As her 2018 book Becoming came out, Michelle Obama gave readers a glimpse of her family’s inside stories. In one of the stories, the mother recalled the prom night event of her daughter, Malia Obama. As Michelle recounted, Malia came clean about her desire to attend prom with a boy she kind of liked in the spring of 2015.
As reported by Glamour, the one thing she asked Michelle and Barack Obama for on the big night at Sidwell Friends High School in Washington, D.C. was: “Just be cool please, OK?” Michelle further narrated the story in her book, “On the appointed evening, her date arrived in his car, clearing security at the southeast gate of the White House, following the path up and around the South Lawn by which heads of state and other visiting dignitaries normally arrived, and then gamely — bravely — walking into the Dip Room dressed in a black suit.”
As Barack was president of the United States at the time, the Secret Service was responsible for driving Malia. Based on what Michelle wrote, a security detail would “basically ride the boy’s bumper all the way to the restaurant they were going for dinner before the dance.” However, Michelle pointed out that they created an exemption for the use of the date. Even as Malia and her parents traveled the elevator down to the meeting location, Malia was conspicuously embarrassed. Michelle revealed, “I was barefoot, and Barack was in flip-flops.” The date was ‘a bit excruciating,’ as Michelle described it but according to her the Obamas tried to ‘be cool’ nevertheless. She stated, “By my reckoning, we did manage to play it cool, though Malia still laughs, remembering it all as a bit excruciating.”
This wasn’t the first instance that Michelle’s daughters were embarrassed because of their parents. Michelle stated in an interview with CBS during her prime years as the first lady that her daughters Malia, then 13, and Sasha, then 8, think they’re not ‘cool’ parents. As reported by the Deccan Herald, Daily Mail cited that Michelle revealed in the interview that Malia and Sasha found her singing and dancing ‘cringe-inducing’ and they never liked then-President Barack and the first lady visiting their school.
Michelle stated, “They don’t really want us to come to school, especially the president, because when he comes for a parent-teacher conference, it’s a motorcade. The other day, Malia was like, “Oh no, is dad coming? Is he bringing all those cars? Really it’s like the other day I think they almost hit my teacher.” Furthermore, she said that her children share a dislike for the White House theatre and prefer to visit nearby public theatres. The former first lady revealed, “My kids are like any children — anything we do is not cool. They will go in the other direction.” When asked about her daughters’ plans to date, Michelle expressed her excitement about them meeting potential suitors.
