Malia Obama changes name: the former First Daughter of the United States has chosen to sign as Malia Ann, abandoning, at least in her professional life as a filmmaker, the surname of the famous parents with whom she spent eight years in the White House.
It was with this stage name (which cannot really be defined as a pseudonym, Ann and her 'middle name') that the 25-year-old eldest Obama daughter announced her first film The Heart last year at the Sundance festival in Utah , which she then went on to present in person last January, leaving no further doubts as to who to attribute its 'motherhood' to.
Controversy immediately followed from alleged critics according to whom it could only be a case of nepotism, the latest in the catchphrase that for a few months has been casting doubt on the abilities of Hollywood's so-called 'nepo-babies' - others are Zoe Kravitz, Kaia Gerber and Lily-Rose Depp - to independently build a successful professional life.
It has been said in particular that Barack and Michelle Obama's daughter would not have obtained funding or assignments in high-profile projects - for example as a screenwriter for the actor, rapper and producer Donald Glover - if she had not been helped by her mother's close ties and dad with the world of cinema also thanks to their production company Higher Ground which in 2020 won an Oscar for American Factory and which this year supports Rustin' in which Colman Domingo is in the top five for best actor.
Last week, Malia's last name landed on The View.
Whoopi Goldberg, one of the hosts of the ABC show, defended the girl's decision: "What do you care what she wants to call herself? If she wanted to call herself Jeanette McDonald she would have every right to do so. If I can be Whoopi Goldberg, she can be who the hell decides,” said the comedian who changed her original name of Caryn Elaine Johnson.
According to E!
Malia decided to change her name to establish a distinction between her work and the family she belongs to.
It is a trend that has been adopted for years by children and relatives of celebrities such as Nicolas Cage who abandoned the Coppola family surname or Angelina Jolie who deleted that of her father Jon Voight.
In The Heart, Malia tells "a kind of fairy tale, about a man who mourns the passing of his mother after she leaves him an unusual request in her will."
The Obamas' eldest daughter has aspired to work in film since she was in high school at Sidwell Friends in Washington.
Graduated from Harvard in 2021, she contributed to the 'writers room' of Swarm, a Glover series for Prime, and before that she did high-profile internships in various TV productions including Lena Dunham's Girls with HBO, but also at the Weinstein Company , before former producer Harvey Weinstein was rocked by allegations of rape and sexual harassment.
Reproduction reserved © Copyright ANSA