It may have been Barack Obama’s drive to U.S. presidency that made history back in 2008, but none can doubt that his partner Michelle has been every bit as inspiring.
The 54-year-old mother of two has embarked on several crusades that have left lasting impressions with the public, including her Let’s Move! campaign, The School Lunch Program, and the Reach Higher Initiative. She’s proven time and again what a valuable role model she is for all and sundry.
Sure, her days as First Lady are behind her, but that doesn’t mean she’s retired from the public eye. Far from it, in fact.
On November 11, Michelle appeared on an ABC news special with Good Morning America host Robin Roberts. It was on that show that she opened up on feeling “lost and alone” after suffering a miscarriage two decades ago …
A host of topics were covered by Robin and Michelle, but it was her revelation concerning the miscarriage she suffered that garnered the most headlines.
“I felt lost and alone and I felt like I failed,” Obama said. As per reports, it’s a topic she further explains in her upcoming memoir, Becoming.
“I felt like I failed because I didn’t know how common miscarriages were because we don’t talk about them. We sit in our own pain, thinking that somehow we’re broken.”
Michelle went on to say that she believed her “biological clock” was ticking, leading her and her husband to turn to vitro fertilization in order to conceive their two daughters, Malia, now 20, and Sasha, 17.
She’s spoken candidly on the topic of her miscarriage in the hope that it will help other women forced to endure the same suffering.
“That’s one of the reasons why I think it’s important to talk to young mothers about the fact that miscarriages happen and the biological clock is real because egg production is limited — I realized that as I was 34 and 35, and we had to do IVF,” she said.
“I think it’s the worst thing we do to each other as women: not share the truth about our bodies and how they work and how they don’t work.”
"I felt lost and alone and I felt like I failed," @MichelleObama opens up about her miscarriage and going through IVF. #MichelleObama #Michellehttps://t.co/GG1GiLxNVX pic.twitter.com/i1geKrUAMR
— Good Morning America (@GMA) November 12, 2018
She also opened up on the abuse she sustained whilst on the campaign trail with Barack, before his historic election to the White House seat in 2008.
“I write about those, you know, those nasty times where people, you know, called me Barack’s ‘baby mama,’ you know? Accused me of not loving my country… Told me I was angry,” Obama shared. “And, I was, like, ‘This isn’t me. Wait, wait, people. This isn’t who I am.'”
Of course, in typical Michelle fashion, she wasn’t about to let the doubts and criticism get to her.
I don’t think we do each other a service by pretending like hurtful things don’t hurt,” she said.
“And, that’s what I’ve come to. … I need to own that hurt. I need to talk about it. I need to put it out there for myself so that I can heal from it. But at the time, oh gosh, you know? I wasn’t gonna allow myself to feel victimized from it because there was no time to hurt in that role.”
Michelle’s new book Becoming is released today, November 13.
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