The coronavirus pandemic has decimated the American economy and altered the travel plans of thousands this holiday season. As such, former President Barack Obama has been socially distancing with a new house guest — his daughter’s boyfriend.

The 44th president appeared on The Bill Simmons Podcast on Thursday to talk about sports and the evolving, national social climate during the global pandemic. He also shared that the boyfriend of his 22-year-old daughter Malia has been staying with the Obama family through the holidays.

"He's British. Wonderful young man," the 59-year-old said. "He was sort of stuck because there was a whole visa thing and he had a job set up, so we took him in."

Malia has been connected to Rory Farquharson since 2017, and both are 22-year-olds blazing trails at Harvard, according to ET Online. Apparently, he’s been adapting well to the Obama family values, even learning to play spades.

"Like, I think, a lot of families, we went through that first month where we were playing games every night and doing little arts and crafts projects and then slowly they started to get a little bored with us," he recalled. "Maybe teaching Malia and Sasha, and Malia's boyfriend who was with us for a while, spades. And then having some spades games. Teaching them how to properly trash talk and slap the cards down."

Obama expressed that spending time with his children is different as they transition to adulthood, and he enjoys the people they're becoming.

"It's a blessing because all the teenage stuff is kind of gone now. They're just back, and they love you again, and they want to spend time with you, and they're funny," the A Promised Land author said.

The dad of two said his eldest daughter's suitor is growing on him, and his grocery bill.

"The only thing you discover, young men eat," he said. "It's weird to watch them consume food. My grocery bill went up about 30 percent."

Obama revealed to People last month that both of his daughters are fervent activists that are finding their own platforms as organizers, as Blavity previously reported.

"Their attitude was — we've seen something wrong and we want to fix it, and we think we can fix it," he said. "And we understand that it's not gonna take just a day or a week or one march to fix it. But we're in it for the long haul."

The father of the emerging social advocates said Malia is best described as a person who is buoyant.

"She’s somebody who enjoys people, enjoys life, and enjoys conversation," he said. "She’s never bored, which is a badass quality that can take you places."

Rory-Farquharson

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