Rumors About Malia And Sasha Obama We Couldn't Ignore

Despite being former residents of the White House and two of the most famous nepo babies in the world, Malia and Sasha Obama don't love being in the spotlight. They'd rather live a low-key lifestyle and remain behind the cameras, literally — Malia Obama turned down a modeling career for a job as a film director. But fame still haunts them whether they like it or not, and with stardom comes the inevitable rumors surrounding their personal and professional lives; the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Although Barack Obama once admitted on a podcast about the challenges of parenting Sasha and Malia, Michelle Obama was full of praise for her kids. "I've loved every phase of raising my daughters," she said on "The Jennifer Hudson Show" in 2024. "And now, they're just grown. They're more raising me. But they are amazing. Sasha's in school, Malia has a budding career in film ... They are smart, they are funny. They're wise in their own ways and I love spending time with them — they're doing great."

Indeed, they are. But in paving their own way, there's been plenty of scuttlebutt about the former first daughters that we couldn't ignore. Whether it's their alleged ability to get kicked out of numerous institutions, ostensible IP theft, or far-fetched conspiracies, let's take a look at the tall tales surrounding Malia and Sasha Obama.

As the saying goes, there's no smoke without fire. However, in this instance, we feel there's a lot of smoke and next to no fire. In 2016, as an 18-year-old, Malia Obama had an internship at the U.S. Embassy in Spain. That's true. In 2017, a rumor emerged on the website freedomcrossroads.us that she had gotten fired for smoking marijuana (via PolitiFact).

"Malia was terminated immediately," read the report on freedomcrossroads.us (per AOL). "She was last seen in the lobby when a black SUV pulled up out front and she willingly got in. Looks like Daddy probably saved the day again." However, this was more smoke and no fire. The aforementioned site is satirical, and the dates don't match up. It was a summer internship in 2016, so Malia would not have been there in 2017, fired or not.

After all, Malia was never given the boot (or la bota) by the embassy and any suggestion of it is totally falsa. Although Malia Obama's partying habits reportedly brought Barack Obama's worst nightmare to life, it's unlikely that the former commander-in-chief lost any sleep over these rumors.

Sasha Obama was rumored to have had a blazing row with her principal, Chad Harris-Crane, in 2018, when she was whisked to his office after becoming enraged by her biology grade. "You wouldn't have me in here if I was white ... I'm getting sick of you crackers," she allegedly ranted (via America's Last Line of Defense). "Don't you know who my dad is? I'll have you fired if you wanna keep this [expletive] up." The so-called student who reported the incident said that they could also hear objects being thrown. At least that's what ConservativeColumns.com (via Snopes). 

However, the information was taken from the (literal) fake news network, America's Last Line of Defense, whose tagline is "Information you probably shouldn't trust." ALLOD has form for this, having also peddled a fake report about Malia Obama's expulsion from Harvard a year earlier. Get a new yarn to spin, guys.

In reality, Chad Harris-Crane is not a principal but a fictional character on the NBC soap "Passions." Unless Sasha was screaming at the TV, this never happened. Furthermore, she attended the Quaker school, Sidwell Friends, starting in 2009 and graduating in 2019, not Martin Luther King Jr. High School as the report suggested. This rumor is about as real as, well ... an NBC soap. Malia and Sasha Obama have had their fair share of controversial moments, but this isn't one of them.

Malia Obama is no stranger to a brush with the law, at least, that's what internet gossip suggests. The first rumor of her lawlessness came in 2018, when Malia was accused of getting handcuffed collecting cocaine. The tenuous claims said she bought $1,240 worth of the Schedule II drug and already had a court date set, per Politico. However, the claims were swiftly debunked. Its illegitimacy is pretty unsurprising considering the rumored drug dealer was named Christopher Turk. Yes, the same as the character from "Scrubs."

However, the apocryphal allegations against Malia didn't end there. "Malia Obama — net worth nearly $30 million — arrested in Bel Air for shoplifting," read a 2025 post on X, which garnered over 160,000 views. "Think about that: the daughter of the so-called 'President of Hope & Change,' living in mansions, surrounded by privilege ... yet still caught stuffing stolen goods into her bag." But no police paperwork shows Malia was ever arrested in Bel Air in 2025. Not for the last time on this list, it was just a piece of imaginative (and slanderous) internet gossip. Maybe it's no surprise that, in 2024, Malia dropped the Obama family name from her work moniker. It's a surname that certainly comes with a lot of attention.

While there are red flags in the Trump family relationships we can't ignore, to the point where we asked an expert who has the best relationship in Trumpland, information about the Obamas' love lives is a little less public. By all means, Malia and Sasha Obama are relative recluses compared to the front-facing Trump children. Therefore, when Sasha strolled through West Hollywood with Clifton Powell Jr. in April 2022, it was enough for relationship rumors to heat up.

Earlier that month, on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," Michelle Obama tellingly shed light on her daughters' private (and romantic) lives. "Now, they have boyfriends and real lives ... They have grown up right before our very eyes and they're doing well ... They are just amazing, young women," said the former first lady. So, was Clifton Jr. the said boyfriend? Where the rumors true?

Well, it seems pretty clear: yes. As a matter of fact, Clifton Powell Jr.'s famous father spoke publicly about a lesson he imparted on his son regarding his relationship with Sasha Obama. Clifton Powell Sr. of "Ray" fame told his son to act like a gentleman and treat Sasha Obama with respect. The former college basketball star turned video content director seems smitten with the former first daughter, and both nepo babies have common ground being raised in the public eye. At least, this is one rumor that seems to be true.

It's been claimed that Malia and Sasha Obama are not really the biological children of Barack and Michelle Obama. With rumors like that circling the web, we can understand why some parts of life in the public eye are insufferable to the siblings — which is why the Obama daughters can't stand fame. This rumor is certainly one we couldn't ignore, but it's tenuous to say the least.

It's a theory that's been popping up across the internet for years. A 2013 blog questioned the legitimacy and whereabouts of Malia and Sasha's birth records, and in 2022, a Facebook post suggested Anita Blancard and Martin Nesbitt (a friend of Baracks) were their real parents. The Blancard-Nesbitt theory goes on to suggest that Malia and Sasha were rented to the Obamas by the couple. The prevalence of the rumor (read: conspiracy) means that a certain corner of the internet believes it to be gospel. "Not one photo exists on the planet of Michelle Obama pregnant, from either child," wrote one X user in 2024. "Malia and Sasha's blood parents are Martin and Anita Nesbitt."

Although there are signs Barack and Michelle's marriage isn't what it seems, this rumor is at best false, and at worst, thoroughly insensitive. In fact, Michelle Obama has been open about her tragic pregnancy loss and using IVF to conceive Malia and Sasha. "I think it's the worst thing that we do to each other as women, not share the truth about our bodies and how they work," the former first lady told "Good Morning America" in 2018. Indeed, we need more truth and fewer fictitious rumors.

Barack and Michelle Obama live a wildly lavish life. Whether it's been earned through streaming deals or book sales, here's how much the Obamas are worth since leaving the White House. So, it stands to reason that their eldest daughter, Malia Obama, would have more than a few dollars in her pocket too.

In fact, her current net worth is estimated to be $100 million, as per Yahoo. But, take it with a pinch of salt, as this sizable sum is more a reflection of her generational wealth than of her own money-making schemes. However, Malia is making strong headway in her movie career with her short film getting screened at the Sundance and Chicago International Film Festivals, plus she's collaborated with Donald Glover on an Amazon series. It's only a matter of time before she turns her entertainment industry expertise into big bucks.

She's not the only one to benefit financially from being the sire of a former president, just take a look at how Barron Trump is already on his way to blowing his siblings' wealth out of the water via his business in crypto and TikTok.

"Airport Staff Kicked Out Sasha Obama, But Regretted Everything When Her Father Barack Obama Arrived," was The 1975 album title-esque name of a YouTube video published in December 2024. The video detailed how TSA agents humiliated and removed a stoic Sasha from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, until Barack came to save the day. It amassed over one million views and was the catalyst for "Sasha Obama airport incident" becoming the top Google search when you typed in her name, according to Snopes.

The 50-minute-plus video is told in voiceover atop an uncanny valley image of Barack and Sasha being berated by an irate member of airport security. Judging by the comments section, many believed this TSA tête-à-tête to be true. "These people have been getting away with this mess for too long," wrote one YouTube user. "Good job Sasha for keeping your composure, being calm and in control during all this disrespectful behavior." Another wrote, "Oh honey, I'm so sorry things like that are still happening! Bless you!" However, despite the outpouring of well-wishing online, it was a false furphy. The narration, photographs, and script were all generated by AI. Its absurdity certainly caught our eye, as it did the comment section's. But don't believe everything you see online, folks.

Malia Obama has had success during her foray into filmmaking. However, she's also had some failures along the way. "Honoring her father's legacy by dropping a giant bomb and not receiving any criticism for it," said one review of her 2023 short film, "The Heart," on Letterboxd. "Obamna," another Letterboxd user bluntly put it. Film, after all, is subjective, so we'll give her grace here for the not-so-constructive criticism. But a 2025 rumor about a Malia-directed Nike commercial is more damaging to her reputation.

"The social cut of the new Nike commercial directed by Malia Obama (who was also at Sundance my year) feels shockingly similar to my work [short film 'Grace']," wrote Natalie Jasmine Harris on Instagram in May 2025. "I know art often overlaps, but moments like this hit hard when you've poured your heart into telling stories with care and barely get the recognition you deserve," Harris continued. "If brands want a certain look, why not hire from the source instead of for name recognition?" The smoking gun? Side-by-side screenshots showing characters in her flick and Malia's ad playing patty cake. Despite the evidence, the internet was split on its verdict.

"I'm so sorry your experiencing this," said one commenter on the aforementioned post. "It's definitely plagiarism and more." Others, however, disagreed. "They have absolutely zero overlap outside of both having a game of patty cake," said one Reddit user. "Both works extends itself far outside of a single game of patty cake. In no world, without this filmmaker's influence, would anyone watch the two and think someone stole from the other." With both shorts publicly available, via Vimeo and YouTube respectively, we'll let you draw your own conclusions.

On TikTok — not a platform known for being a bastion of truth and high journalistic standards — videos circulated suggesting that Barron Trump, whose dating habits are reportedly the talk of NYU, and Sasha Obama were to be wed. If true, it would be a modern-day "Romeo and Juliet" story of two star-crossed lovers breaching the political divide. 

"Sasha possesses three qualities that deeply attract [Barron]," claimed one TikTok about the rumored romance. "First, she's intelligent and very disciplined ... Second, she is discreet and values her privacy ... Third, she has a strong personality and solid principles." The video added that, "Sasha Obama would be his one and only wife."

It sounded like a story so far-fetched it might just be legit. To quote Mark Twain, "Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; truth isn't." However, this modern-day rumored Shakespearean story turned out to be total fiction. Considering Barack Obama's comments about "death and insignificance" had Donald Trump shade written all over it, there's more chance of pigs taking flight than these politic families becoming in-laws. After all, didn't Barack Obama sue Donald Trump? Here's the truth about those rumors.

Malia Obama's party-girl habits have been a PR disaster for Michelle Obama. So it was unsurprising that in October 2025, rumors of yet more bacchanalian behavior from the former first daughter hit the headlines. While making a name for herself in Hollywood, Malia has been accused of focusing too much on White Claws and not enough on her writing career.

"[Malia] loves living and working in Hollywood but it's the lifestyle she's become enamored with, not the grind and the inevitable rejection that comes with a serious writing career," a source told RadarOnline. "She's also met a lot of the industry's biggest players. The problem is how much of her life she still devotes to partying and socializing, when now is the time she should be buckling down and showing people what she's really capable of."

Over-indulgence has been a theme of Malia's life since her time at Harvard, when she was said to have attended debauched parties with then-boyfriend Rory Farquharson. In fact, there have been many times Malia and Sasha Obama proved they had a rebellious streak. But it seems that, although she plays hard, she also works hard. During her time in Tinseltown, Malia has been a production assistant on the CBS series "Extant" and a staff writer on TV's "Swarm." We all have our vices, eh?