Former US First Lady, Michelle Obama has shed light on her absence from President Donald Trump’s inauguration earlier this year, revealing the personal motivations behind her decision in a candid conversation on her podcast ‘IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson’, co-hosted with her brother.
Speaking with actress Taraji P. Henson on Wednesday’s episode, Obama explained that her choice to skip the event, as well as her absence from former President Jimmy Carter’s funeral on January 9, stemmed from a desire to prioritize her own well-being.
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“My decision to skip the inauguration, you know, what people don’t realise, or my decision to make choices at the beginning of this year that suited me, were met with such ridicule and criticism,” she said.
She said that public speculation quickly turned personal, with many assuming the worst.
“People couldn’t believe that I was saying no for any other reason. They had to assume that my marriage was falling apart.
“While I’m here really trying to own my life and intentionally practise making the choice that was right for me,” she added.
According to Obama, her decision was part of a larger commitment to honoring her own needs, even when they conflicted with public expectations.
She said, “It took everything in my power to not do the thing that was perceived as right, but to do the things that were for me. That was a hard thing for me to do.”
To avoid wavering, she deliberately removed any temptation to backtrack.
“It started with not having anything to wear. I mean, I had affirmatively because I am always prepared for any funeral, anything. I walk around with the right dress, I travel with clothes just in case something pops off.
“So I was like, if I am not going to do this thing, I’ve got to tell my team, I don’t even want to have a dress ready.
“Because it’s so easy to just say, ‘Let me do the right thing,” she added.
The former First Lady also emphasised that setting personal boundaries was about more than just self-preservation—it was about setting an example for her daughters, Malia (26) and Sasha (23).
She further said, “I want them to start practising now the art of saying ‘no’, Because I see it in them — pleasing, excelling, not wanting to take anything for granted, always showing gratitude, feeling like they’re enough right now, right? It’s a practice. It’s a muscle that you have to build, because if you don’t constantly build it, you don’t develop it.”
Obama had echoed similar sentiments earlier in April during an appearance on the Work in Progress podcast with Sophia Bush, where she addressed the societal pressure on women who choose themselves.
“So much so that this year, people couldn’t even fathom that I was making a choice for myself, they had to assume that my husband and I were divorcing.
“This couldn’t be a grown woman just making a set of decisions for herself, right? But that’s what society does to us. We start actually finally going, ‘What am I doing? Who am I doing this for?
“I feel like it’s time for me to make some big-girl decisions about my life and own it fully,” she said.
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