It’s good to see Malia keeps her feet on the ground
Ilike looking at pictures of Malia Obama. In every one, she seems to exude a palpable relief that she’s no longer the First Daughter – and finally free. Not so free that she can get away with wearing a pair of Dr Martens boots on a night out in London with Rory Farquharson, her British boyfriend, without it being a story, but free enough to behave and dress like a normal 20-year-old.
A White House reporter once told me that Sasha and Malia were the only First Daughters to make their own beds and clean their own rooms. Barack allegedly kept his eldest daughter’s pocket money to $1 a week throughout the hothouse years, and Michelle insisted on an 8pm bedtime – all of which must have helped make the girls as welladjusted as they seem.
But it appears the piece of advice Michelle gave her daughter when she left for Harvard – “Don’t wind up in [notorious US gossip column] Page 6” – might have been asking a little too much.