Barack Obama continues to spill tea about his life in his book tour for his recently-released memoir, “A Promised Land”. Previously, the former president revealed that he and Michelle Obama struggled with “tension” in their marriage due to the stresses of the White House. Now, Obama is opening up about his daughters.

In an interview with People magazine, Obama revealed that Sasha and Malia Obama (19 and 22) participated in Black Lives Matter protests over the summer.

“I didn’t have to give them a lot of advice because they had a very clear sense of what was right and what was wrong and [of] their own agency and the power of their voice and the need to participate,” Obama said. “Malia and Sasha found their own ways to get involved with the demonstrations and activism that you saw with young people this summer, without any prompting from Michelle and myself, on their own initiative.”

Obama went on to say that his daughters didn’t join in on the protests for publicity’s sake, but actually quite the contrary. “They didn’t do it in a way where they were looking for limelight. They were very much in organizer mode.”

And indeed, there were no photos or videos of either of the Obama girls protesting, so it appears that their desire to mobilize was prompted by purely altruistic reasons.

Obama reiterated that it was completely Sasha and Malia’s ideas to protest.

“They didn’t need to be encouraged,” he said. “Their attitude was: we’ve seen something wrong and we want to fix it, and we think we can fix it. And we understand that it’s not gonna take just a day or a week or one march to fix it. But we’re in it for the long haul.”

Obama went on to talk about how impressed he is about how the younger generations are so involved with activism–especially compared to when he was younger, when he and his peers were more focused on “finances and the perks of a job”.

“And these kids are really focused on: how can I do something that I find meaningful, that resonates with my values and my ideals?” he said. “And that I think is an encouraging sign for the country.”

Since the Obama family left the White House in 2017, both Sasha and Malia have remained relatively under the radar.

Both girls attended college after graduating from high school. Malia Obama took a gap year before deciding on Harvard University. She is set to graduate in 2021. Departing from her family of Ivy League attendees, Sasha Obama landed on the University of Michigan for her undergrad, where she is still attending.

We hope the Obama girls continue to have private and peaceful lives and have the opportunity to actively be involved in the issues that are closest to their hearts.

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In Barack Obama’s newest 768 page memoir, A Promised Land, the former president sheds some light on his covetable marriage to his wife Michelle Obama. In the honest memoir, the former president recalls the moments that threatened the strength of his marriage to the former first lady recalling how he consulted with his wife about running for president when it was already too late; he’d already done quite a bit of work without telling her.

“She gave me a hard look and got up from the couch. ‘God, Barack…When is it going to be enough?'” Obama explained in the memoir. “Before I could answer, she’d gone into the bedroom and closed the door.”

Speaking about their marriage in the memoir and with People Magazine for a new interview, Obama explains how his role as president created a rift in their relationship that he thought was once impossible to repair.

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Obama explains that his time in the White House was wracked with marital tension.

“Michelle very much believed in the work I did but was less optimistic about what I could get done. … She’s more skeptical about politics and more mindful of the sacrifices to the family,” he revealed.

Still, Obama says “I think we came out of it whole… There were great joys in the White House. There was never a time where we didn’t recognize what an extraordinary privilege it was to be there. Most importantly, our children emerged intact and they are wonderful, kind, thoughtful, creative — and not entitled — young women. So that’s a big sigh of relief.”

In an interview with People, Obama opened up about the part his role as president had on affecting the happiness of his wife and the former first lady.

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People describes politics as “a blood sport” which Michelle Obama always hated and how Obama’s “preternatural ease” contributed to the feelings of loneliness she felt while in the White House.

“There were times where I think she was frustrated or sad or angry but knew that I had Afghanistan or the financial crisis to worry about,” Obama explaned, “so she would tamp it down.”

Addressing a passage in his latest memoir, Obama recalled “There were nights when lying next to Michelle in the dark, I’d think about those days when everything between us felt lighter when her smile was more constant and our love less encumbered,” he writes, “and my heart would suddenly tighten at the thought that those days might not return.”

Fortunately, People asked if they ever found their way back to those days.

“We did,” Obama told the magazine. “It was like a big exhale right after we left office… It took some time to talk about how she had felt… Once [the presidency] was done, there was possibility of her opening up … but more importantly, just her being able to let out a breath and relax.”

Obama shared that these days the former First Lady is “more relaxed and more joyful since we left office.” The resulting effect has been that it has allowed the Obamas “to just enjoy the deep love that comes with a marriage this long. But also to be friends again.”

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