Featured Image Credit: Morry Gash - Pool/Getty Images
Topics: Michelle Obama, Politics, Donald Trump, US News
Gregory Robinson
Topics: Michelle Obama, Politics, Donald Trump, US News
Steven Bartlett asked Michelle Obama why she decided to skip Donald Trump’s inauguration this year, and she responded with a very clear answer.
The former First Lady of the United States was noticeably absent from Trump's ceremony on 20 January, 2025.
Attendees included her husband Barack Obama, alongside other former presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Joe Biden.
Vice President Kamala Harris, who faced off against Trump in the 2024 election, also attended, however, Michelle was nowhere to be seen.
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No reason was given as to why Michelle decided to skip the event, leading to rumours suggesting possible reasons behind her absence, such as alleged marital issues - which she has denied.
However, this could not have been farther from the truth.
During an interview with on The Diary of a CEO, Bartlett asked directly why she skipped Trump's second inauguration and 'take back control'.
After a brief pause, she recalled the question she asked herself: “What do I wanna do in this moment as a box checking - a person who has been box checking her whole life, doing the right thing, trying to always be an example, always going high . I think now I earned ‘how do I feel?’
"Do I want to upend my life and take this trip and leave my peace and my children for this? I didn't have to and that was my choice.
"I would have never made that choice. I would have always done what I thought was the right thing to do for other people to set an example, and I think I just told myself, ‘I think I’ve done enough of that’."
She emphasised that day in January was the ‘perfect time to start’.
Obama skipped Trump's inauguration not long after she missed Jimmy Carter’s funeral, where she would have been seated beside Trump.
She attended Trump’s first inauguration in 2017, which only seemed to add even more criticism this when she didn't attend this time around.
Canadian businessman Kevin O'Leary pointed out on Fox News earlier this year that he thinks the former her behaviour is 'wrong'.
"This tradition has gone on for over 100 years ... You have to respect it. I don't like what she's doing here. I'm against it. I think it's wrong," he said about Michelle missing the inauguration on January 20.
In April Obama gave another answer explaining her absence, saying she stepped back from public events because 'the choice that was right for me'.
Shedding further light on the situation in an episode of her podcast, IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson, on 23 April, Obama and guest Taraji P. Henson spoke candidly about the criticisms they've faced.
“People couldn't believe that I was saying no for any other reason, they had to assume that my marriage was falling apart,” Obama said.
“It took everything in my power to not do the thing that was perceived as right, but do the thing that was right for me, that was a hard thing for me to do.”