Michelle Obama Puts Ellen DeGeneres On Blast While Revealing Years-Long Grudge

More than a few people have a problem with Ellen DeGeneres after things that transpired on her long-running talk show. DeGeneres ended "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" back in 2022 after nearly two decades on the air. Accusations of toxic workplace problems and not-so-flattering stories from folks who appeared on the show brought the series and DeGeneres' good reputation to an end. Now, a surprising star is speaking out about her own awkward time on the show.

While most of us didn't know it at the time, it's now clear that DeGeneres often made guests on her show uncomfortable. One of those guests was none other than former First Lady Michelle Obama. On the May 13 episode of the "Good Hang with Amy Poehler" podcast, Michelle Obama opened up about her experience on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" in 2012. Obama and Poehler discussed push-ups when the former first lady recalled doing the exercise on DeGeneres' show. According to Obama, she doesn't typically go all the way to the floor when doing push-ups, and she noted that DeGeneres originally brought this to her attention. "That sounds like Ellen" Poehler said, seemingly making a reference to DeGeneres' reputation for rudeness. This inspired laughs from those in the podcast studio. "... My first term she challenged me to a push up competition," Obama recalled, before pointing out, "I'm the first lady, you know?' Obama seemingly didn't think this particular challenge was appropriate under the circumstances, and she may have liked DeGeneres' response even less.

It seems that, at least in Michelle Obama's opinion, Ellen DeGeneres was a bit of a sore loser in their push-up contest. Obama recalled that DeGeneres "heard that I worked out. So I'm on her show doing push-ups, and I did more push-ups than her." While this seems like it would have been a good and even predictable outcome for this challenge, from the sound of it, DeGeneres didn't just want a fun segment for her show; she wanted to win. "She still says I didn't go down all the way," Obama recalled. According to her, "Anatomically, I don't think I can. My arms are very long and she's a much smaller person than me."

Since it's certainly atypical for a first lady to engage in a televised push-up competition, it's easy to see why Obama may not have liked being put on the spot about this. It's also understandable that she might not have been too happy that, after winning, DeGeneres tried to convince the world that she was cheating. Obama seemed to recall this story in a lighthearted way, and it's safe to say that there are no hard feelings. Still, based on the rumors about DeGeneres' behavior with guests on her show, to quote Poehler, this really does "sound like Ellen."