It is very important for my kids to feel like they’ve earned what they are getting in the world, and they don’t want people to assume that they don’t work hard.”

Michelle Obama knows that it’s not easy to be in the public eye. As the former First Lady of the United States, the scrutiny was real, and she empathizes with her daughter, Malia, 26, as she tries to forge her own path as a filmmaker.

Former first lady Michelle Obama said she “respected” her daughter’s choice to drop her famous last name. Speaking on the podcast “Sibling Revelry With Kate Hudson and Oliver Hudson,” Obama said she wasn’t sure at first about Malia Obama’s decision to go by Malia Ann when she entered her short film at the Sundance Film Festival last year.