Former US First Lady, Michelle Obama has revealed another reason why she skipped President Donald Trump’s second inauguration.
Her husband attended Jimmy Carter's funeral and Trump's inauguration without her in January.
Obama initially said it was a choice she made 'for herself', but she has now shed new light on the decision.
“It started with not having anything to wear,” Obama said in a Monday episode of her podcast, “IMO with Michelle Obama & Craig Robinson.”
“I mean, I had affirmatively, cause I’m always prepared for any funeral, anything,” Obama added. “I walk around with the right dress, I travel with clothes just in case something pops off. So 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.”
Before the inauguration, former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama shared a statement with the Associated Press confirming the former first lady would not attend the January 20.
“Former President Barack Obama is confirmed to attend the 60th Inaugural Ceremonies,” the statement read. “Former first lady Michelle Obama will not attend the upcoming inauguration.”
Michelle Obama also did not attend former President Jimmy Carter’s funeral on January 9.
During the conversation with Robinson, her brother, and actor Taraji P. Henson, Obama recognized the speculation about her marriage being in trouble as the reason why she skipped the inauguration.
“My decision to skip the inauguration, what people don’t realize, or my decision to make choices at the beginning of this year that suited me were met with such ridicule and criticism,” she said. “People couldn’t believe that I was saying no for any other reason, that they had to assume that my marriage was falling apart, you know?”
Henson praised Obama’s decision not to attend, saying that women are “shock absorbers.”
“You’ve had to be shock absorbers for your husband, for your children, for your mom, for family, your loved ones, because of where you were sitting in the public eye,” Henson said. “That’s not fair to you. When do you ever get to live for you? I applaud you. I’m happy that you are taking care of yourself in the way that you need to.”
Obama said that now, she is trying to teach her daughters, Sasha and Malia, “the art of saying no.”
“I want them to start practising now the art of saying no, because I see it in them — pleasing, excelling, not wanting to take anything for granted, always showing gratitude,” Obama said. “Feeling like they’re enough right now. It’s a practice. It’s a muscle that you have to build. Because if you don’t constantly build it, you don’t develop it.”
She also knocked down the divorce rumours during an April 9 podcast conversation on Sophia Bush’s “Work in Progress” podcast, saying that skipping the inauguration had nothing to do with her marriage.
“I’m here really trying to own my life and intentionally practice making the choice that was right for me,” Obama said. “And it took everything in my power to not do the thing that was perceived as right, but do the things that was right for me — that was a hard thing for me to do.”
