Malia Obama Wraps Her Arm Around Mystery Man While Visiting LA Museum

Former first daughter Malia Obama was spotted in Los Angeles with a likely new beau wrapped around her arm.

On Wednesday, the 24-year-old Harvard graduate was seen strolling the streets and taking a trip to The Los Angeles County Museum, seemingly wearing matching outfits with an unidentified man, TMZ reported.

While it’s uncertain whether the two were more than friends, they seemed to enjoy each other’s company as they sported “big smiles” in the photos obtained by the online celebrity news outlet.

But the Daily Mail revealed on Thursday that Obama’s mystery man was Ethiopian record producer Dawit Eklund, who was reportedly nine years older than the former president’s eldest daughter.

Eklund, who turns 33 next week, is the co-founder of the record label 1432 R, a Washington, DC-based company specializing in Ethiopian music. It launched in 2014. He is also a registered democrat whose father is a retired State Department officer assigned to several United States embassies across Africa, and his mother is a 66-year-old Ethiopian-born citizen.

This wasn’t the first time the pair got spotted together in public. It was the third time they got caught casually hanging out together in nine days. On July 26, they were first seen “picking up” lunch for takeout, and on Aug. 2 they were spotted taking a stroll together.

In 2016, the Ethiopian producer got featured in an article for Washington Post. The story revolved around his record label and tackled how Ethiopian music evolved into a modern sound from its folk music roots.

“Ethiopian music is super distinct,” Eklund told the outlet, “There are only four or five musical scales that they play in; each has its own meaning and attitude and mood.”

He added that what mainly caught the attention of listeners across the globe was how they were “drawing from this classical and traditional sound and coupling it with electronic sounds,” eventually making a unique and “emotionally resonant” tune.

Eklund studied at the prestigious George Washington University with a major in International Development in Africa. Before pursuing an education in the U.S., he attended the International Community School in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.

Meanwhile, Obama reportedly moved to the City of Angles last year after graduating from the top Ivy League school. She then started to pursue a career in screenwriting in Hollywood.

Obama worked in numerous internships, including a stint in the HBO series “Girls” in 2015 and the independent film studio Weinstein Company in 2017. Earlier this year, she finally landed her first screenwriting stint with American actor Donald Glover for an upcoming Amazon series, reportedly titled “Hive.” The Hollywood Reporter also revealed that it would feature a character with a Beyoncé-like style.

In an interview with Vanity Fair in March, the 38-year-old “Community” actor praised Obama’s talent and her remarkable writing skills since she was able to clearly “communicate” her ideas.

“She’s just like, an amazingly talented person,” Glover said, “She’s really focused, and she’s working really hard.”

Joining the production team would be Glover’s younger brother, “Atlanta” co-writer and executive producer Stephen Glover.