Michelle Obama reveals she used to use physical discipline with daughters until something changed her mind

Michelle Obama has opened up about how she used to discipline her two daughters until something changed her mind about her approach.

The former First Lady of the United States tied the knot with 44th president Barack Obama back in 1992, and subsequently welcomed Malia and Sasha to the world in 1998 and 2001 respectively.

Now, the sibling duo were just 10 and seven when their father took the presidency back in 2009, meaning they lived a fairly large part of their teenage years in the White House during Obama’s second term, which came to an end in 2017 before current US president, Donald Trump, took over in his first term.

Speaking on a recent episode her IMO podcast with guests Damon and Marlon Wayans, Michelle opened up on how she used to discipline Malia, 26, and Sasha, 23.

The 61-year-old attorney shared that she used spank her daughters before she realised it 'embarrassed' her.

"I felt silly," she said. "It took a couple of spankings for me to be like, yeah, you know what, this is a little kid and the fact that I can’t think of any better way to get my point across than to smack somebody on the butt, I felt embarrassed."

After making the decision to not physically discipline her children, Michelle opened up about still being a strict parent.

"I want to be a proponent for reinstating some of the stuff that we had," she continued.

"When kids say 'I hate my mum', it's like, you better say that in your head, in your room. You don’t say that out loud. You know, parents are too afraid to set those kinds of boundaries.

Michelle Obama opened up about why she stopped physically disciplining her daughters (Boston Globe / Contributor / Getty Images)

"And I think that’s also part of the challenge that we’re facing in this generation."

The Becoming author also discussed the importance of teaching Malia and Sasha to have 'sense and judgement' and how much it mattered for them both to learn from making their own mistakes.

She continued: "I think nowadays a lot of parents are trying to live their kids' lives for them so that they don’t make any mistakes and don’t feel any sense of failure which keeps them from learning."

"I raised you to have some sense, to have judgment. And at some point, you’ve got to practice that, which means that I've got to let go."

Well, it's clear the Obamas did a good job as both daughters are now living in Los Angeles.

Since graduating from Harvard, Malia has pursued a career in filmmaking and she premiered her directorial debut, a short film named The Heart, during Sundance in January 2024.

Sasha graduated from the University of Southern California in 2023 with a degree in sociology and has since gone back into further education.