Details About Malia Obama's Time Working For Harvey Weinstein

It turns out that even former president's daughters run the risk of ending up with an unpaid internship in Hollywood. In examining bankruptcy filings made in 2018, records show that Malia Obama was still waiting to be paid for her time interning for The Weinstein Company in 2017. The high-profile internship for Malia raised eyebrows after the New York Times published an incendiary report in 2017 documenting Harvey Weinstein's long history of sexual misconduct that resulted in him being charged with sex crimes and sentenced to prison time.

When news broke about Weinstein's behavior, Malia's parents Barack and Michelle Obama were quick to make a statement to condemn his actions. The former president said, "Michelle and I have been disgusted by the recent reports of Harvey Weinstein ... We should celebrate the courage of women who have come forward to tell these painful stories. And we all need to build a culture, including by empowering our girls and teaching our boys decency and respect, so we can make such behavior less prevalent in the future" (via CNN).

However, given testimonies that Weinstein had a long and well-known history of being a predator, some have speculated as to why the Obamas allowed Malia to take the internship in the first place (and were the Secret Service on duty?)

Regardless of her experience with Harvey Weinstein, Malia Obama continues to pursue a career in Hollywood. After her internship at The Weinstein Company, she landed a job as a writer on Donald Glover's 2023 Amazon show "Swarm". Speaking to Vanity Fair, Glover spoke highly of Malia's talents, saying, "She's really focused, and she's working really hard. I feel like she's just somebody who's gonna have really good things coming soon. Her writing style is great."

Malia seems to have always had Hollywood aspirations, even before her short tenure at The Weinstein Company. In 2015 she was an intern on the HBO show "Girls" and in 2016 she was again an intern on the Halle Barry-starring CBS show "Extant." All of her internship experience, both the good and the bad, led to Malia graduating from Harvard University in 2021 with a degree in visual and environmental studies. Her short film, "Heart," debuted at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.

While she may still be waiting to be paid for her time working for her monstrous Hollywood boss, she can at least forge a path forward knowing she's in good company. Also unpaid by Weinstein were the likes of David Bowie, Seth Rogen, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Daniel Radcliffe, Heidi Klum, Ryan Coogler, Michael Bay, Kevin Smith, and Quentin Tarantino.