Barack Obama’s daughter Malia Obama, and Malia’s boyfriend Rory Farquharson, have been romantically linked since 2017. A number of rumors have circulated about the pair, including rumors about how former President Obama feels about his eldest daughter’s boyfriend. Gossip Cop can provide a rundown on both the relationship itself and can clarify the rumors surrounding it.
Malia Obama Started Dating Her Boyfriend At Harvard
Malia and Rory Farquharson reportedly first met on campus at Harvard, where both attend school. TMZ released a video in 2017 featuring Malia kissing an unknown young man while attending her first Harvard-Yale game tailgating party. Around this time is when Malia began to gain reputation as Michelle and Barack Obama’s “wild child,” and the video of the young lady “making out” with a fellow student in public, as well as footage that captured her smoking a cigarette, cemented that idea in the minds of many. The mystery man turned out to be Farquharson, a British citizen with a fairly impressive pedigree of his own.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5YrxQQABk6/
Who Is Rory Farquharson?
The son of Charles and Catherine Farquharson, the chief executive of a London investment firm and an accountant respectively, Rory Farquharson is thought to be the same age as his American girlfriend. He’s a year ahead at Harvard, however, because Malia took a gap year after completing high school. As with many other well-to-do British families, the Farquharsons have a (very) distant connection to the British royal family. A second cousin used to be a courtier for Queen Elizabeth and eventually became Deputy Master of the Household for Prince Charles before his position was made redundant during a series of cuts in 2009.
As for Rory Farquharson himself, he seems to be adjusting to life as the boyfriend of the former president’s daughter very well. Since the beginning of their relationship, Farquharson has refrained from making any comments, whether about the relationship or anything else, to the press. Furthermore, like many other young adults, Farquharson had several social media accounts, but after he and Malia began dating, those accounts were deleted.
This is widely regarded as a measure taken to ensure his privacy as well as a measure to protect his well-known girlfriend and her family from any embarrassment or negative press due to his past postings. The move is also very telling since it was definitely a decision taken with the idea that his relationship with Malia Obama would be a long-term one. That’s probably something that gives Barack Obama a lot of comfort as he makes his own adjustments to seeing his daughter enter the dating world.
How Barack Obama Feels About His Oldest Daughter’s Boyfriend
Obama is a very proud “girl dad,” and he’s been very vocal over the years about how much he loves and admires his daughters Malia and Sasha. Shortly before leaving the White House, Obama sat down with Abc’s George Stephanopoulos and he spent some time bragging about his daughters. “All I can say is they have turned out to be terrific young women,” Obama said.
They are sweet, kind, funny, smart, respectful people, and they treat everybody with respect.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B-4m7PwALS5/
The proud parent added, “You know, we feel pretty good when…they go to other folks’ houses and when the parents say, ‘Oh, you know, Malia, she’s just so sweet,’ or ‘Sasha helped to pick up the dishes. What is it that you’re doing?’” When a father is that happy with his daughters, it could be difficult for him to accept that his little girls are all grown up and pursuing boys, but Obama seems to be handling this new era in his life just fine.
About a year before Malia Obama and Rory Farquharson were first linked, Obama revealed that he was “pretty relaxed” about the prospect of his daughters starting to date. There were two main reasons the former president was able to feel that way:
One is, Michelle, she’s such a great example of how she carries herself, her self-esteem not depending on boys to validate how you look or you know, not letting yourself be judged by anything other than your character and intelligence.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BxXh3aYAJqM/
The second reason was a little cheeky. “The other reason is because they have Secret Service,” Obama explained. “There’s only so much these guys can do! These poor young men come by the house.” A mixture of trust and certainty will do wonders for a father’s nerves, apparently.
Despite the fact that Barack Obama has never publicly said a negative word, or anything really, about Malia’s boyfriend, there have been a number of reports through the years claiming the former president isn’t fond of his daughter’s choice of romantic partner. The Globe wrote last December that “Brit-bashing Barack” couldn’t stand Rory Farquharson and was “furious” that the Harvard student and his “wild child” daughter Malia were planning to get married.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5aJ7AJAVBC/
The outlet bizarrely used Obama’s Kenyan heritage as evidence of his supposed hatred towards Britain, which colonized the African nation. A source for the tabloid, “Barack has confronted his daughter and told her in no uncertain terms he’s not paying for the wedding,” adding,
Judging by his reaction, he may not even walk her down the aisle.
Gossip Cop had several problems with this story, starting with the absurd claim that Obama “hates” Britain, but the biggest logistical problem the article had was its claim that Malia was engaged in the first place. There’s simply no evidence to support the idea that the college students are engaged or have begun any planning whatsoever for a wedding. That sort of dispels the idea that Obama was “furious” about an engagement that likely never existed in the first place.
What Malia And Her Boyfriend Are Doing Now
As for where Malia and Rory Farquharson are now, the two seem to be hitting all the relationship milestones with apparent ease. Malia seemingly spent the Christmas holiday with Farquharson and his family in Britain last year before the two returned to campus in January to begin the spring semester. Even after the school year started, Farquharson and Malia made time for each other, as evidenced by photographs taken of them taking a smoke break together outside a sandwich shop.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BwhfvHugWoa/
Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, which has caused most Americans to go into lockdown to avoid spreading the deadly virus, the Obama family has largely been quarantining together. During a call with Ellen DeGeneres in March, Michelle Obama revealed that both her girls were staying with her and her husband. Both girls were taking their classes online, but even so, the family was spending a lot of time together, time that Michelle said was filled with plenty of “Netflix and chill” sessions.
Harvard is reopening for its fall semester, so Malia is likely either headed back to campus for some socially distanced learning or she will continue taking online classes. The Ivy League college has a massive plan in place to deal with the ongoing pandemic caused by Covid-19 that includes a strict quarantine for those who contract the virus as well as those who have been exposed to it. With all those protections in place, it’s possible that Malia Obama and Rory Farquharson will or already have reunited on campus, but even if they don’t get a chance this semester, it seems like these kids will be just fine.