She's an Ivy League grad, a mother, an activist,
and a former first lady who encouraged an
entire nation to embrace health and wellness.
Yes, she also amazingly supported her husband
throughout his historic presidency, but there's
so much more to her story.
It's the untold truth of Michelle Obama.
Her partner in crime
With the ever-growing state of divisiveness
in American politics, there might not be a
more unlikely friendship than the one between
George W. Bush and Michelle Obama.
However, the pair legitimately seems to enjoy
each other's company despite being on different
ends of the political spectrum.
"He’s my partner in crime at every major
thing where all the formers gather.
So we're together all the time, and I love
him to death.
He’s a wonderful man."
Speaking with Bush's daughter Jenna Bush Hager
on the Today show, the former First Lady was
asked why people were so enamored by her relationship
with the former president.
"The political discourse, the way it's shown
in the media is, it's all the nasty parts
of it."
Obama added she hoped the country could, quote,
“get back to the place where we didn't demonize
people who disagreed with us.”
Questlove's playlist
Per People, The Roots drummer Questlove attempted
to make a playlist for former President Barack
Obama, but he never got around to finishing
it.
Thankfully for Michelle Obama, Questlove got
over his playlist-block and curated an epic
three-volume playlist, which includes songs
from Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Kendrick
Lamar, and Beyoncé in its 1,125 tracks.
Questlove told People:
"It was such a task, but I'm glad to have
gotten these songs over to her.
Now, I feel like my mission of getting the
Obama's music is finally done, some 10 years
later."
Marriage counseling worked
Michelle and Barack Obama celebrated their
26th wedding anniversary in October 2018,
but during an appearance on The Tonight Show,
the Harvard grad told host Jimmy Fallon the
couple weren't always, quote, "hashtag relationship
goals" and needed marriage counseling.
"I was like, 'Dr. X, please fix him.'
And then our counselor looked over at me,
I was like, 'What are you looking at?
I'm perfect.'"
She went on to say that marriage counseling
helped her understand that it wasn’t her
husband’s job to make her happy.
Trump unforgiven
During a March 2011 interview on Good Morning
America, Donald Trump claimed he had doubts
about Barack Obama's citizenship.
"The reason I have a little doubt, just a
little, is because he grew up and nobody knew
him."
That same month, Trump appeared on The View
and openly challenged the 44th president to
show his birth certificate.
Obama eventually released his long-form birth
certificate in hopes that would shut down
the birther conspiracy theories, but it didn't
work.
Trump doubled-down on the dubious conspiracy
theory, tweeting in 2012, that a source told
him that Barack’s birth certificate was,
quote, “a fraud.”
In Michelle Obama's memoir, Becoming, she
wrote:
"What if someone with an unstable mind loaded
a gun and drove to Washington?
What if that person went looking for our girls?
Donald Trump, with his loud and reckless innuendos,
was putting my family's safety at risk.
And for this I'd never forgive him."
Spousal support
Speaking at London's Royal Festival Hall during
her book tour, Michelle Obama revealed she
only supported her husband's bid for the presidency
because she didn't think America was ready
for a black man to win.
"One of the reasons why I agreed to support
Barack's run for president was that deep down
I was like, 'There's no way he's going to
win.'
And we can just sort of get this out of the
way, and I can be that supportive wife going
'Oh, honey, you tried.
Um, okay, now let's go back to our lives as
usual."
Once Barack ascended to the highest office
in the land, many believed this would usher
in a "post-racial America."
Michelle Obama understood that was a naive
assumption, saying,
"My grandparents' lives were affected by Jim
Crow.
We mistakenly thought that Barack Obama was
going to erase hundreds of years of history
in eight years.
That is ridiculous.”
Royal protocol
If we know anything about the royal family,
it's their staunch adherence to protocol.
So when Michelle Obama and Queen Elizabeth
II shared a friendly hug during a Buckingham
Palace G20 reception in 2009, the gesture
caused a media frenzy.
Per Daily Mail, interactions concerning the
sovereign are perfectly clear:
"Whatever you do, don't touch the Queen."
Per HuffPost, Obama wrote in her memoir how
she worried that the so-called scandal would
draw attention from her husband's efforts
abroad, but her anxiety was unfounded.
She revealed in her memoir that the hug happened
because,
"We were just two tired ladies oppressed by
our shoes."
Fertility struggles
In her memoir, Michelle Obama revealed she
suffered a miscarriage and underwent fertility
treatments to conceive her two daughters,
Malia and Sasha.
"We had one pregnancy test come back positive,
which caused us both to forget every worry
and swoon with joy, but a couple of weeks
later I had a miscarriage, which left me physically
uncomfortable and cratered any optimism we
felt."
The Obamas then turned to IVF treatments to
help them achieve their dream of having children.
But while the former First Lady admits her
husband supported her, his job in Illinois'
state legislature left her feeling alone during
the process.
Discussing the ordeal with Good Morning America,
the former first lady said,
"I felt like I failed because I didn't know
how common miscarriages were because we don't
talk about it.
We sit in our own pain, thinking that somehow
we're broken."
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