We’ve loved Michelle Obama these past few years. She has shown what it is to be a true Career Girl, battling problems with grace, raising her children and supporting her husband while refusing to be overshadowed by him. She was a perfect role model for women not just in America, but all over the world. Michelle Obama’s exit interview with Oprah was touching, and at times tough to watch, because it means she’s really leaving us.
But she opened up about all the issues she never had before, and we took some notes. Here are our favorite bits from her final interview.
1. She had to toughen up to deal with being First Lady
“Let us not forget: I didn’t just wake up First Lady,” she told Oprah. “I mean, I went to law school, I practiced law, I worked for the city, I ran a nonprofit (and) I was an executive at a hospital. I’ve been in the world. I’ve worked in every sector, and you don’t do that without coming up against some stuff. You know, having your feelings hurt, having people say things about you that aren’t true … Life hits you, so over the course of living, you learn how to protect yourself in it. You learn to take in what you need and get rid of the stuff that’s clearly not true.”
2. She supports Donald Trump’s presidency
Despite the fact she called the result “painful”, she said it’s important to support the President, no matter who it might be, “because if he succeeds, we all succeed,” she explained. “For all the people out there, they have to understand that, as I’ve said time and time again, words matter,” she said. “And they matter most to our kids, our young people. And the words that we say moving forward, all of us, it matters, which is one of the reasons why Barack and I are so supportive of this transition.”
3. She won’t run for President
“Sixteen years, I wouldn’t do that to my kids because what people don’t understand is that you run, their lives stop, at any age,” she said. “The next family that comes in here, every person in that family, every child, every grandchild, their lives will be turned upside down in a way that no American really understands.”
4. She thinks hope is important
She told Oprah that her husband’s slogan wasn’t all about hope just because he hope it would get votes, and that her family tried to bring hope and happiness to America. “I feel Barack has been that for the nation in ways that people will come to appreciate. Having a grown-up in the White House who can say to you in times of crisis and turmoil, ‘Hey, it’s going to be okay. Let’s remember the good things that we have,'” she said.
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