Barack and Michelle Obama are paying tribute to their youngest daughter, Sasha Obama, in honor of her 24th birthday.
The former president and first lady jointly shared a rare family photo on Instagram that showed the couple posing with Sasha Obama and their older daughter, Malia Obama, 26.
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WATCH HEREThe photo shows both former first daughters wearing their hair long like their mom's and standing nearly as tall as both their parents.
“Happy birthday, Sasha! Watching you grow into the incredible woman you are has been a true gift. I’ll always be proud of you and will always be here for you,” Barack Obama captioned his shot.
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SIGN UP Michelle Obama also wished her youngest a happy birthday, writing, "Happy birthday to my sweet girl, Sasha! Can’t believe how quickly time has flown. I’m so proud of the woman you’ve become. Love you always!"
She added heart and celebratory emoji.
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The Obama daughters spent many of their childhood years living in the White House. The family moved into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in January 2009 when Malia Obama was 10 and Sasha Obama was 7.
The family left the White House after two presidential terms in January 2017 when the girls were teenagers.
Since then, Malia Obama has graduated from Harvard University and has become an accomplished writer and director, who uses just her first and middle names, Malia Ann, as her professional moniker.
Meanwhile, Sasha Obama graduated from the University of Southern California with a sociology degree in May 2023, according to the Los Angeles Times.
In 2020, Barack Obama told InStyle that admired Sasha Obama's independent thinking.
“Sasha is, as Malia describes it, completely confident about her own take on the world and is not cowed or intimidated — and never has been — by anybody’s titles, anybody’s credentials. If she thinks something’s wrong or right, she will say so,” he said.
“When she was 4, 5, 6 years old, once she made a decision, she would dig in and couldn’t be steered off it. I write about it in the book, how we were trying to get her to taste caviar when we were visiting Russia,” he said, referencing his 2020 memoir “A Promised Land.”
“She was like, ‘No. Sorry. That looks slimy. It’s nasty. I’m not going to do it — even if I’ve got to give up dessert.’ And that part of her character has always been there.”
In 2019, Michelle Obama opened up to People about how bittersweet it was to drop off her younger daughter at college for the first time that year.
“Time just goes so fast,’’ said the former first lady. “But like so many experiences in the last 10 years, we wanted to make it feel as normal as possible, given our family’s circumstances.
“It’s an adjustment to see each other for a weekend here, a holiday break there, but the moments we do spend together feel extra special because of it," she added.
While the couple helped their younger daughter unpack her dorm room and settle in, Michelle Obama said, after that, they gave her space to be her own person.
“But by and large, we let her take care of herself,” she explained. “As a parent, one of the most important things we can give our children is the freedom to find their own way in the world.”
This article originally appeared on TODAY.com. Read more from TODAY:
