The Shady Side Of Michelle Obama
Michelle Obama firmly believes in turning the other cheek and striving to be the better person in confrontational situations, which is quite a feat when it comes to life in Washington, D.C. Still, it doesn't mean that Michelle is totally averse to getting shady from time to time — and when she does, it's pretty epic.
Michelle showed off her salty side when she gave some not-so-subtle digs at Donald Trump during her 2016 DNC speech. The former FLOTUS explained how she and Barack Obama encouraged their daughters, Sasha and Malia Obama, to rise above the political dirt. "We urge them to ignore those who question their father's citizenship or faith," Michelle said. "We explain when someone is cruel or acts like a bully, you don't stoop to their level," she continued. "No, our motto is 'when they go low, we go high.'"
Michelle explained her ethos in a November 2022 "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" appearance. "For me, going high is not losing the urgency or the passion or the rage, especially when you are justified in it," Michelle said. "If going low worked, we'd do it," she continued. "It might be a 'quick fix,' but it doesn't fix anything over the long term." Michelle chooses to adhere to carefully crafted jibes and stealth snarks instead of bombastic rage and incendiary rhetoric. However, that doesn't take the stings out of Michelle's zings.
Barack the slacker
First spouses, they're just like us! Michelle and Barack Obama's relationship is total #CouplesGoals. However, it hasn't always been that way. In fact, the first decade of their marriage was an uphill struggle, just like many mere mortals' romances. Michelle got candid about her and Barack's relationship woes during a December 2022 Revolt TV panel. "People think I'm being catty saying this. It's like, there were 10 years where I couldn't stand my husband," she admitted. "And guess when it happened? When those kids were little."
Michelle said she felt Barack wasn't pulling his weight, managing to jet off on work trips and partake in rounds of golf but unable to fit any quality family time into his packed schedule. Meanwhile, she was left to balance the demands of home life, child care, and a burgeoning career. "For 10 years, while we're trying to build our careers and, you know, worrying about school and who's doing what and what, I was like, 'Ugh, this isn't even,'" Michelle shared, conceding that "marriage isn't 50/50 — ever." Still, Michelle admitted that overall, the good times definitely outweigh the bad in the long run.
"If I fell out with him for 10, and we had [a] great 20 years, I'd take those odds anytime," she told Gayle King in an April 2023 "CBS Morning" interview, explaining it's impractical to like "everybody every day."
The Trump clap back
In her 2018 memoir, "Becoming," Michelle Obama said she could never forgive Donald Trump for placing her family in danger. She slammed him for hatching the birther conspiracy theory and whipping up supporters into a frenzy of xenophobia, questioning, "What if someone with an unstable mind loaded a gun and drove to Washington? What if that person went looking for our girls?"
Michelle's still unforgiving of Trump to this day. She took a not-so-subtle dig at 45 in a January 2024 episode of Jay Shetty's "On Purpose" podcast. When asked what keeps her up at night, Michelle said it's terror over the potential outcome of the 2024 election and the destruction of modern democracy. "What's going to happen in this next election? I'm terrified about what could possibly happen because our leaders matter," Michelle shared. "Who we elect, who speaks for us, who holds that bully pulpit, it affects us in ways sometimes I think people take for granted."
The former FLOTUS threw some serious stealth shade at the bullying pulpit in July 2019. After Trump slammed Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings, referring to his Baltimore district as a "disgusting, rat and rodent-infested mess," Michelle went higher. "On #NationalDanceDay, I'm shouting out the Lethal Ladies, a Baltimore STEP team who I saw perform back in 2017. I'm so proud of you all — and everyone who's dancing today!" she posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, just hours later.
Meghan and Harry's interview swipe
Michelle Obama threw some right royal shade at Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, in March 2021. When Obama was asked about their headline-grabbing Oprah Winfrey sitdown, the former FLOTUS gave a thinly veiled swipe at the controversial couple. Obama was promoting her Netflix children's series, "Waffles & Mochi," when NBC's Jenna Bush Hager asked, "You watched Meghan Markle speak out, what went through your mind?"
"Public service — it's a bright, sharp, hot spotlight, and most people don't understand it, nor should they," she replied. "The thing that I always keep in mind is that none of this is about us in public service; it's about the people that we serve." Obama said she believed nothing is "more important than family" and prayed there would be "love and resolve at some point in time."
Sadly, her prayers have fallen on deaf ears. Royal journalist Omid Scobie, who wrote "Endgame," claimed Harry and Meghan's relationship with The Firm is irreparably damaged following the publication of his warts-and-all memoir "Spare" and the Oprah interview. "I was talking to a source quite early on in [the process of writing my book], and they called Harry a 'defector' and said that was William's view," Scobie told People. "These were two men who once upon a time were firmly aligned in their outlook. One of them had to move on to also protect the crown."
Harsh art critic
Michelle Obama really appreciates works of art. During Barack Obama's time in office, the First Family filled the White House with cutting-edge modern art and works by Black and Native American painters. However, somewhat surprisingly, Michelle gave two thumbs down to the much-lauded National Gallery presidential portrait of Barack — at first, anyway. Luckily for Kehinde Wiley, though, the masterpiece grew on her.
"I got a call, and [Barack] said, 'The first version that you made, I love it. But Michelle doesn't," Wiley shared during a January 2020 sit-down with Swizz Beatz at Creative Mind Talks in Miami.
Although many outside of the art world hadn't heard of Wiley before he scored the coveted presidential gig, he's an experienced portrait painter with numerous famous faces under his belt. The Guardian notes Wiley's painted Michael Jackson and Ice-T, among other notable names. Wiley is the first Black artist to be honored by painting a US president. He's famed for candid visualistic depictions of Black people, painting in a style referencing the Old Masters. Despite Wiley's history of working with the rich and famous, he admitted to being all nerves when it came to Barack, but 44 quickly put him at ease. "I'm in the Oval Office; my hands are shaking," Wiley admitted to Swizz Beatz. "This incredibly tall dashing guy comes in ... there are certain personalities that know that they make you nervous, and so they've evolved — and he's evolved — a way of making people feel comfortable."
More Trump saltiness and shade
Michelle Obama took time to warm to Barack Obama's portrait by Kehinde Wiley. But she immediately took to her and Barack's White House portraits. Michelle was thrilled, gushing her appreciation to all who listened. Still, she couldn't resist shading the person who made her wait five years for their reveal. Presidential tradition dictates that the former head of state returns to the White House for the official unveiling ceremony during his successor's tenure. Donald Trump tore up the rule book, though, forcing the Obamas to wait until Joe Biden came into office. During his introductory speech, Biden hailed Barack as "one of the most consequential presidents in history" and welcomed him home.
Michelle shaded Donald over the diss without mentioning his name during an appearance on "The Tonight Show" in April 2023. "You do your official portraits; the next president is supposed to invite you back to hang them. We were never invited back, so these pictures have been done for a long, long time," she said, quipping, "It's good to see everybody."
Barack and Michelle's official White House Historical Association paintings were created by Robert McCurdy and Sharon Sprung. They will adorn the walls of the People's House alongside those of all the USA's former presidents and first ladies. Meanwhile, the 2018 National Gallery portraits of Barack by Wiley and Michelle by Amy Sherald are part of the Smithsonian Gallery's permanent collection. Sadly, Donald nixed portraits of him and Melania Trump.
Michelle's diss is what it is
Donald Trump's lackluster and chaotic approach to handling COVID-19 resulted in some epic shade-throwing by Michelle Obama. The former FLOTUS got full-on stealth salty during a video released on the opening day of the 2020 DNC.
Jonathan Swan had interrogated Trump earlier in the month in an Axios for HBO interview about his administration's handling of the pandemic. The sitting president doubled down on his refusal to issue a national mask mandate, insisting it wasn't necessary and boasting that COVID-19 was "under control" in the USA. "A thousand Americans are dying every day," Swan said, disputing the claim. "They're dying, it's true," Trump shot back. "It is what it is."
Oh no, it isn't! Not as far as Michelle was concerned, anyway. "[Trump] can not be who we need him to be for us," she said. "It is what it is." Michelle was less flippant when criticizing Trump for his mockery of the Black Lives Matter movement and refusal to acknowledge the USA's racial injustice and police brutality. "As George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and a never-ending list of innocent people of color continue to be murdered, stating the simple fact that a Black life matters is still met with derision from the nation's highest office," Michelle charged. Meanwhile, she was far from finished with the Trump disses. Michelle lambasted the presidential hopeful in a November 2023 speech, accusing him of "[Lashing out] irrationally."