There’s no denying that Michelle Obama is a supermom, having successfully ushered her daughters Malia and Sasha through their teenage years growing up in the White House all while inspiring millions as the nation’s First Lady.
Yet it wasn’t always easy for the 61-year-old, who sat down on SiriusXM’s Let’s Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa podcast to explain how she saw them through their eight years in Washington D.C.
Making it work
“It took a lot of intentionality,” Michelle said of parenting in the White House. “Mothering my children…that was really my first priority especially when we first moved in.” Malia was just 10 years old when her father, Barack Obama, became President, while Sasha was seven.
“I’m gonna focus on making sure that they get settled. I’m gonna spend a lot of time making sure that their lives are normal,” she continued.
“A lot of that had to do with me bringing my mom to the White House and having another adult that I could trust who shared the values and understood how to raise real, live, responsible human beings.” Michelle’s late mother, Marian Robinson, lived with them for the entirety of Barack’s two terms to help parent the girls.
“And they had their father there who managed to show them love and joy, even with this busy career,” the author added.
Like any other
© Tribune News Service via Getty IWhen it came to providing everyday experiences for Malia and Sasha, like going on a play date or being involved in school sports, Michelle worked hard to maintain a sense of normalcy.
“When your kids are under the security of the Secret Service, you almost have to work twice as hard to make their life normal. Imagine setting up the first play date with the first time the kids get invited to a play date,” she told Kelly.
She added that the Secret Service would have to vet every family that the girls went for a playdate with.
© Andy Wenstrand“As these 10 and 11-year-olds are playing in your backyard, and to figure out a way to do that with humor so you’re not scaring off friends. That takes some work,” Michelle explained.
“So that meant that I had to put myself out there. I had to go to school. I had to be a parent, I had to meet other mom friends.”
Teenage trials
© Getty ImagesAs Malia and Sasha grew older and started having adult experiences, Michelle and Barack found it more difficult to protect them from the eyes of the world.
“Then they became teenagers and they had to drive and they had to go to prom…they went to parties and they had drinks, and they tried out smoking and they did all the things and 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. So it was a lot of work,” she said.
Michelle’s daughters now live together in Los Angeles; Malia works in the film industry and made her directorial debut with The Heart in 2024, while Sasha graduated with a sociology degree and is pursuing higher education.
To learn how Michelle and Barack reacted when their daughters moved out, see below…
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