Former First Lady Michelle Obama is candidly opening up about how she is raising her daughters now that they are all grown up.
In a recent interview on her debut podcast The Light, Mrs. Obama sat down with Today host Hoda Kotb and shared that she has been trying her best to be less “critical” of Malia, 24, and Sasha, 21, now that that she is on the “other side of parenting.”
“I’m moving from mom-in-chief to advisor-in-chief,” she explained on the podcast, which is available on Apple and Audible. “That’s a lovely thing – to be able to watch my girls fly and have the relief that “OK, I think I didn’t mess them up.’”
The Becoming author further dished about how she is now focused on not having a “critical eye” on her daughters.
“Our kids just want our gladness, the Chicago native said. “They don’t need us to fix them. They don’t need us to point out the thing that’s wrong,” adding that it was “hard on my daughters growing up in the spotlight.”
During a recent appearance on ABC’s Good Morning America, the mother of two said that the best part of getting older was watching her children grow older, too. She shared that when her and former president Barack Obama celebrated their 30-year wedding anniversary, Malia and Sasha invited their parents over for “weak martinis” at their Los Angeles apartment, which they both share.
“They had invited us over before dinner to have cocktails at their apartment and they had prepared a charcuterie tray and tried to make two very weak martinis,” she recalled. “They realized they didn’t have any of the ingredients, but they were trying to, they were hosting us. And it’s just fun, watching them become themselves.”
Malia currently works for Donald Glover on his upcoming Amazon series, Swarm, while Sasha is currently rounding out her last year of undergraduate studies at the University of Southern California. She recently transferred to the school from the University of Michigan where she spent her freshman, sophomore and junior years.
No matter how old her daughters get, though, she says they will always be her babies.
“And so, you think about crazy things you want to make sure you tell them. It’s like, ‘Remember, don’t walk alone at night.’ Barack sent them an email about earthquake preparedness because they’re living in California. He’s a big article sender, and we all just read ’em and laugh.”
She ended: “But yeah, it feels good to know that the two girls you raised find solace at a kitchen table with one another. It’s like the one thing you want for them.”
