Former United States First Lady, Michelle Obama, has finally opened up about her decision to skip Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration,a move that sparked speculation and stirred controversy at the time.
While she remained silent during the event earlier this year, the former first lady is now shedding light on the personal reasons behind her choice.
Speaking on the latest episode of “IMO With Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson,” her podcast co-hosted with her brother, Michelle shared the backstory during a candid conversation with actress Taraji P. Henson.
“People couldn’t believe that I was saying no for any other reason, they had to assume that my marriage was falling apart,” 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.”
According to Michelle, the absence wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment decision. She revealed that she took specific steps to ensure she wouldn’t give in to the pressure of appearing at the ceremony.
“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.”
A source close to Michelle previously hinted at her reasoning, telling People magazine that Trump’s history of inflammatory remarks about her family and people of colour influenced her decision.
“She’s not one to plaster on a pleasant face and pretend for protocol’s sake,” the source noted.
For Michelle, the decision not to attend symbolized a deeper personal journey, learning to prioritize her own values over public expectation.
“It’s a muscle that you have to build,” she explained. “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.”
