--- title: Barack and Michelle Obama: Malia Ready to Leave White House description: As the First Family gets ready to pack up 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Malia Obama is preparing for a different type of moving of her own. canonical: https://time.com/4594994/malia-obama-white-house-moving/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-12-08T15:58:11.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:04:04.301Z og:title: Malia Obama is Ready to Leave the Nest og:description: According to her dad og:url: https://time.com/4594994/malia-obama-white-house-moving/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt892bfac60a3fe427/6988b2452dce015a409ebac2/malia-obama-white-house-moving-college.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: US-POLITICS-OBAMA og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Malia Obama is Ready to Leave the Nest twitter:description: According to her dad twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt892bfac60a3fe427/6988b2452dce015a409ebac2/malia-obama-white-house-moving-college.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Malia Obama is Ready to Leave the Nest by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Dec 8, 2016 3:58 PM UTC  US President Barack Obama and daughter Malia make their way to board Air Force One before departing from Chicago OHare International Airport in Chicago on April 7, 2016\. Obama is heading to Los Angeles to attend fundraisers. / AFP / MANDEL NGAN (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images) US President Barack Obama and daughter Malia make their way to board Air Force One before departing from Chicago OHare International Airport in Chicago on April 7, 2016\. Obama is heading to Los Angeles to attend fundraisers. / AFP / MANDEL NGAN (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)MANDEL NGAN—AFP/Getty Images by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Dec 8, 2016 3:58 PM UTC As the First Family gets ready to pack up 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, [Malia Obama](http://time.com/4364199/malia-obama-high-school-graduation-photos/) is preparing for a different type of move of her own. Malia, who just graduated from high school, is taking a [gap year](http://time.com/4313660/malia-ann-obama-gap-year-harvard-university/) before heading off to Harvard in the Fall. President Obama and First Lady [Michelle Obama](http://motto.time.com/4593609/michelle-obama-election-donald-trump/) spoke to _People_ in an [exclusive interview ](http://people.com/politics/michelle-and-barack-obama-daughters-ready-to-leave-nest/)about their daughters and seeing Malia get ready to leave for college. Like many teens their age, President Obama said that Malia and Sasha are “ready to get out, get out of their parents’ house.” Granted, their “parents’ house” is the White House, but that doesn’t necessarily stop that teenage mentality. The president told _People,_ “They’re ready to get out of the nest. We don’t think they’re ready, but they certainly think they’re ready.” As much as the President and [First Lady](http://time.com/4590725/oprah-will-conduct-michelle-obamas-final-white-house-interview/) want to keep their daughters close, they acknowledge that their girls are growing up. President Obama said, “Malia’s going off to college. She’s a grown woman.” Michelle Obama, however, has a different take: “She’s still a baby.” \[[People](http://people.com/politics/michelle-and-barack-obama-daughters-ready-to-leave-nest/)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4594994/malia-obama-white-house-moving/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4594994/malia-obama-white-house-moving/"},"headline":"Malia Obama is Ready to Leave the Nest","datePublished":"2016-12-08T15:58:11.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:04:04.301Z","description":"According to her dad","url":"https://time.com/4594994/malia-obama-white-house-moving/","keywords":["motto"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt892bfac60a3fe427/6988b2452dce015a409ebac2/malia-obama-white-house-moving-college.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt892bfac60a3fe427/6988b2452dce015a409ebac2/malia-obama-white-house-moving-college.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-POLITICS-OBAMA","caption":"US-POLITICS-OBAMA","creditText":"MANDEL NGAN—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4594994/malia-obama-white-house-moving/","name":"Malia Obama is Ready to Leave the Nest"}}]}] ```