Malia and Sasha Obama gave rare interviews in the Netflix documentary “Becoming” about their mother Michelle Obama.
They spoke about what it’s like for their mom now that she’s out of the White House as first lady. There’s one scene that shows Malia Obama praising her while she was on the “Becoming” book tour.
It happened backstage after Michelle Obama gave a speech, and her daughter admitted to becoming emotional.
“I love you too much,” she told her mother. “I cried again.”
“Why are you always crying?” the former first lady replied.
Her daughter said it was because she saw a oneness among the crowd, who all seemed to be swimming in a feeling of optimism for the future.
“This has demonstrated in a way, it’s just like, damn, those eight years weren’t for nothing,” Malia Obama told her mother. “You see that huge crowd out there and that last kind of speech you gave about, people are here because people really believe in love and hope in other people, and also every time you guys play Stevie Wonder, I don’t know, I cry a little bit.”
Sasha Obama, the younger daughter, said she’s eager for her mother to reflect on her accomplishments and enjoy them, something she deems important for every person to do.
“I’m excited for her to be proud of what she’s done, ’cause I think that’s the most important thing for a human to do is to be proud of themselves,” said Sasha Obama during an interview that she gave in the documentary.
Her older sister followed and said now that her mother is no longer under that first lady microscope she has the mental freedom to accomplish things that might’ve been difficult or impossible during her eight years in the White House.
“No longer facing that same scrutiny. Being able to let all of that leave your mind creates so much more space,” the elder daughter stated.
There’s another part of the documentary where Michelle Obama talks about having to lower her ambitions after having children, a decision that didn’t come from anyone but her, not even Barack Obama.
“The thing that really changed, it was the birth of our children. I wasn’t really ready for that. That really made it harder,” she revealed, according to the NY Post. “Something had to give, and it was my aspirations and dreams. I made that concession not because he said, ‘You have to quit your job,’ but it felt like ‘I can’t do all of this, so I have to tone down my aspirations. I have to dial it back.’”
The “Becoming” documentary was released on Netflix, Wednesday, May 6.
