Malia Obama graduates from high school – and dad Barack gets emotional

Malia Obama is all grown up! On Friday, the 17-year-old graduated from her high school, Washington, D.C.'s private Sidwell Friends School, with her proud parents, Barack and Michelle Obama, by her side.

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Although it was obviously an event filled with excitement, the President of the United States had admitted it would be an emotional time for him. Speaking on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon on Thursday night, the 54-year-old said that he would be taking his sunglasses to the graduation ceremony to hide his tears.

CLICK TO VIEW GALLERY Earlier, the President said he knew Malia's high school graduation ceremony would be quite emotional Photo: Getty Images

“I've got my sunglasses ready, [it'll be] one more example of the president crying,” he joked with the talk show host.

While on the show he also discussed how impressed he has been with his daughters and their behavior growing up in the White House and the limelight.

Malia and Sasha Obama attend their first State Dinner

“They've handled it so well, they are just wonderful girls, they are smart and funny, but most importantly they are kind, they don't have an attitude," he said. "That was the thing Michelle and I were most worried about when we got there, we thought how is this going to work we've got these butlers and you've got guys saluting, and it's a testimony to Michelle and my mother-in-law that they have turned out to be just incredible kids.”


The pair share a very close bond Photo: Getty Images

Although the President is getting emotional about his daughter leaving home and going off to college, he won't have to worry about that for another year, as it was announced in May that Malia would be taking a year off before heading to Harvard University in fall 2017.

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Before it was announced which school Malia would attend, Barack gave his daughter some tips about picking her college. “One piece of advice that I've given her is not to stress too much about having to get into one particular college. There are a lot of good colleges and universities out there... just because it's not some name-brand, famous, fancy school doesn't mean that you're not going to get a great education there.”

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