Despite the fact that she spent eight years living in the White House, attending speeches and state dinners, and rubbing shoulders with some of the most important people in the world during her father President Barack Obama’s tenure, the eldest Obama daughter, Malia, managed to keep a pretty low profile during her time in Washington, D.C. Now college-aged, and trading in the White House for a Harvard dorm room in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the former president’s daughter is starting to branch out and make headlines of her own.
From what she did with that gap year between high school and enrolling at Harvard, to what really went on during Lollapalooza (in 2016 and 2017), Malia Ann Obama is more than just a former president’s daughter. Here’s some insight into everything you never knew about the first daughter and her life before, during, and after her eight years in the White House.
Here’s proof that she was never spoiled
Just because she was the first daughter, doesn’t mean Malia Obama was spoiled. While she and her sister did “sorta, kinda” get an allowance, it wasn’t much, and it came with responsibilities. Malia’s father told People, “Originally, we were giving her a dollar a week as long as she did all her chores.”
And if you thought the girls got special treatment once they moved into the White House, you’d be mistaken. According to The New York Times, the Obama daughters still had to make their own beds and clean their own rooms. Malia’s father told Barbara Walters on ABC News that, while his daughters are special to him and their mother, “they’re not special, you know in terms of having to do their homework or having to do chores.” Her mom Michelle added that the first thing she said to the White House staff was: “Don’t make their beds. Make mine.” While she may have said it with a laugh, we’re pretty sure she wasn’t joking.
She loves this sport, even though she’s not a natural
Prior to moving into the White House, the Obama girls were already pretty busy. According to People, that included “soccer, dance and drama for Malia, gymnastics and tap for Sasha, and tennis and piano for both.”
During another People interview with their father, he told the magazine how happy he was that his daughters were interested in things they weren’t good at. “Malia loves soccer, but she’s still so tall and gangly compared to some of these little kids who are zipping around her, although she’s getting better. The fact that she’s not good at everything right away … means learning lessons about having to work hard at something and improve.” Always a supportive dad, he even made time during his presidency to watch her soccer games.
Malia and her sister are also apparently fans of professional soccer and wanted to meet Argentinean player Lionel Messi when they traveled to Argentina with their father. Unfortunately, not even the U.S. president can disrupt an international sports schedule, and the Obama daughters were unable to meet the soccer star.
She never has (and never will) have a birthday of her own
America’s birthday is a time when American politicians are expected to take part in all the fanfare, picnics, and parades — events that are almost as important to the 4th of July as the fireworks. So when your father is one of those politicians and you happen to share a birthday with America, well, your birthday gets a little upstaged. Such has always been the case for Malia.
According to a 2009 Chicago Tribune piece, she spent many birthdays in hotel rooms, celebrating between her father’s appearances. In 2007, for instance, she “spent her birthday following her father around southern and central Iowa,” according to the Tribune. Things weren’t much different in 2008 when, the Tribune reports, “She spent the evening in a Holiday Inn Express hotel room in Montana. During a break in campaigning, the family partied in the hotel room, ordering in dinner and a birthday cake and dancing to her favorite songs from artists such as the Jonas Brothers and Hannah Montana.”
She still managed to have some epic birthdays
You shouldn’t feel too bad for Malia — her parents always made sure she knew her birthday was special, and she had some pretty amazing celebrations. Her actual birthday was often spent in hotel rooms, so her parents would throw a big sleepover party with all her friends once they were back home.
Another shocker: According to a 2008 interview with People, her mother Michelle said that they don’t do birthday presents in their family. “We spend hundreds of dollars on a birthday party and movie tickets and pizza and popcorn,” she said, her husband adding, “That sleepover is enough. We want to teach some limits to them. And their friends bring over presents.”
In 2009, as the Chicago Tribune reports, she was the first in her family to have a birthday in the White House, with 20 of her girlfriends joining her at Camp David. Not too shabby, Malia. Not too shabby at all. Of course, does any of that compare to an 18th birthday with the likes of Kendrick Lamar and Janelle Monae? That’s a tough call.
The Secret Service taught her how to drive
Coming of age in the White House means things the average kid takes for granted aren’t necessarily a guarantee. Take, for instance, that sitting presidents aren’t allowed to drive. That means Malia had to get behind the wheel for the first time without her dad’s guidance. Sure, she might have Secret Service available to drive her around wherever she wants and whenever she wants, but like any teen, Malia was excited to learn how to drive herself when the time came.
“Driving for Malia, I think, gives her a sense of normalcy, like the rest of her friends are doing,” Michelle Obama said in an interview with Rachael Ray (via CNN). “And my kids have got to learn how to live in the world like normal kids.” But don’t assume that means Michelle took the reigns in teaching her oldest daughter. Michelle revealed that the Secret Service wouldn’t even let her get in the car with Malia and took on the task themselves.
Getting political during her gap year (with a splash of fake news)
Instead of heading to college right after graduating from high school in 2016, Malia took a year off before attending Harvard. To say that Malia was busy during her gap year is an understatement. First, she interned at the U.S. Embassy in Spain. It’s unclear whether Malia has any interest in a political career as there wasn’t much news about the internship. Real news, that is.
In the summer of 2017, fake news started circulating that she was fired from her internship for smoking marijuana. The now-defunct website that first “reported” the incident supposedly had an “About Us” page that claimed it “uses facts that don’t exist and relies more on imagination than the truth.” Unfortunately that didn’t stop people from latching on to the rumor.
Regardless of her career ambitions, it’s clear Malia has a penchant for political activism considering she protested the Dakota Access Pipeline. In an interview with Seth Meyers, Shailene Woodley (who famously got arrested for her involvement in the DAPL protests) revealed that Malia attended the Sundance Festival “to hear what the chairman from Standing Rock… and some of the water protectors had to say.”
She’s a total movie buff
Malia has no shortage of interests. In fact, one of her biggest passions seems to be film. While you may think her passion lies in television after those internships as a production assistant on Extant and on the set of HBO’s Girls, Malia spent part of her gap year between high school and college learning more about the film industry at The Weinstein Company. Just before beginning her Weinstein internship, she was also spotted at the Sundance Film Festival at a screening of the film Beach Rats.
It probably shouldn’t come as much of a surprise though, because Malia’s mother Michelle told People all the way back in 2012 that her movie buff daughter had an interest in film. “Malia has expressed some interest in filmmaking,” Michelle said. “Just like her father, she is an avid reader, and she enjoys movies. But she’s a [high school] freshman, so she also knows she has years in college to explore her interest.” This is probably one reason that Malia toured colleges known for filmmaking, such as New York University, before ultimately deciding on Harvard.