Michelle Obama has revealed why she skipped Donald Trump‘s second inauguration this past January.
The former First Lady explained her reasoning behind the “hard” decision on the latest episode of her podcast, IMO, which she co-hosts with her brother Craig Robinson.
“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,” Obama explained. She credited her decision to the art of saying no.
The mother of two continued, “People couldn’t believe that I was saying no for any other reason that they had to assume that my marriage was falling apart. While I’m here really trying to own my life and intentionally practice making the choice that was right for me— 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.”
Admittedly, opting out of attending the inauguration was a “hard thing for [her] to do.” The 61-year-old explained that she “basically had to trick” herself into not attending by ensuring she had nothing to wear.
“I’m always prepared for any funeral, anything. I walk around with the right dress […] just in case something pops off. So, I was like, if I’m not going to do this thing, I’ve 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,’” she continued.
Former president Barack Obama was present at the inauguration. For the Becoming author, though, this was her practicing the “art of saying no,” which is a “muscle” she’s “just now starting to build.”
“After all that I’ve done in this world, if I still have to show people that I love my country, that I’m doing the right thing, that I am going high all the time, all I’m doing is keeping that crazy bar that our mothers and grandmothers set for us,” Michelle explained.
Despite her not attending former president Jimmy Carter’s funeral, she and Barack are “still going strong” after over three decades of marriage.
Watch the full episode of IMO with special guest Taraji P. Henson, where the women speak on the burnout and boundaries as Black women, above.
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