Happy Birthday, Malia! Barack Obama tweets his eldest daughter best wishes

Barack Obama sent birthday wishes to his eldest daughter Malia on Sunday as she turned 23 – as he revealed how she used to think the July 4 fireworks were all for her.

The former president, 59, tweeted: ‘Happy Fourth of July, and Happy Birthday, Malia! It’s been such a joy to watch you begin to make your own way in the world with poise, grace, and humor. I miss the days when you thought the fireworks were for you.’

Malia graduated from Harvard University this spring. Her first job will be working as a writer for an as yet unnamed Donald Glover series on Amazon Prime Video, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Malia had previously interned on the set of HBO’s Girls, where she worked alongside Lena Dunham, who described her as an ‘angel’ during an interview with Howard Stern.

Former First Lady Michelle Obama recently told of her excitement for Malia as she moves to the next phase of her life, but said she was worried about the racism she could face as a black woman.

The 57-year-old sat down with Gayle King for an interview on CBS This Morning in May and gushed about her now grown-up girls — but noted that she wished she could be less worried and more excited for her daughters as they enter the world on their own.

Malia graduated from Harvard University in May and get her first apartment — and Mrs Obama just hopes that people won’t ‘make assumptions’ about her because of her skin color. 

‘I am excited for her next chapter. That’s why I want to be as excited as every parent. I don’t want to worry about her entering a world where she has to worry about how people will treat her because of the color of her skin,’ she said.

She went on: ‘I am excited but I’d like to be more excited to know that as she goes out and gets her first apartment and rides the subway somewhere, that they don’t make assumptions about her based on the color of her skin. That she’s not at risk, out there, as an adult because she’s a black woman.’

Malia has a British boyfriend, Rory Farquharson, 22, who quarantined with the Obamas during the early days of the pandemic, with Barack revealing his stay saw their grocery bill rise by 30%.

‘There was this whole visa thing, he had a job set up, and so we took him in,’ the former president told the The Bill Simmons Podcast in December. ‘And I didn’t want to like him, but he’s a good kid.’ 

The former president had some anecdotes about quarantining together, including teaching card games to Farquharson and his daughters, Malia and Sasha.

‘Maybe teaching Malia and Sasha, and Malia’s boyfriend who was with us for a while, spades and then having some spades games,’ Obama said when asked about a fun quarantine moment. ‘And teaching them how to properly trash talk and slam the cards down.’ 

But he also learned that Farquharson’s eating habits were very different to what they were accustomed to. 

‘The only thing you discover… [is] young men eat,’ Obama said.

‘It’s weird to watch them consume food. And my grocery bill went up about 30 percent.’