Little-Known Facts About Malia Obama

Former first daughter Malia Obama had the unique experience of spending some of her most formative years in the White House. The Chicago native was ten years old when her father, former President Barack Obama, took office in 2009, while her younger sister Sasha was only seven. Barack and Michelle Obama strove to provide their daughters with a sense of normalcy, but the truth is that Malia and Sasha have lived unique lives with their own share of ups and downs.

"They had to learn how to balance the unwanted attention, but do it politely," Michelle told Melinda French Gates on the "Moments That Made Us" podcast. "To build their own lives in the spotlight and not be eaten up by it. Well, those girls had to be smart and confident and independent straight away, even when they were living in a house with butlers and maids and florists." 

Through it all, the oldest Obama daughter has been able to experience and accomplish some pretty impressive things, with Malia undertaking some notable post-White House adventures. Because of this, many of the little-known facts about Malia reflect the high-profile life she's lived, but others prove that, in some ways, she's just like the rest of us.

One fact you might not realize about Malia Obama is that she's actually fluent in Spanish, with the Illinois native being pictured interpreting for President Barack Obama during a 2016 family trip to Cuba. Pete Souza, a White House photographer, shared the happy snapshot on Instagram, writing, "The President and Malia share a laugh as Malia translates Spanish to English for her dad at a restaurant in Old Havana."

Following the interaction, Obama spoke about his daughter's bilingualism in an interview with ABC. "You know, her Spanish is much better than mine," he told interviewer David Muir. "And I'm hoping that she has a chance to get entirely fluent." It seems like the former Chief of State might've gotten his wish, as his daughter was able to put her skills to work later that year. While Malia ended up forging a career in Hollywood, she actually took a summer internship at the United States Embassy in Madrid, Spain after graduating high school.

ABC Spain speculated that the choice of internship was influenced by the president's connection to James Costos, who was appointed by Obama as the U.S. Ambassador to Spain in 2013. While the Obamas have made it clear that Malia and Sasha have no plans to follow in their father's political footsteps, we hope the internship was still a positive experience for the Spanish speaker.

Things like Malia Obama's embassy internship separate her from the average American, but her peanut allergy is something to which many people will be able to relate. In November 2013, former President Barack Obama talked about his daughter's affliction when discussing legislation centering around the availability of EpiPens in schools. "Some people may know that Malia actually has a peanut allergy," he said. "She doesn't have asthma, but obviously making sure that EpiPens are available in case of emergency in schools is something that every parent can understand" (per USA Today).

Though Malia no longer suffered from asthma by the time her family moved into the White House, the Harvard graduate did have experience with the disease as a child. "Well, you know, Malia had asthma when she was 4," the former president said in an interview with ABC. "Because we had good health insurance, we were able to knock it out early." Michelle Obama also weighed in on Malia's asthma back in 2005, telling the Healthy Schools Campaign that her daughter's school was very helpful in monitoring and managing the condition. Our hearts go out to anyone who suffers from allergies or asthma, but just know that you're in some high-profile company. 

Like most teenagers, Malia Obama went through the process of learning how to drive, but the former first daughter's experience differed in a unique way. On "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," Michelle Obama revealed that Malia had some pretty serious driving instructors, learning her road skills from the Secret Service. The former first lady explained that this was a safety precaution on the part of the agency. "To this day, I think Malia drove me to SoulCycle once," she said. "That was exciting, but everybody was behind us and it was a big deal."

While Michelle emphasized the importance of her daughter participating in typical teenage rites of passage, she also shared an interesting anecdote about Malia's experience. "Her first driving lesson was on the Secret Service driving range," Michelle revealed. "Her instructor put her in the car and said, 'Floor it!' He said, 'Press the gas as hard as you can and then I want you to stop.'" While the best-selling author was confused about this teaching tactic, Malia was able to provide some clarity about the logic behind the choice. "She said, 'Because that's the first thing you need to know how to do is stop a car when it's going out of control,'" Michelle continued. "That's how she learned how to drive."

Back in 2018, Malia Obama debuted in a music video for the Boston-based band New Dakotas, an appearance that was unfortunately short-lived. The now unavailable video, which was for the track "Walking on Air," showed the then-Harvard attendee lip-syncing to the song and air-playing the harmonica against a white backdrop. According to an interview on Medium, the band reached out to Malia after seeing her on the Harvard campus, where the four band members also attended university. The former first daughter agreed to be in the music video, but her cameo was removed after the media began reporting on the appearance. 

"A bunch of pretty rank news outlets picked it up, TMZ and tabloid stuff," band member Alasdair MacKenzie said. "I don't really know if she cares, but some people commented some awful, racist stuff." MacKenzie went on to explain that Malia contacted the band after her appearance gained traction. "She called, and she was super chill, but she said, 'My family's publicist doesn't want me to be in this,'" he explained. "We're not trying to antagonize the Obama family, so we took her out [of the video]. But she was super gracious and nice and encouraging."

It's not unusual for celebrities to have toy dolls fashioned in their likeness, but when Malia Obama was only 10 years old, a look-a-like doll that she had nothing to do with hit store shelves. Ty, the company behind Beanie Babies, released two dolls in January 2009 as part of their TyGirlz line. The toys, which were reportedly the only Black dolls to be featured in the line, were named Sweet Sasha and Marvelous Malia.

The Obama family was immediately against the unsanctioned dolls and the inspiration they seemingly took from daughters Malia and Sasha. "We feel it is inappropriate to use young private citizens for marketing purposes," Katie McCormick Lelyveld, Michelle Obama's press secretary, said in a statement (per Today). However, Tania Lundeen, Ty's senior vice president of sales, denied that the dolls were fashioned after the young Obamas. "We did not make the dolls to physically resemble either of the Obama girls," she told CNN. "Sasha and Malia are beautiful names."

Despite this denial, the controversy was enough for Ty to eventually shift gears. In February 2009, the original doll names were retired, with NBC Chicago reporting that they were renamed Sweet Sydney and Marvelous Mariah. In a statement, CEO Ty Warner said that the original names were inspired by "this historic time in our nation's history," but maintained that the dolls were not made to resemble Sasha and Malia Obama (per NBC Chicago). Though they've been largely forgotten today, the toys were an early indication of the Obama family's cultural impact.