America may be celebrating Independence Day today, but at the White House there is double cause for celebration as Malia Obama turns 15.
The First Daughter, now as tall as her parents with a keen eye for style, is fast becoming a young lady who can hold her own with confidence in the public eye.
The past year has seen her join the President and First Lady on a number of high-profile trips abroad – along with sister Sasha, 12, of course.
Most recently she was seen stepping off Air Force One hand-in-hand with her father as the family arrived in Pretoria, South Africa, and again in Tanzania
She joined her mother for lunch with Bono and Ali Hewson in Dublin, Ireland, during the family’s visit for the G8 Summit, and she and her sister were pictured paying their respects with their parents on a trip to Berlin’s Holocaust Memorial.
There is still plenty of time for normal teenage fun though. Fun that causes her father more worry than his responsibilities as President.
Mrs Obama told GMA’s Robin Roberts in February: ‘There’s nothing like the look on his face when Malia dresses up for a party, and she’s heading out.
‘She walks past him, and you can see his face sort of just drop a little bit. . .
‘He’s a little grey. People think the grey is from his job. It’s from his children.’
And indeed the President hinted at the same sentiment during a school visit in Decatur, Georgia, ahead of Valentine’s Day.
Sense of humor: Michelle and Sasha were in fits of giggles as Malia made funny faces for the cameras during a special performance of Riverdance in Dublin on June 17
He said: ‘I do have to warn the parents who are here, who still have young kids, they grow up to be, like 5ft 10in. . . They basically don’t have a lot of time for you during the weekends. They have sleepovers and dates.’
Malia has a youthful sense of humor too. Her mother and sister were in fits of giggles as she made funny faces for the cameras in Ireland.
Support act: Malia with her father as he prepares to give his victory speech on election night in November (left) and a couple of weeks later with her mother in Washington DC (right)
Dressed to impress: With Sasha on arrival at Berlin Tegel airport on June 18, (left) and walking across Lafayette Park on her way to Easter services in Washington, D.C. (right)
And during the Presidential Inauguration Parade, the cheeky sisters made their parents kiss four times so that they could capture the moment on their iPhones and iPods – before turning their cameras on each other.
Malia has a keen understanding of propriety though. While she and her sister always seem at ease – at one point Malia affectionately smoothed her mother’s bangs during the White House Easter Egg Roll in April – they adhere to the rule that they should be ‘seen and not heard’ at public events.
‘They are a bit of a mystery,’ JJ Abrams, an Obama donor and Hollywood writer-director, told the New York Times. ‘But they’re authentic, and we’re starving for that.’
Malia is not always seen on her birthday, though she did make an appearance with her mother and father in 2007, 2008 and 2009.
This year though, now firmly in her teens, she’ll likely have plans with friends.
Outgrowing dad: Nearly as tall as her president father, Malia walks to Air Force One in Cape Cod on August 29, 2010 (left), and a year prior Malia leaves the Giolitti Ice Cream parlour in Rome with a bodyguard on July 8, 2009
Skater girl: Malia roller-skates with Barack Obama in Indiana during the election campaign on May 3, 2008 (left), just a year after hanging out in New Hampshire on May 28, 2007 (right) with her then senator dad
Family fun: Malia at age eight in Disneyland, with Sasha, 5, and Michelle Obama (left), and then in a quick family portrait on January 4, 2005 (right)
Six going on 16: Malia at age six with Barack Obama in November 2, 2004 (left) and in the beginning at age 18months (right) in Chicago on primary day, March 21, 2000 with her parents
Read more: DailyMail
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