24/04/2025
Michelle Obama breaks silence on why she skipped Trump's second inauguration
The former first lady once again addressed divorce rumors circulated online after the former first lady was absent from Trump's inauguration and Jimmy Carter's funeral earlier this year.
Obama is opening up about skipping out on President Donald Trump's second inauguration.
The April 23 episode of her podcast, Obama and actress Taraji P. Henson talk about the pressures of living in the spotlight and the power of saying no.
My decision to skip the inauguration - or my decision to make choices at the beginning of this year that suited me - were met with such ridicule and criticism, Obama described during the episode.
People couldn't believe that I was saying no for any other reason. They had to assume that my marriage was falling apart.
I'm here really trying to own my life and intentionally practice making the choice that was right for me, she said.
It took everything in my power to not do the thing that was perceived as right, but do the thing that was right for me. That was a hard thing for me to do.
The former first lady revealed she had to basically trick herself into skipping out of the events by making sure she had nothing to wear.
It started with not having anything to wear, she said. 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.'
Obama explained that choosing to skip out on the inauguration and other political events was part of her learning how to say no.
Since leaving the White House, Obama said she has changed her approach to public events and revealed that therapy helped her in making those decisions.
It's a practice, she said. It's a muscle that you have to build. Because if you don't constantly build it, you don't develop it.
And I think we suffered, because it's almost like we started training late in life to build that muscle, right? I am just now starting to build it.
She went on to say she hopes young women start learning different strategies for saying no and that the sooner, the bette
After all that I've done in this world, if I am still showing them that I have to keep, I still have to show people that I love my country, that I'm doing the right thing, that I am always setting.
Going high all the time, even in the face of a lot of hypocrisy and contradiction, all I'm doing is keeping that crazy bar that our mothers and grandmothers set for us.