The Real Reason Michelle Obama Didn't Want More Kids After Sasha & Malia

Michelle Obama is a proud mother of two — and only two. That was by choice. When Barack Obama suggested they try for a third, she was quick to nip it in the bud. She had no desire to face sleepless nights or deal with postpartum again. After two beautiful daughters, she was happy with the family she already had. That's not to say Michelle didn't enjoy her role as a mother. On the contrary, Malia Obama and Sasha Obama were very much wanted. 

In fact, the Obamas struggled with infertility and had to go through a difficult process to conceive their daughters. Michelle suffered a miscarriage and underwent IVF treatments before carrying a pregnancy to term. The journey involved daily injections for weeks on end. "Here I was alone in the bathroom of our apartment, trying, in the name of all that want, to screw up the courage to plunge a syringe into my thigh," she shared in her 2018 memoir, "Becoming."

Even though Barack was supportive, he still wasn't the one undergoing the treatments. The inequality inherent to the process made Michelle feel even more lonely. "It was maybe then that I felt a first flicker of resentment involving politics and Barack's unshakable commitment to the work. Or maybe I was just feeling the acute burden of being female," she wrote. It was all worth it in the end. Sasha and Malia now live together in Los Angeles, and their mother couldn't be more proud. She never regretted stopping at the two.

Michelle Obama feels she hit the parenting jackpot with Malia Obama and Sasha Obama, as they both slept well — and she didn't want to jinx it. "I just had to stop ... I think I've been lucky with these two. Barack was like, 'We should have a third,' and I was like 'Dude ... ' I'm thinking we're going to get a crazy one. It's just the roll of the dice," she said in a March 2025 episode of the "Not Gonna Lie" podcast. Michelle also reflected on the hardships of the first weeks with a newborn.

While some people thrive during those early days, many others have a hard time. And she was among the latter. "I think the sadness or the postpartum that I felt with my kids really came from, like, you love these babies so much," she told host Kylie Kelce. Michelle struggled with the sense of responsibility that dawned on her. "You think, 'Oh my god, all you have is me, I feel so bad for you,'" she explained.

The hardships of the early days wore off, but parenting continued to be difficult for the better part of the following decade. Throughout Malia and Sasha's childhood, Michelle found it hard to connect with Barack Obama as she carried the brunt of the responsibilities while also trying to advance her career. But it passed. "Ten years — we've been married 30. I would take 10 bad years over 30," she said on Revolt TV in 2022.