After Growing Up In The White House, Michelle Obama Revealed How She Stops Her Daughters From Getting “Full Of Themselves” — And Other Famous Parents Should Take Note
“You don’t want them to start thinking, number one, they’re full of themselves, that any of this is about them… This world is not about you.”
Being the child of a famous person is one thing, but being the child of the President of the United States is a whole different ball game — just ask Malia and Sasha Obama.
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Malia and Sasha were aged 10 and 7, respectively, when their dad, Barack Obama, was elected president in 2008. And it wasn’t until 2017 that the family eventually bid goodbye to the White House.
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In that time, the girls grew up and, like most adolescents, navigated all kinds of new things, from play dates to parties. And while being a teen is hard enough, the process becomes a little more difficult when you’ve got the Secret Service looking out for you.
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Speaking on Let’s Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa on April 29, Michelle Obama said that raising teens in the White House was “a lot of work” and got even harder as they grew up. “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,” she recalled, “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.”
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“When your kids are under the security of the Secret Service, you almost have to work twice as hard to make their life normal,” she continued. “Imagine setting up the first play date or the first time the kids get invited to a play date. 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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As I’m sure you know, nepotism is a huge talking point in the celebrity world, and more specifically, people love to dissect how nepo babies tackle their privilege in the public eye. Of course, there are pros and cons to having famous parents, but when it comes to Malia and Sasha, who are now 26 and 23, Michelle has a motto to keep things in perspective.
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“We call that the Obama tax for them,” the former First Lady said, talking about the pressure the girls face as the kids of two famously smart and successful people. “You’ll have it the rest of your life, but you also have a lot of benefits.”
“I’m trying to make this feel normal to them, 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,” she added. “This world is not about you. This is just your dad’s job.”
Honestly, that might be one of the best takes I’ve ever heard from a celebrity about keeping their kids humble. Michelle gets it every time. You can find Let’s Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa here.
