Malia Obama keeps her love life hush-hush for the most part, but if she wants to go out on dates like a normal young working professional, she can’t avoid being spotted by the paparazzi. This is how she publicly launched her relationship with Dawit Eklund, a record producer who is nearly a decade older than her.
In August 2022, TMZ published photos of Malia and a “mystery man” walking with their arms around each other outside the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. It didn’t take long for the Daily Mail to learn the identity of Malia’s date, whose music career was successful enough to earn him a shoutout from The Washington Post. In 2016, the publication described Eklund as one of Washington D.C.’s “most exciting dance music producers.” He was 25 years old at the time and had already co-founded a record label, 1432 R, with a group of friends who shared his passion for music. A few months after publishing its short profile of the artist, The Washington Post shared an update on the oldest Obama daughter’s life: Malia, then 17, had decided to enroll in Harvard. So, she wasn’t even in college yet while her future boyfriend was already running his own business.
By the time she and Eklund were first photographed together, Malia had graduated and landed a job of her own: writing for Donald Glover’s Amazon Prime Video series “Swarm.” Maybe it was her desire to create that drew her to Eklund.
Dawit Eklund and Malia Obama have a lot in common
As two young creatives with ties to Washington, D.C., Dawit Eklund and Malia Obama seemed like a pretty solid match. They were also both savvy world travelers who had been exposed to many different cultures. When Barack Obama was president, Malia got to traverse the globe — in the summer of 2009 alone, the Obamas visited Paris, Moscow, London, Ghana, and Rome. As for Eklund, he was born in his mother’s native Ethiopia. His American father was a Peace Corps employee whose work took the family to Egypt, Sudan, and Bangladesh, per Page Six.
Malia and Eklund are also both big music fans. A lot of what we know about Malia’s taste in music comes from her attendance at Lollapalooza. She watched Chance the Rapper perform at the music festival in 2014, and she was filmed twerking during Bryson Tiller’s set in 2016. A year later, she got so into The Killer’s performance that she dropped down on the grassy ground and started rolling around. So, we know Malia’s favorite music genres include hip-hop, R&B, and rock.
As for Eklund, he creates house music that Ransom Note describes as “Ethiopiyawi electronic,” which is techno music infused with traditional Ethiopian instruments. His track “New Life” was included on Fact magazine’s 2018 list of the year’s best house and techno songs, and he was also among the indie artists from D.C. profiled by Pitchfork in 2014. The instruments he can play include the drums and guitar.
What Malia Obama’s mom said about her love life
Some protective dads might not like the idea of their daughter dating a guy who is nine years their senior, but Michelle Obama has said that her husband is pretty chill when it comes to their girls’ relationships. “They were in high school. They went to prom. They’ve lived life,” Michelle said in a 2022 “Good Morning America” interview (via ABC News). “And he’s learned how to be a concerned Black father, but not crazy.”
The Daily Mail reported that Michelle and Barack Obama were in New York City at the same time as Malia Obama and Dawit Eklund in September 2022. It’s possible that the foursome met up at some point, which would have been a sign that Malia and Eklund were getting pretty serious. However, Michelle is not the type of mom who pushes her kids to get hitched and give her grandbabies. “I want [Sasha and Malia] to know what they want and who they are in a relationship. And that takes trying on some people,” she explained. She also discussed the topic on “The Tamron Hall Show,” saying (via the Independent), “Too many young people are rushing to check the box of marriage before they even know who they are, and then they’re surprised when they pick the wrong person.”
Malia and Eklund haven’t been spotted together since late 2022, and the lack of sightings has sparked speculation that they’ve called it quits. So, maybe Malia is heeding her mom’s advice.
