Rhiannon Ingle
Former United States First Lady Michelle Obama has opened up about the sobering reason why she will not run for president.
Obama occupied the First Lady role from 2009 to 2017, serving during her husband Barack Obama's two terms as president, from his inauguration on January 20, 2009, to the end of his presidency on January 20, 2017.
Now, as we know, the US has never seen a female president, but a number of women have run for POTUS, including Hillary Clinton in 2016, as well as Kamala Harris last year in 2024.
Obama pointed to Democrat Harris' loss against Republican Donald Trump, saying in response to a question from black-ish actress Tracee Ellis Ross on whether there has been enough 'room' created for a woman president: "As we saw in this past election, sadly, we ain’t ready."
Advert
"That’s why I’m like, 'don’t even look at me about running ‘cause you all are lying'. You’re not ready for a woman," Obama continued. "We got a lot of growing up to do, and there’s still … a lot of men who do not feel like they can be led by a woman, and we saw it."
Obama’s discussion with Ellis Ross took place in Brooklyn, New York, to promote her new book titled The Look.
In the text, she opened up about the many different aspects of her personal style and about how she leveraged fashion to shine a light on causes she deemed most important, including education, military families and children's health.
The mum-of-two also opened up about how one specific body part of hers was 'weaponised' against her by the media and critics alike.
One look she donned when accompanying her husband to his first address to a joint session seemed to really send critics into a spiral, with them claiming it was 'too informal', 'inappropriate' and 'out of season' because it showed her arms.
Other notable headlines included 'Up In Arms' as well as 'Sleevegate'.
Obama aptly pointed out that previous first ladies, like Jacqueline Kennedy, had worn sleeveless dresses before - but noted that their take on the silhouette never caused what she described as an 'uproar', noting that the media and public’s 'fascination' with her bare arms was used as a tool to 'otherize' her.
"While I am certainly not the only First Lady to get scrutinised - Hillary was constantly dinged for her preference for pantsuits, and Nancy Reagan was lambasted for her love of haute couture - this felt different," she wrote.
"Barack and I were being portrayed as Black people who didn’t understand the 'rules' of the rarefied world we had found ourselves in and were not unequivocally welcomed into."