Moments after leaving the inauguration of former United States president Donald Trump in 2017, Mrs Michelle Obama broke down into “uncontrollable sobbing” on the presidential airplane.
“When those doors shut, I cried for 30 minutes straight - uncontrollable sobbing - because that’s how much we were holding it together for eight years,” the former US first lady said in The Light Podcast which launched on Amazon’s audiobook service Audible on Tuesday.
Recounting how she had to “hold it together” despite not being in a good mood, Mrs Obama said: “There were tears, there was that emotion. But then to sit on that stage and watch the opposite of what we represented on display – there was no diversity, there was no colour on that stage, there was no reflection of the broader sense of America.”
The podcast follows Mrs Obama’s second book, The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times, in which she reflects on her dealing with relationships, anxiety and self-doubt.
The weekly audio series features conversations she had with moderators including Oprah Winfrey, David Letterman and Ellen DeGeneres during a six-city tour to promote her bestselling book in 2022.
In the first episode, Kids Just Want Our Gladness, Mrs Obama brazenly commented on the crowd size at Mr Trump’s inauguration. His administration had then falsely claimed the turnout was the “largest audience to ever witness an inauguration”.
She said: “You walk through the Capitol, you wave goodbye, you get on Marine One, and you take your last flight flying over the Capitol, where there weren’t that many people there - we saw it, by the way.”
At the same time, Mrs Obama was also overcome by a wave of emotions when leaving the White House.
“We were leaving the home we had been in for eight years, the only home our kids really knew,” she said. Her daughters, Malia and Sasha, are now 24 and 21, respectively.
“They remembered Chicago, but they had spent more time in the White House than anywhere, so we were saying goodbye to the staff and all the people who helped to raise them.”
Mrs Obama served as the US first lady from 2009 to 2017. She was the first African-American woman to serve in this position.
