NEWSMichelle Obama Admits It Was a 'Nightmare' to Try and Hide Daughters Malia and Sasha 'Smoking' and Drinking at Parties
Barack and Michelle Obama's daughters were in elementary school when they first lived at the White House.
Being the first couple came with many challenges for Barack and Michelle Obama when the former was the president of the United States from 2009 to 2017, but raising their two daughters in the spotlight brought just as much drama.
On the Tuesday, April 28, episode of the "Let’s Talk Off Camera With Kelly Ripa" podcast, Michelle admitted parenting "was a lot of work, and it got harder as they got older."
Barack and Michelle Obama share daughters Malia, 26, and Sasha, 23.
"They had to drive and they had to go to prom and they were on teams and they traveled to other schools and they had to do college searches, and they went to parties and they had drinks, and they tried out smoking and they did all the things," the Becoming author, 61, shared of Malia, 26, and Sasha, 23, growing up.
"Every weekend was a nightmare, because we had to work to make sure that them being regular teenagers didn't wind up on Page Six," the mom-of-two quipped.
The mom-of-two admitted she went to great lengths to make sure people didn't know if the girls were drinking or attending parties.
Michelle explained that even during her kids' younger days, she had to "work twice as hard to make their life normal."
"Imagine setting up the first play date or the first time the kids get invited to a play date," she said. "The process of having my children at your house meant that an advanced team had to come and question and search your house and ask if you had drugs and guns."
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Michelle said her and the former president's daughters did 'normal' teenager things despite living in the White House.
The former attorney pointed out that despite the unique hardships her girls faced, having their father's last name also gives them "a lot of benefits."
"I'm trying to make this feel normal to them," she shared, "because you don't want them to start thinking, number one, they're full of themselves, that any of this is about them and that their job is to go about their lives."
Malia is now a screenwriter after graduating from Harvard in 2021, while Sasha earned a degree in sociology from USC in 2023.
The young adults have kept a rather low-profile over the past several years, which is why social media users were shocked when they appeared at Destin Conrad's listening party last week.
In a Thursday, April 24, Instagram post, the singer posed in between the sisters, with Malia in a brown leather coat and her younger sibling rocking a cropped white tank top, a belt and denim bottoms.
The sisters looked all grown up in a rare photo from Destin Conrad's listening party.
Fans raved over the rare snap of the girls, with one person commenting, "They are beautiful!!!"
"The Obama sisters bringing style and support to Destin Conrad's album party! Malia and Sasha always chic," said another, with a third individual writing, "They grew up so fast omg 😭."
