Barack Obama reacts to oldest daughter Malia dropping her last name

Former President Barack Obama recently opened up about his eldest daughter’s decision to drop her famous last name in a professional setting

Malia Obama, 26, debuted her short film, “The Heart,” earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival — but for her director’s credit, she used her first and middle name only.

“She didn’t use Obama,” the former president said during an interview on The Pivot Podcast on Tuesday. “On the credits, it said Malia Ann. I was like, ‘You do know they’ll know who you are?’”

The former first daughter told her dad she wanted people to watch the film for the first time without any association with her family.

In a video introducing “The Heart” at Sundance, Malia described the project as “an odd little story, somewhat of a fable, about a man grieving the death of his mother after she leaves him an unusual request in her will.”

During Tuesday’s interview, Obama said that both Malia and her 23-year-old sister, Sasha, are determined to succeed on their own terms.