Sasha and Malia Obama were recently named among Time Magazine’s 25 Most Influential Teens, and their mother Michelle Obama doesn’t understand why they were chosen.
“They’re not influential, they just live here,” FLOTUS said with a chuckle during an interview on Live With Kelly and Michael, shot at the White House. “They have done nothing to gain any influence.”
President Barack Obama’s leading lady did share, however, that her kids are “pretty self-motivated” and incredibly responsible.
“We’ve always had rules…no screen time during the week, no phones. Now that Malia is older, she is pretty much independent, because I want her to be prepared for college when I’m not there,” Michelle explained.
“But they get their stuff done. They handle their business.”
Michael Strahan asked if the Time Magazine honor had given the girls a big ego, or an excuse to get out of their responsibilities.
“I don’t even think that they realize that they’re influential,” FLOTUS replied. “I don’t think anybody showed them that article.”
Maybe it was the company the Obama sisters had on the list – Kylie Jenner, Kendall Jenner and singer Lorde who may set fashion and trends but do little else significant, and Pakastani teen Malala Yousafzai, 17, probably the most impressive teen on the list, who was shot by the Taliban while getting her own education and advocating education for girls.
She became the youngest ever winner of a 2014 Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts. When you consider the Obama girls in that context, maybe you understand why their mother was unimpressed. On the other hand, there was that time Malia Obama was pictured wearing a Pro Era T-shirt, which brought rapper Joey Bada$$ to the attention of the mainstream world.
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(Photo: Whitehouse.gov)
