Michelle Obama claims daughter Malia ‘will never’ include her and dad Barack Obama in filmmaking life
Malia Obama is carving her own path, and wants none of her parents’ involvement.
The eldest daughter of Michelle Obama and Barack Obama is a budding filmmaker, who previously worked as a writer on the Donald Glover series Swarm, and later made her directorial debut in the 2023 short film The Heart.
In addition to the director, who goes by Malia Ann, the former president and the Becoming author, who tied the knot in 1992, are also parents to daughter Sasha Obama, 24.
The Obama family (Instagram)
Michelle, speaking with none other than Steven Spielberg on her IMO podcast, which she hosts with her brother Craig Robinson, revealed that Malia, 27, will “never invite us to anything that she does,” when it comes to her film work.
As Steven was sharing how the set of his latest project, seemingly the sci-fi epic Disclosure Day, was “the first set Barack ever visited,” he noted: “Even though your daughter is a filmmaker, Malia. So I feel bad I scooped Malia.”
“She doesn’t care. She will never invite us to anything that she does. You know, she doesn’t want us around her stuff,” Michelle then confessed.
The Obamas with Steven in Barcelona in 2023 (Getty Images)
Further speaking about the Obamas’ close relationship with the legendary filmmaker, Michelle revealed: “My husband is a bully to you when it comes to your movies,” adding: “I always reprimand him … because you haven’t let him see [your latest film] and he’s very mad about that.”
“Yeah, he said if he wasn’t among the first to see it, he was going to watch it only on an iPhone,” Steven then shared, with Michelle adding: “Which he knows would irritate you,” as Steven also quipped: “And he said he wouldn’t watch it horizontally, he’d only watch it vertically.”
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“But he got to come on set for this one,” he added, as Michelle maintained that he “had a ball” visiting the set.
Malia at the 2024 premiere of her debut film The Heart (Getty Images)
“It was great. It was, of course, for my cast, it was a bit of a religious experience because in walks this iconic president who comes onto our set,” Steven continued, acknowledging: “To me, he’s a good friend, to all of us, we know each other so well. But on set, the kids didn’t know Barack except from what he’s done for the world and who he represents.”
Both Malia and her younger sister Sasha are based in Los Angeles (Instagram)
“They were just absolutely — and I have a very extroverted cast — you could hear a pin drop when he walked in. They didn’t know what to say,” he added, further sharing: “I didn’t tell all of them, I told some of them, but not all of them.”
Disclosure Day, out June 12, stars Emily Blunt, Eve Hewson, Colin Firth, Colman Domingo, Wyatt Russell, Josh O’Connor, and Elizabeth Marvel, among others, follows a Kansas City TV meteorologist, played by Emily, who is suddenly overcome by a mysterious extraterrestrial force while taping a weather segment live on air.
