Michelle Obama Covers ELLE / Interviewed By Oprah About Memoir, Marriage, & More

Published: Monday 12th Nov 2018 by Sam

Michelle Obama may no longer be a resident of White House, but she remains one of the world’s most revered women.

And now the former First Lady is inviting the masses to get to know her by way of new memoir, ‘Becoming Michelle Obama.’

Due in stores tomorrow (November 13th), the book sees the Harvard and Princeton graduate wax honest about her personal journey, her marriage to Barack Obama and the challenges they faced, her stint as First Lady, Donald Trump, and much more.

Already hailed as the year’s most compelling page-turner, the memoir is the subject of a rivetting feature in ELLE’s December issue – which Michelle covers.

Oprah Winfrey takes on interview duties and asks about…well…everything.

Peep pics and excepts below…


On Having The Eyes Of The World On Her & Her Husband:

“We felt the pressure from the minute we started to run. First of all, we had to convince our base that a black man could win. It wasn’t even winning over Iowa. We first had to win over black people. Because black people like my grandparents—they never believed this could happen. They wanted it for us. But their lives had told them, “No. Never.” Hillary was the safer bet for them, because she was known. Opening hearts up to the hope that America would put down its racism for a black man—I think that hurt too much. It wasn’t until Barack won Iowa that people thought, Okay. Maybe so.”


On Her Role In Her Family During Barack’s Presidency:

“(I was always) trying to be the calm in his swerve. You know, when the leaves are blowing and the wind is rough, being a steady trunk in his life. Family dinners. That was one of the things I brought into the White House—that strict code of, You gotta catch up with us, dude. This is when we’re having dinner. Yes, you’re president, but you can bring your butt from the Oval Office and sit down and talk to your children. Because children bring solace. They let you turn your sights off the issues of the day and focus on saving the tigers. That was one of Malia’s primary goals; she advocated throughout his presidency to make sure the tigers were saved. And hearing about what happened with what school friend. Immersing yourself in the reality and the beauty of your children and your family. Plus, on the East Wing side, our motto was, we have to do everything excellently. If we do something—because the First Lady doesn’t have to do anything—

We were clear that what we were going to do was going to have impact and was going to be positive. The West Wing had enough going on; we wanted to be the happy side of the house. And we were.”


On Marriage Challenges:

“I know that people look to me and Barack as the ideal relationship. I know there’s #RelationshipGoals out there. But whoa, people, slow down—marriage is hard!

Oh God, yes. I am like a lit match. It’s like, poof! And he wants to rationalize everything. So he had to learn how to give me, like, a couple minutes—or an hour—before he should even come in the room when he’s made me mad. And he has to understand that he can’t convince me out of my anger. That he can’t logic me into some other feeling.”

On Barack Only Feeling He Could Pursue Politics If He Had Her Blessing:

“Imagine having that burden. Could he, should he, would he? That happened when he wanted to run for state Senate, then Congress, then the U.S. Senate. I knew Barack was a decent man. Smart as all get-out. But politics was ugly and nasty. I didn’t know that my husband’s temperament would mesh with that. And I didn’t want to see him in that environment. But then on the flip side, you see the challenges that the world is facing. The longer you live and read the paper, you know that the problems are big and complicated. I thought, Well, what person do I know who has the gifts that this man has? The gifts of decency, first and foremost, of empathy second, of high intellectual ability. This man reads and remembers everything, you know? Is articulate. Had worked in the community. And really passionately feels like “This is my responsibility.” How do you say no to that? So I had to take off my wife hat and put on my citizen hat.”

On Life After The White House:

“I now have time to think about what had just happened over the last eight years. Because what I came to realize is that there was absolutely no time to reflect in the White House. We moved at such a breakneck pace from the moment we walked in those doors until the moment we left. It was day in and day out because we, Barack and I, really felt like we had an obligation to get a lot done. We were busy. I would forget on Tuesday what had happened on Monday. I forgot whole countries I visited, literally whole countries. I had a debate with my chief of staff saying, “You know, I’d love to visit Prague one day.” And Melissa was like, “You were there.” I was like, “No, I wasn’t. Wasn’t in Prague, never been to Prague.” She had to show me a picture of me in Prague for the memory to jog.”

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‘Becoming Michelle Obama’ will also be supported by a 10-city international tour, which’ll see the 54-year-old expand on the many fascinating layers of her life.

Your thoughts?

[Photo Credit: ELLE / Miller Mobley]

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  1. Fancy BISH November 12, 2018

    Phenomenal woman! ??

  2. arjun November 13, 2018

    What a woman
    I live when she admit mariage is hard
    Thats a truth

  3. Cruz November 13, 2018

    Icon – Beautiful human, period.

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