Michelle Obama has finally opened up about her controversial decision to skip President Donald Trump’s inauguration.
The former First Lady addressed her absence from the January event, which her husband Barack Obama attended, during Wednesday’s episode of her and her brother’s podcast, IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson, which featured Taraji P. Henson as a guest.
“My decision to skip the inauguration, what people don’t realize, or my decision to make choices at the beginning of this year that suited me were met with such ridicule and criticism,” she said. “People couldn’t believe that I was saying no for any other reason, that they had to assume that my marriage was falling apart, you know.”
She reiterated that she simply skipped the inauguration because it was the best decision for her.
“I’m here really trying to own my life and intentionally practice making the choice that was right for me,” she explained. “And it took everything in my power to not do the thing that was right, or that was perceived as right, but do the thing that was right for me. That was a hard thing for me to do.”
Obama confessed how she “tricked herself” out of going to the event, which started with “not having anything to wear.”
“I’m always prepared for any funeral, anything,” she continued. “I walk around with the right dress, I travel with clothes just in case something pops off. So I was like, ‘If I’m not going to do this thing. I got to tell my team.’ I don’t even want to have a dress ready, right? Because it’s so easy to just say, ‘Let me do the right thing.’”
Earlier this year, the Office of Barack and Michelle Obama issued a statement to confirm that she would not be at Trump’s inauguration. However, Barack Obama was at the event, alongside former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.
The news sparked rumors that Barack and Michelle Obama were getting a divorce, since the former President of the United States had also attended Jimmy Carter’s funeral without his wife.
Earlier this month, the Becoming author finally addressed those divorce rumors during an appearance on Sophia Bush’s Work in Progress podcast.
“The interesting thing is that, when I say ‘no,’ for the most part people are like, ‘I get it, and I’m OK,’” she said. “That’s the thing that we as women, I think we struggle with disappointing people. I mean, so much so that this year people couldn’t even fathom that I was making a choice for myself that they had to assume that my husband and I are divorcing.”
“This couldn’t be a grown woman just making a set of decisions for herself, right?” she added. “But that’s what society does to us. We start actually, finally going, ‘What am I doing? Who am I doing this for?’ And if it doesn’t fit into the sort of stereotype of what people think we should do, then it gets labeled as something negative and horrible.”
Her remark also came days after Barack made a candid revelation about their relationship. During a talk at Hamilton College on April 3, he explained how his presidency affected his marriage of 32 years.
“I was in a deep deficit with my wife,” he said. “I’ve been trying to dig myself out of that hole by doing occasionally fun things.”
Michelle Obama previously opened up about her marriage during an interview with Revolt TV, confessing that “there were 10 years” where she “couldn’t stand” her husband, but added: “I would take 10 bad years over 30. It’s just how you look at it.”
She said the issue stemmed from a realization that the couple’s marriage wasn’t “even” at the time, as she noted that she was taking care of the children and her husband was embarking on his political career. Barack Obama had two terms as US president, which lasted from 2009 to 2017
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