What It's Really Like for the First Kids Growing Up in the White House

Chelsea Clinton was a period shy of her 13th day erstwhile she moved into the White House with her ma and dad, archetypal woman Hillary Clinton and President Bill Clinton.

And what does immoderate tween miss request to bash ASAP? Decorate her room, of course!

Along with photos of her household and friends, the hoops instrumentality treasured her poster of Michael Jordan—hung with "special tacky stuff," she told E! News successful 2021, "so it didn't mar the walls."

During her clip successful the White House, she had pals implicit for sleepovers—"They would privation to bid pizza and it kept causing each kinds of commotion with the concealed service," her ma told James Corden successful 2019—went to ballet people and sat down for household dinners.

"My parents often would person to spell backmost to enactment aft dinner," Chelsea—who shares girl Charlotte and sons Aidan and Jasper with hubby Mark Mezvinsky—said connected the PEOPLE Every Day podcast successful 2021, but that ritual was treated arsenic "sacred household time."

While her begetter was inactive successful office, Chelsea graduated successful from the backstage Sidwell Friends School successful Bethesda, Md., past headed disconnected to Stanford, wherever she got her bachelor's grade successful history. (Which she followed with a Master of Philosophy from Oxford and a Master of Public Health from Columbia.)

"I utilized to beryllium asked each the time, 'Did you ever tally away?' No, I ne'er ran away," Chelsea said connected PEOPLE Every Day. "I respect that they had a occupation to do. I wasn't going to marque that occupation harder for them, and I wasn't going to accent retired my parents like that. Just ne'er adjacent occurred to me."

As she reminisced successful 2016 on The Alli Simpson Show, Chelsea recovered her puerility "both much mean and kinda mean than radical whitethorn expect," she said, "but I besides ne'er mislaid show of however bonzer it was to beryllium portion of past and what a privilege it was to beryllium portion of the White House's past and our American history."

They knew their mode astir from their gramps George H.W. Bush's clip arsenic president, from 1989 to 1993, but President George W. Bush and archetypal woman Laura Bush's fraternal duplicate daughters Barbara Bush and Jenna Bush were 19-year-old assemblage students erstwhile their parents moved into the White House.

But arsenic archetypal kids, they were inactive successful the spotlight from afar.

Such arsenic erstwhile they were some cited successful 2001 for underage drinking infractions successful their location authorities of Texas (they respectively pleaded nary contention and were sentenced to assemblage service) and made each sorts of headlines.

"I personally preferred the screen of the New York Post," Jenna quipped successful her and Barbara's associated 2017 memoir Sisters First: Stories From Our Wild and Wonderful Life, "which utilized a overmuch amended photograph (thank you precise much) and dubbed maine the pithy 'Jenna and Tonic.'"

But ultimately, near to fend for themselves without a PR situation manager oregon different harm power operatives, they appreciated the acquisition that, Jenna wrote, "we could beryllium imperfect and our beingness would spell on."

The rest of their assemblage careers, Jenna graduating from University of Texas astatine Austin with a grade successful English and Barbara getting her B.A. successful Humanities from Yale, unfolded without incident.

Though they were "serial pranksters," Jenna wrote successful their book, specified arsenic erstwhile Barbara pretended to autumn disconnected a play cart astatine Camp David to get a emergence retired of their mom, "but the lone ones we ended up scaring were the Secret Service." 

Looking back, determination was "no guidebook," Jenna told Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live in 2020. Their father's "whole happening was like, 'Y'all tin beryllium mean assemblage kids. You spell beryllium you.' And past helium realized beauteous soon aft that that we truly couldn't beryllium mean assemblage kids."

The twins' 8 years arsenic archetypal daughters made them especially protective of their successors, Malia Obama and Sasha Obama. "It isn't ever casual being a subordinate of the nine you are astir to join," Jenna and Barbara advised the incoming archetypal kids successful a 2009 letter. "Remember who your dada truly is."

President Barack Obama and archetypal Lady Michelle Obama's daughters Malia and Sasha were 10 and 7 erstwhile the archetypal family, joined by Michelle's parent Marian Robinson, relocated from Chicago to the White House successful 2009. Sasha was the youngest archetypal kid to unrecorded determination since the Kennedys moved successful with 3-year-old Caroline Kennedy and 3-month-old John F. Kennedy Jr.

And truthful the quest to some support and hole them—for beingness arsenic archetypal daughters and beyond—began.

"I had to rise them to beryllium stand-up young radical connected their own, particularly arsenic the daughters of a erstwhile president," Michelle said connected Melinda French Gates' Moments That Make Us podcast successful July 2024. "But radical are speedy to chopped a kid disconnected if you don't amusement up close and you've got a sanction down you. So they person to travel correct."

She further explained that Malia and Sasha "had to larn however to equilibrium the unwanted attention, but bash it politely. To physique their ain lives successful the spotlight and not beryllium eaten up by it. Those girls had to beryllium astute and assured and autarkic consecutive away, adjacent erstwhile they were surviving successful a location with butlers and maids and florists. But I was raising them thinking, 'You're not going to unrecorded here, and with me, forever. So I've got to manus you your beingness soon and fto you negociate it.'"

So, wrong those walls lived a normal-ish family. "It wasn't until the White House that we were unneurotic 7 days a week," the archetypal woman told People in 2016, "that we could person meal together, [the president] had clip to manager the girls' teams and spell to each their events."

But the kids, she added, were besides "ready to get out, conscionable retired from their parents' house."

Both attended Sidwell Friends School, with Malia graduating successful 2016 earlier the extremity of her dad's 2nd term. She took a spread year, past headed to Harvard successful 2017. Sasha enrolled astatine University of Michigan successful 2019 but transferred to USC, graduating successful 2023.

After graduating from assemblage successful 2021, Malia went to enactment successful the writers country of the Amazon Prime bid Swarm and, going by Malia Ann professionally, she directed her archetypal short, The Heart, which screened astatine the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.

In the rarest of nationalist remarks, Malia acknowledged she'd "never done thing similar this" portion making her red carpet debut astatine the 50th yearly Deauville American Film Festival successful France. So, she told Paris Match, she was "a small spot terrified but mostly conscionable excited."

The 26-year-old shared that she was wearing Vivienne Westwood, noting, "I don't cognize arsenic overmuch astir fashion, but I'm blessed to beryllium wearing it."

When President Donald Trump moved into the White House successful January 2017, archetypal lady Melania Trump stayed with their 11-year-old lad Barron Trump astatine Trump Tower successful Manhattan truthful helium could finish retired the schoolhouse year before they relocated. 

During the ensuing 4 years, Barron attended the backstage St. Andrew's Episcopal School successful Potomac, Md., played shot and grew taller than some parents, topping retired astatine a reported 6-foot-7 by the clip helium turned 18 successful March 2024.

He besides was a golfer similar his dad, according to his mom, and successful 2015 Trump raved astir however bully his youngest lad was with computers.

Aside from appearances astatine the 2016 and 2020 Republican National Conventions successful enactment of his father, Barron had been mostly absent from the governmental scene. He missed the 2024 RNC ("due to anterior commitments," his ma said successful a statement) but attended his first-ever Trump rally connected July 9 successful Doral, Fla. The teen didn't talk but waved and flashed a thumbs-up astatine the crowd.

Bucking the familial inclination of either University of Pennsylvania (his dad, half-siblings Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump) oregon Georgetown (Eric Trump), Barron enrolled astatine NYU's Stern School of Business successful the autumn of 2024.