Yahoo Movies Barack Obama Jokes Daughters Sasha and Malia 'Have PTSD' from Secret Service Being on Their Dates
Barack Obama
Talk about a third wheel!
During Barack Obama's appearance Monday night on The Late Late Show, the former president joked that his daughters Malia, 22, and Sasha, 19, still "have PTSD" from Secret Service agents coming along on their dates.
"First of all, them as teenagers having Secret Service guys follow them when they were going out on dates, I think probably has shut down their interest in public service," Obama, 59, told host James Corden.
"They still have PTSD from guys talking into their wrist microphones and glasses as they're trying to go to a music concert," Obama laughed.
Corden, 42, spoke with the former president about his recent book, A Promised Land, and asked whether Obama could envision his own daughters running for public office one day.
"You have to have a certain tolerance for nonsense and silliness and meanness, frankly, to go into public service," Obama said. "As a father, I want to protect my girls from that stuff."
Obama continued: "I think they are probably going to find other ways to serve rather than run for office themselves, but you never know. If they decided to do it, obviously I would be extraordinarily proud of them."
Obama told Corden that he and his wife, former First Lady Michelle Obama, had been worried about how Sasha and Malia's childhoods would unfold if he ran for president, given the perks of the White House, such as having butlers and other employees to help the first family.
The former president told Corden he and Michelle thought, "Are we going to end up with weird kids?"
But after drawing some laughs from the crowd, Obama gushed about how proud he is of both Sasha and Malia.
RELATED: Michelle Obama Says Sasha and Malia Became 'Midnight Bakers': 'I Had to Tell Them to Stop!'
"They have turned into just exceptional young women. I could not be prouder of them," Obama said. "Not just because they're smart and accomplished, but they're just kind people. They don't have an attitude."
Michelle Obama/Twitter The Obamas celebrate Thanksgiving 2019
Obama told Corden that "it is pretty darn good" to have the life of a former president, adding that it means he now has more time now to spend with Mrs. Obama, 57, and their two daughters.
"We just went through an extraordinary and very difficult time for everybody during this pandemic," Obama said. "The blessing was my college-aged girls were home, so I got to spend a lot of time with them."
Mrs. Obama told PEOPLE in March that the former first family remained isolated together during the COVID-19 pandemic, splitting time between their homes in Washington, D.C., and Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts.
Malia is a Harvard University senior, while Sasha is a University of Michigan sophomore. Both stayed at home, like most college students, amid campus shutdowns last year.
"This time has allowed us to get some stolen moments back with our girls," Mrs. Obama told PEOPLE. "Those recaptured moments have meant the world to us and I think they've made our relationships with our children even stronger."
