Michelle Obama: My upbringing helped me realise I can figure anything out
By Carla Feric, Press Association Entertainment Reporter
Former US first lady Michelle Obama said she was “required to figure things out” growing up, which helped her realise “there isn’t anything I can’t figure out”.
The 62-year-old was flanked by her brother Craig Robinson during an event at SXSW in London, which saw the pair in conversation for their IMO podcast reflecting on their upbringing, education and parenting.
Obama discussed how she was given the freedom to make her own decisions in her youth and said she hopes she parents her daughters – Sasha and Malia – in a similar way.
While appearing on stage at The Truman Brewery in London, she said: “Everybody is trying to curate their kids’ experiences, and ours were just not.
“Our parents did not feel like our lives were theirs to manage or to make better or worse.
“We had food on the table, and lots of love, and lots of attention, but unlike some parents I know they weren’t riding on our highs and lows.
“We were required to figure things out and go to them for counsel, but not for intervention.
“So you leave home having practiced those skills, and you start thinking at a very young age, ‘there isn’t anything I can’t figure out’.”
Obama recounted pivoting her career from working as a high-powered lawyer to the “grit and scrum” of city work, and discovering that “helping people” motivated her.
She said: “That is what got me up every day, feeling really excited, and nobody taught me that or teaches young people that in college.”
She credited her mother and father for “pushing us” and encouraging her independence, and reflected on how she and husband Barack – the former US president – parent their daughters.
She told the crowd: “I encourage Malia and Sasha, and I encourage a lot of young people – do not go straight through (to work or further education).
“Don’t be afraid to slow it down and have some experiences. If I were to do it again from college to law school or grad school, I would have done a gap year or two.”
On why she has turned to podcasting, the former first lady said: “I feel like I have a responsibility having had opportunities, exposure, and to have sat at every powerful table there is.
“I have seen it all, every table I’ve been at, and I feel like it’s my job to come down from the mountain and be like, ‘This is the mood.’
“There’s so many people like me, like you, women, minorities, folks who aren’t supposed to be at these tables, because they are sitting around thinking that they’re imposters.”
Obama, who wore a beige boat neck top with a ruffle detail, a vibrant orange skirt and white heels, continued: “I think my honesty and vulnerability, and the kind of conversations we have in podcasting, that’s good.
“I think it’s a good space to share some of these experiences so that we demystify all of life. Let’s talk about it, so that people aren’t growing up unaware of some obvious things and mistakes.
“I think you have to be willing to be vulnerable to be in the space of podcasting, and I think my life has prepared me for that.”