After nearly a whole decade spent away from the cameras, Malia and Sasha Obama have reappeared in public - at the opening of the Barack Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. The event gathered famous faces, among them former President Joe Biden with his wife Jill, as well as musicians Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen and John Legend.

The two daughters of Barack and Michelle Obama grew up before the eyes of the whole world, and then deliberately vanished from it. Malia is now 27, Sasha 25 - they were 10 and 7 when their father became president in 2009. Since the family left the White House in 2017, they have withdrawn from the public eye almost entirely, appearing only occasionally in their parents' photos.

Malia is building a career in film. Under the name Malia Ann she directed a short film titled "The Heart," which was shown at prestigious festivals - Toronto and Telluride in 2023, and Sundance in 2024. Sasha, meanwhile, graduated in sociology from the University of Southern California in 2023 and now lives in Los Angeles with her sister, continuing with postgraduate studies.

Michelle Obama in one address described the daughters as "incredible - smart, funny, wise in their own way." Behind that warm picture, though, stands something every parent understands: even when you were the first lady of the most powerful country, worrying about your children doesn't stop. Barack, she admitted, still sends them warnings to drive carefully. Power has limits; a father's worry does not.