Being a child of a former President of the United States comes with a lot of scrutiny and pressure. While President Barack Obama has not been in the White House for seven years, his daughters, Malia and Sasha Obama. are still in the limelight.
Although the two live relatively quiet lives, every once in a while the Obama sisters are caught out in public simply going about their day — which can somehow still draw a lot criticism.
On Friday, Sept. 13, Sasha was seen driving in Los Angeles traffic, but before she could get to her destination, a spectator snapped a photo of the 23-year-old smoking a cigarette.
With recent news of Sasha’s habit spreading, an X user — who is seemingly a Trump supporter — took to the social media platform to bash her by posting an old photo of her smoking. But she wasn’t his only target.
In the same post, the X user also criticized President Joe Biden’s son Hunter, and Vice President Kamala Harris’ stepdaughter, Ella.
Three months ago, Hunter was convicted of three felony charges for lying on an application to purchase a gun in 2018 by claiming he was not a drug user. In a separate case, he pled guilty to nine charges in his federal tax case and will be sentenced on Dec. 16.
Ella, on the other hand, received backlash for posting a link to help fundraise for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, some of whose members were allegedly involved in the terrorist attack in Israel.
The X user shared a collage photo of all three people, in addition to adding a picture of Donald Trump’s son, Barron Trump, looking polished. He said, “We are not the same One raised by Donald and Melania Trump One raised by the Obamas One raised by the Bidens One raised by the Harris’ Which parents you taking?”
Despite receiving over 152,000 likes, the X user also got some pushback from other X users — some who felt the need to defend Sasha in particular.
One said, “Leave Malia and Sasha alone tf if Barron was smoking a cig yall wouldn’t bat a f-cking eye.”
Another wrote, “Sasha Obama is literally smoking a cigarette which is a habit she didn’t pick up until she became an adult, I see no problem there, you’ve never heard anything negative about the Obama girls so this post is stupid.”
A third person said, “Sasha is a grown woman, its not like shes 12 and smoking a cigarette. get a grip.”
The incident of Sasha smoking is nothing new, as she’s been seen in recent years enjoying a smoke several times. But in addition to that, her older sister Malia, 26, was also caught smoking a few times by onlookers — a habit that both of the girls have evidently learned from their father.
In 2020, Barack released a memoir called “A Promised Land” where he detailed his struggles with smoking cigarettes and the reason why he stopped. In it, he explained that he would smoke up to 10 cigarettes a day by looking for a “discreet location to grab an evening smoke.”
But one day, his cover was blown when his eldest daughter, Malia, smelled the aroma of the cigarette on his breath, causing her to frown at him. The father of two reportedly decided to start chewing nicotine gum to kick the habit.
The 44th president admitted he struggled with quitting the addiction. In 2009, he told reporters, “I constantly struggle with it. Have I fallen off the wagon sometimes? Yes. Am I a daily smoker, a constant smoker? No.”
He later added, “Once you’ve gone down this path, then it’s something you continually struggle with.”
But in 2011, Barack’s wife, Michelle, confirmed with the White House that her husband had quit smoking. She said, “It’s been almost a year.”
