Socrates may have said that the unexamined life isn’t worth living, but Michelle Obama would have preferred it if her life was a little less examined.
Though that wasn’t an option once Barack Obama was elected president.
“People always ask me and Barack, how did we stay hopeful in, not just the eight years that we were in the White House, but beyond?” the former first lady—who shares daughters Malia Obama, 27, and Sasha Obama, 24, with the 44th POTUS—said in March during a taping of her podcast IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson at SXSW. “Because, let me tell you, there was a lot of negative energy flipping our way—a lot of rumors, a lot of gossip.”
Steering clear of the comments section on social media was key to keeping calm and carrying on for Michelle, but, by the time her husband’s second term ended in 2017, she was raring to set the record straight.
And, not least, live her life as she saw fit.
