Malia and Sasha Obama have stayed out of the spotlight, letting their parents, Barack and Michelle, handle the headlines. But after their mother’s bombshell revelation about Barack Obama’s quirky Hollywood connection with Jennifer Aniston, the Obama sisters are breaking their silence—and they’ve got plenty to say about the Friends star who almost became their dad’s sitcom co-star.
In a rare joint interview with Vogue—their first since their White House days—Malia, 26, and Sasha, 23, opened up about the rumors that swirled around their father and Aniston back in 2018. The chatter, reignited by Michelle Obama’s recent tell-all about Barack’s failed sitcom pitch Downward Dog D.C., had painted a picture of secret meetings and tabloid intrigue. Now, the sisters are setting the record straight—and they’re not holding back their giggles.
“We were teenagers when it all started,” Malia said, sipping coffee at a chic New York café where the interview took place. “I remember seeing this blurry photo of Dad and Jennifer Aniston online, and Sasha texting me, ‘Is Dad cheating on Mom with Rachel Green?’ We laughed so hard we couldn’t breathe.”
Sasha, now a recent college grad living a low-key life in Los Angeles, nodded enthusiastically. “It was absurd,” she added. “We knew Dad wasn’t the affair type—he’s too busy perfecting his jump shot or obsessing over his Spotify playlists. But then Mom told us about the sitcom thing, and it all made sense. Jennifer wasn’t a homewrecker—she was just his weird creative muse!”
According to the sisters, Barack’s brief fling with Hollywood wasn’t exactly a family secret. “He’d come home from those ‘script meetings’ with Jen and start reciting lines at the dinner table,” Malia recalled, mimicking her father’s deep voice. “‘Citizens, let’s stretch our way to bipartisanship!’ Mom would just roll her eyes and tell him to pass the mashed potatoes.”
Sasha admitted they were secretly rooting for Downward Dog D.C. to get made. “Imagine Dad in yoga pants on Netflix,” she said, grinning. “I told him I’d direct it if he ever got it off the ground. Jennifer seemed cool—she sent us Friends DVDs one Christmas with a note that said, ‘Your dad’s funnier than Ross.’”
The sisters were quick to defend Aniston, now 56, against the affair rumors that dogged her years ago. “She didn’t deserve the hate,” Malia said firmly. “People forget she’s just a person who thought Dad’s charm could sell a sitcom. Honestly, we kinda wish we’d met her—she sounds like she’d fit right in at our family game nights.”
So how do they feel about Michelle spilling the tea in her latest interview? “Mom’s a legend for that,” Sasha laughed. “She knew the internet would lose it, and she was right—X is still blowing up with memes of Dad and Jen in yoga poses. We’ve been retweeting the best ones.”
Indeed, social media has been ablaze since the Obama sisters’ comments hit the web. One X user posted, “Malia and Sasha stan Jennifer Aniston? This is the crossover we didn’t know we needed,” while another shared a mock poster for Downward Dog D.C. captioned, “Make it happen, Netflix!” The buzz has even sparked calls for a reboot—with the Obama daughters jokingly volunteering to cameo.