In May 2019, when Sasha Obama was 17, she attended prom with a young man as her date. Photos of Sasha wearing a black dress and heels while posing with her date and family were posted to X, formerly Twitter. “Somebody tell Sasha Obama to STOP GROWING!” one person jokingly tweeted. It appeared the former first daughter was a tall teenager, just like Michelle Obama had been, but that was a mixed blessing.
In an essay for British Vogue in November 2022, Michelle revealed that she reached her height of 5 feet, 11 inches when she was 16 years old, and her stature became a hindrance in her youth. “Tall became something to contend with. Tall stood out. ‘Tall’ became the label that got attached to me first,” the former FLOTUS wrote. She concluded her essay by saying she had later come to terms with her height, writing, “I’m tall and that’s a good thing.”
The following year, Michelle once again discussed how difficult it had been navigating her teen years. “I was the tall girl … That whole thing, you grow up, nothing fits you. Clothes weren’t made for you,” she said on “The Light Podcast” with Conan O’Brien in March 2023. “I just desperately wanted to be like the girls I saw, the peppy cheerleaders,” she added as the two discussed the difficulty of blending in. As her daughters grew up to be women, Michelle encouraged them to stay out of the public eye.
