Barack Obama admits relief he never had a son

Barack Obama has admitted he's relieved he never had to raise a son.

The former US president believes he would have had "more difficulty" raising a boy.

Appearing on wife Michelle's podcast, IMO, Barack, 63, acknowledged he was glad they had had daughters Malia, 27, and Sasha, 24, rather than boys.

"I think we did a pretty good job of raising our girls, but I've said often that I think I would have had more difficulty raising a son," Barack said, to which Michelle, 61, replied, "I agree".

Barack added his chief concern lay around his ability to offer empathy to a boy compared with how he had parented his daughters.

"I think I might've been more judgmental, harder," he shared.

He also explained that, having grown up without a father figure in his own life, he lacked role models for creating a successful father-son dynamic.

"I would've tried to - I'd like to think I would have been more self-aware enough to combat that," Barack said, "but I just think father-son relationships, for me, particularly if I don't have a dad around to show it to me, might've been more difficult."

In a 2021 Instagram post, Barack reflected on his sparse relationship with his father.

"I didn't really know my father - he left my mother and me when I was two years old, and only traveled from Kenya to visit us once, when I was ten," he wrote.

"That trip was the first and last I saw of him; after that, I heard from him only through the occasional letter."