”

“They wanted to push the envelope; they needed some rope. They wanted to try some things, they wanted to be out in the world, and I knew that under the circumstances, they needed more rope than I probably would’ve given them if I were my mother,” Michelle further elaborated, according to the Daily Caller.

Later in the podcast, Michelle says that both of her daughters now have a better understanding of their parents’ positions than when they were young.

“As they’re older, I think they are embracing our parenting principles. … They have a clearer understanding of why we did a lot of what we did. They understand us as full human beings now, in the same way that I think I discovered that about my parents when I went away to college,” she continued.

Former President Barack Obama spoke about the name change in October 2024 during an interview with a former football player.

“‘You do know they’ll know who you are,’” he told his daughter. “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.”