Michelle Obama Says She Was 'Uncontrollably Sobbing' After Trump's Inauguration
The former First Lady revealed that she cried for over half an hour after she and former President Barack Obama boarded Air Force One to leave the White House for the last time. "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 First Lady said. She described how emotional she felt at Trump's inauguration on January 20, 2017, after eight years in the White House. She explains in the latest episode of her podcast that it was basically the only home her children had ever known.
"That day was so emotional for so many different reasons," Michelle said. "We were leaving the home we had been in for eight years, the only home our kids really knew. 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." Michelle also divulged that she was not at all happy on the day that Trump took her husband's place in the Oval Office. She pointed out the lack of diversity she noticed at his inauguration.
"To sit on that stage and watch the opposite of what we represented on display – there was no diversity, there was no color on that stage," Michelle noted. "There was no reflection of the broader sense of America. Many people took pictures of me and they're like, 'You weren't in a good mood?' No, I was not! But you had to hold it together as you do for eight years." She also poked fun at Trump's claims that 1.7 million people came to his inauguration. The former First Lady argued that there "weren't that many people there."
"You walk through the Capitol, you wave goodbye, you get on Marine One, and you take your last flight flying over the Capitol," Michelle continued. "There weren't that many people there – we saw it, by the way!"
Barack had similar concerns and emotions about the day as his wife. He opened up about his concerns the day Trump took over during a 2017 interview with Prince Harry. "Well, the first thing that went through my mind was, sitting across from Michelle, how thankful I was that she had been my partner through that whole process," Barack said, adding that he "had concerns about how the country moves forward but overall there was a serenity there more than I would have expected."