Michelle Obama Accidentally Revealed Glaring Red Flag In Her Relationship With Malia

As an empty nester, Michelle Obama can breathe a sigh of relief knowing her daughters have grown up to become incredible adults. On the other hand, raising them was seemingly not easy — to the point that Michelle refused to have another child after Sasha and Malia Obama. Talking with Beyoncé's mother, Tina Knowles, on a May 2025 episode of her podcast "IMO" (which stands for "in my opinion"), Michelle opened up about one of the difficulties she faced while raising her older daughter, Malia. 

The former first lady explained how Malia would often correct her little sister, Sasha, who is three years Malia's junior. "I would have to pull [Malia] aside and be like, 'Don't step on my child.' Right?" Michelle told Knowles, adding, "You know, 'No one stepped on you.'" Malia's bossy attitude even changed their dinner discussions. "We got to the point at our dinner table where we just didn't talk about school at all," Michelle said. "It would be like, you know, 'Okay, you passed' — I didn't want to hear about grades ... because I didn't know what kind of student Sasha would be," insinuating the girls might've been inclined to compare the major differences between them. 

However, because of her efforts to give both of her children equal praise, Michelle said it backfired on her relationship with Malia. "To this day, Malia still feels like I don't give her enough credit," she said. One would assume that the situation would've been fixed by now, since both of her daughters are out of school. But it sounds like Malia is still not over the dinner table rules. 

Fortunately, since leaving the White House, the mother-daughter relationship has seemingly only gotten stronger. Sitting down with Amy Poehler on her podcast, "Good Hang," Michelle Obama revealed a major bonding moment she had with Malia Obama, which could have never happened while her husband, former President Barack Obama, was in office. "We were in Martha's Vineyard, I'm driving, she turns on the radio and starts playing some of our favorite songs, and we're singing at the top of our lungs," she explained. "I'd never had that experience with her from teenagers on." Because of security protocol, Michelle wasn't allowed to teach her daughter that milestone teenage experience of learning to drive. According to CNN, the Secret Service taught her in 2015. Thus, those simple moments mean more to Michelle. 

Now that Malia is an adult, working on her film career, Michelle says it feels as if she has switched roles with her eldest. "They're more raising me," Michelle told Jennifer Hudson of Malia and Sasha Obama. "They are smart, they are funny," she added. "I love spending time with them." At the same time, Malia is incredibly proud of her mom. In a scene from Michelle's 2020 Netflix documentary, "Becoming," Malia had sweet words to say about her mother's journey from first lady to best-selling author: "Those eight years weren't for nothing" (via "Good Morning America").