Oprah's 2020 Vision Tour Visionaries: Michelle Obama Interview

Ah, so when I started thinking about who has had the biggest impact on the global

vision

of what health, wellness, and empowerment looks like, this person's name came to mind first. Brooklyn, welcome to our World War

2020

vision

ary conversation with the First Lady of the United States. She says it's funny, this makes you feel like deja vu all over again because you were here wearing those golden Balenciaga boots, yeah Barack is like some weird boots, what did you do with those boots? I was like they had saved them. Honey, just calm down, it's one thing when you wear a pair of boots like that, you, you, it's really like they're going to the Michelle Museum, that's right, you know, you don't walk down the street, you match anything with those boots, yeah, You barely get on stage and but does this look familiar?

So I know 20 was 20 19 your year or what was crazy, it was unexpected, yeah, it was a good year, that's because Michelle Obama's book is coming. I know everyone there has it, not only was it the best. best-selling memoir of the year, it's the best-selling memoir of all time and what that tells me I think it's eleven point seven million now, probably twelve since we've been sitting here a billion, what it tells me is which is an It is an extraordinary time to be a strong, confident, secure and, above all, good woman in today's world. I mean, a lot of people saw themselves in my story.

It's also a time to take ownership of our stories and I think that's part of what really resonated with PSA. A lot of people came up and said, Well, you were so vulnerable that it was hard for you to say. I'm sorry, I told you the truth. There were things you covered that were difficult, like problems in your marriage. Problems getting pregnant. It was very difficult to do and my response. No, that's my story. I embrace all aspects of who I am because, like I said, I like my story. I like all the ups and downs and the obstacles in between, yeah, yeah, and I think you know what we learn from people. it's them it's them they gravitate towards other people's vulnerabilities mm-hmm they we gravitate towards each other when we see the best and worst of ourselves because it makes us feel human mm-hmm you know and I think people are connected to humanity of the story What happened that you could never have anticipated on the

tour

?

I mean, didn't you all do 30 cities? We made 34 cities. We did a

tour

in Europe. You know, we toured in Europe, but I believe that and I won't say it was surprising because "What you're feeling here, you know, is that people are hungry for connection, they're hungry for community, what's happening here is that there are people who they get together, they're moving outside of their individual lives and the loneliness that can come with the obsession with social media and In the worlds of Instagram we feel alone and when we get together in a space like this, you know, for whatever reason , whether it's hearing about a book, talking about health, or watching Oprah, reminds us that we're not that interested in likes and people are hungry for it and it's that hunger and I don't take any credit for it. .

I don't think you know I think we underestimate the desire for people to feel a connection with each other. I know all the riddles in this room I paid money to go out and give up a Saturday, we know everything that Saturday I and, like I said, no. There's no one twerking on this stage, you know, people are talking and having conversations, but the current climate talks down to people. We know we think that people don't want to talk about books or deep things and to know, to be really self-reflective when talking about the current climate, you know one of the things that you've become famous for forever is that when we go down, we go up. and that's not always easy, you know, it's not always easy and what I wanted to ask you is that in this climate where the low has reached new lows, yeah, how do you maintain a high and not seem passive and not? you lose your balance because the low has gone down yes yes good because going down is easy that's why people do it it's easy to go down it's easy to lead out of fear it's easy to be divisive it's easy to make people feel afraid that's the easy thing and it's also something to short term and for me, you know, what I learned from my husband, what I learned in eight years in the White House is that this life, this world, is our responsibility and it's much bigger than us, right?

What I have to keep in mind is that normally when I want to get off it's about my own ego, you know, it's not about solving anything, it's not about fixing anything, it's about seeking revenge for what happened to you, yeah, and When you're Oprah, you talk. about the purpose, yes, what it is about and my purpose on this planet is not just to take care of my little ego. You know, there's a bigger purpose for me out there, so when I respond to something I have to think about that light that I have. I'm trying to shine, what a role model I'm trying to be, what are the words I'm going to say and how they're going to affect the young people who look at me, but that's the bigger picture that puts you in a position to think high because If you're thinking long term, you don't take the short term step of getting back at someone here and now today because it makes you feel good in the moment if it's not going to solve a problem if it's not me.

I'm going to move the needle, then you won't go high, you're just being selfish. Yes, I was going to ask you that because you know when you are the rock star that you are and yes, when you are selling out stadiums all over the world. you're a rock star just take it just take it no yeah no just rocks are a rock star role model the most admired woman in the world when you're so well off you carry all those titles does that affect how you make decisions? part of what you think before you make a decision or have an intention I don't know if it's different today but I feel like I have a risk but when I think when you're a public figure I think this that when you have some level of fame or if you have a platform I think and I have always believed that I have a responsibility with that platform and I think about children, I care a lot about young people and I know that what we say is what they hear. comes out of everyone's mouths but me in particular because they're paying attention that it has a lasting effect and I'm a mother, I'm a mother, I care about the children first, so I think deeply about what the children hear me say.

So yes, I take it very seriously and I take the words that I say to children very seriously. You know, when I'm with a young person I want them to listen to me. I want you to listen to me. See them. It's important to them. I know this person who is so famous and has this platform thinks she's beautiful and smart and kind and good yeah like I said before everyone just wants to know that you hear me yeah and that you see me what's the best advice ? Have you given your daughters oh God I give them so much advice they are so sick of me you know now they are in college I have these technological things have I ever had them?

I tell you to remember little things like you're eating some green things, right? What is the one thing that over the years was a recurring theme in your house that you said over and over again? You know, what I tell them is what I keep telling themselves is that they have to walk on their own. walk, you know they can't define themselves by looking at each other or by looking at me or their dad, they have to take the time to get to know themselves, take a moment to discover who they want to be in the world, not who they think.

I want them to not be what the rest of the world says about them, but to really think about how they want to shape their lives and how they want to move in this world, so I don't want them to measure themselves by outside influences and by Girls young people, that is difficult to do, oh no, that is a very difficult thing to do and everyone should understand that it is a responsibility, their industry is bigger. It drives me crazy when it was hard just on cable TV when you're looking at all the pictures and on music videos, I don't know, they're exponentially hard, yeah, with social media when you compare yourself to everyone on social media, so I constantly have to remind them that they have to live in their own skin and that also takes time and I try. to make sure they understand that that developing understanding of who you are is a journey to becoming, you don't know everything when you're 20, no no, you just started doing something right, how did you do it in the white house where you have access to everything and everyone in the world.

I think it's hard for people, no matter where you are in your journey, you want to have a better life than your parents, you want to have children and live comfortably, everyone does, but how? You don't spoil kids when they have access to everything, it was easy for us, you know, because we don't think they deserve it, you know, it's just that it wasn't a hard thing to do, you know, no, the way Barack and I were raised. I mean, first of all, you have to have a partner who shares your value, so it all starts from who you choose, you have to have a good selector because if not all of you come to be parents with the same kind of values ​​and understanding that. things are not parenting, giving things to children is not parenting, it is just that it is a verb, it is something active and attractive and that means that you must know who your children are and that each one of them is different, so you can't just apply the same principles to the first that you applied to the second because they come here totally different, so you know we didn't just show up at the white house.

I'm Michelle from the South Side of Chicago. a small house now I have nice clothes and jewelry, but my mother made my clothes, you know, we were raised with that's enough, you know, you would be grateful for what you have, don't you look at the next thing you would find. be happy with what you have and that's how we work in the White House that didn't change because we moved to a different house you know the house didn't define us it's the values ​​that defined us amen amen to us that's what I heard . We read this even though you know we can't believe anything we read but I know Malia is a junior at Harvard and all together as a family they left Sasha we did it we left Malia too yeah we all did well and I heard with the caravan. with the caravan I tried to hide it but it was there, it's difficult with 20 cars, well, they think we made her make fewer cars, so she had to leave it.

It's always good for any parent dropping off the kids, there is a busy part of the descent. off which is like okay and I'm that person, whereas Barack is like trying to put together a lamp. I'm like a girl, you can't keep all these clothes, you brought a hundred shoes and you live in a dorm, so you can, you can. pick ten, I mean, this is what I'm doing, it's like picking out 10 shoes, you can't bring all those shoes and she was supposed to do that before we got there, which was throwing away her clothes, but look, she I didn't understand what dorm life was and I was like girl, you have three inches of a closet and then you have to figure this out, so if there is that hustle of trying to move and pack, unpack, fold clothes and clean a little , put it all together and like that, when you're busy. with things busy you're not thinking about the emotional things so we usually drop them off, take them to the bedroom and then take them to lunch somewhere and that's like our last lunch and when the emotions come that's when we go in. our cars and get on a plane and leave our babies and go somewhere where they will now live, that's when you realize it's like we're all starting to drown, it was late and this is the moment I meet you.

We're leaving, yeah, so we all, you know, tried to stay together, tried to stay together to get her to the car so she wouldn't start crying and then Barack and I cried like babies, you know? Barack gets this ugly. crying loud like you know he did that but we like graduation like we're sitting there he had his sunglasses on and they're giving speeches and you know we're all chatting and we listen and we look down like you're okay . like it's going to kill me for telling that story everything you don't tell them don't tell them so this year is the first time all of you have been empty nesters and what is that light and is it such an easy job?

Oh no. It's really good because the actual energy of a house doesn't change. You know, what I'm saying is that parenting takes up a lot of emotional space and you know my husband was busy being president, so I don't think he understood how much. time, time and energy, don't we wish that yes, just vote, that's all? What I'm saying, just vote, but anyway we digress, but you know, I put a lot of time and energy into making parents think that these girls in the White House because I wish We were trying to make their lives normal, you know, that meant that Weekends were always a pain, right?

You might have to worry about what party they were going to, if there was alcohol, and who was doing what? And I had to know who the parents were. you're trying to do that as first lady, I mean every weekend for me it was hard just following these girls and they went thank God they're living their lives like my mom used to say sometimes you just need to go. out there and live your life and you have your mistakes where I can't see them because I'm tired of watching you walk you know she was there you don't follow them on social media you know you don't, now we have a lot of people you know that was like no, II'm here to shine a light on other young women and that's the great job I've had.

That's how great I feel. that's the work that speaks to me recently you launched a companion that's coming it's called the lovely diary for discovering your voice I gave a lot of them away for Christmas, thank you and I've been keeping a diary, you know, for about 15 years. I love some of the questions you included here. You ask if you could have a conversation with a loved one who has passed away. from a distance that you would ask him that I am asking you you know I wish I knew that they like it I wish I had taken the time to know the complete stories of my grandparents because much of what I talk about are my impressions of what my grandparents must have gone through, I'm talking about my paternal grandfather, dandy, and he was kind of a grumpy old man that I read about and now that I'm older I can look back and think why he was so angry, but that's how he was. because he was a brilliant black man in the era of segregation and Jim Crow who couldn't realize his potential and he was probably very bitter about that and imagine how that would feel.

He wishes he were old and he wishes he had been. old enough to sit down with him and ask him what do you know what he went through how he survived living in a world that had such limited expectations for him when he knew there was so much more for him yes I would like to analyze that so I can get to know him better and the The reason I put these kinds of things in the diary is because that's what our stories are and I want young people in particular to know that there is time now to have some of those conversations with the elders in your life because the more you understand their stories , their journeys, their pains and wounds, you come to understand who they are in a complete sense and then you judge less and are more empathetic.

I wish I understood it. my elders a little bit more, but we grew up in an era where you don't ask anyone, you know, don't ask dandy, so you know, you wish if you could have a conversation, that would be who it would be and I would. that with each of my grandparents describe your perfect day starting with breakfast and ending with dinner mmm well, let's go somewhere warm, we would be in Hawaii or somewhere warm, yes, and I would wake up and exercise. outside I do it, friends, do you have breakfast? Generally no, I'm not a big breakfast person, you know?

I probably wouldn't have breakfast. I would go for a long walk where I could see the ocean and some mountains. Do you love hell? I love being outdoors because a lot of our lives we don't, we don't have the freedom to be outside anymore because of safety, so both Barack and I crave the opportunity to be outdoors and I would do it. I would take a long walk and come home and have lunch with my husband and sit on the beach and read or talk to some of my friends because I love living in my community.

I love having people around. Our house is usually full of people. Do you still cook? No, not even a kitchen counter, that is not one of the things I need to define myself. I don't need the cook. He's not on my personal list now. I know you like it. cook but I like to cook what I want yes I never want to do it okay I could make some hot water for myself and since I can cook you can't cook yes I like to try it and cook for all of you. you've been fed by me you don't do it anymore no and he doesn't no he doesn't either how you take care of yourself after a bad day that's another one from your diary how I take care of myself Myself, after a bad day, I disconnect from the world that makes me feel wrong because it is usually something external.

I'm just taking a break from what you usually watch. I watch TV, but I watch like I like HGTV. I wouldn't, you know? I got into this habit because I never wanted to get caught watching anything that mentioned me or my husband so that cancels out like most news, so I didn't know the news, how do they monitor all the Newsies? We get clips. and I see that I get news in my feed and I tune into it and I have a whole communications team so when something goes wrong they say you need to watch this so in general I had to learn how to do it in the White House because if you don't block it you can eat and if I go to your house like the TV isn't on in the whole house no no you go to Gail's house all the TV oh yeah not all the TVs are yeah now literally so When you go from room to room it's in the air, oh no, that would drive me crazy, that would take me out of it, that was good inside, yeah, so you don't know how to watch the news, but what is it? your favorite TV show, oh gosh, I have a lot of favorite TV shows.

I love Blackish and Moaning and all the songs. I love it. I love comedy. You know, I started watching Creek Netflix shit. It's funny, it's kind of like a modern takeoff. Green Acres for young people, that was a show that aired a long time ago, a long time ago, yeah, so I like comedies, I love the wonderful lady. Maisel I like it too, yeah, I love TV, I love watching TV, I probably watch too much TV, I wasn't listening to myself, I was there, there's this question, ma'am. Kennedy told a story a long time ago about how he saw a congressman's wife sneak silverware out of her purse in the White House, so I wonder if she saw any strange behavior you've witnessed at a House event?

White. Oh God, yes, people you know because people are usually nervous when they come to the White House, so if there's a party, people usually drink excessively because they're nervous, right, because they don't know what to expect, but you can see and the drinks in the White House are strong, so we have I've seen some people fight and I'm not going to mention any names, but we've seen some Spanx and some things, who's more fun to sit next to at a steak dinner ? Stephen Colbert was a fun dinner date because he's so cute and will charm anyone smart enough to really know what's going on and whisper things in your ear that you know are in place, stop it, we're not supposed to laugh, it's time , so he was awake, it was a lovely dinner date and I.

I don't think he knew he was going to be sitting next to me. I don't even think he understood why he was invited, so he tells this story and then I looked up and he looked at his wife and said, "I'm sitting down." next to Michelle Obama and he said all she said was don't embarrass me so I like what's the last new thing you mastered the last new thing I mastered I don't know okay that's hard the last thing new one I mastered No, I'm blanking out, maybe I need to master something. I just started yoga and you like it there.

I do. I do it because this is something I need because I'm getting old so I have to be flexible. I think it's the most important thing, the older you get, the more important it is, so there are all these crazy yoga poses you know, like it was the day before yesterday and they were trying to get us to do something with our chin on the floor, they were kicking our legs. . I got up and thought I was about to talk to Oprah. I can't have a bruised chin, how do you explain to people that I'm trying a stupid yoga pose?

I was going to ask you my next question was what is the last thing on your mind? Did that make you feel really old? Oh, any conversation with a young person, you know, there's a personal feeling here. I have a godson who, as you know, just got his permit and his mom sent me a video of him behind the wheel and dad just tripped me up. because I thought no one should let that kid drive, he's on the road. I mean, he was the kind of kid that girls would go to his house when they were little and come back with scratches on their faces because he was a wild child when he was little and I would come home and think, oh, he must have been like that, he we call boots, you must have been a bujji's house because your face is all scratched up, he is driving, that made me feel old seeing the young people. in my life because being like that, yeah, seeing them in the world, you know, buying food, having conversations about life, like they know something that makes you know what's going on with young people, even though it's like their baby comes out, you know , it's like my kids I can be all fancy and say interesting things and then I get a FaceTime because someone doesn't know how to remove a stain from their duvet cover and I'm like, "oh, he's still a baby because you don't even know how to do it." still do laundry, but that kind of thing makes me feel.

I was asking before. Julian was beside her and she was talking about how her superpower is dancing, hmmm what's yours? Don't know. It's hard for me to think of it as a superpower, but you know, I hope it makes people feel when they see you. I hope that's my superpower: making the people I come into contact with feel seen and heard, especially young people. I hope I have that power to make them feel relevant and complete. You already know. and give them what I didn't have when that what was that when I was that age like the sense of importance and relevance in the world I hope that that is my superpower I hope that my superpower is empathy you know, I try a lot even in these times, to understand what people are going through when they're angry or hateful or when they do things that just don't seem right to them, I try to put myself in their shoes and say there has to be something, there has to be a context that I can understand that helps me. to see how you see the world so I can connect with you on some level and I think that's something that we all lack, you know, it's just the ability to put yourself in someone else's shoes and understand. their pain, their pain, their fears, their loss and seeing them beyond their anger.

I think it's your superpower and I also wonder if every time we see you, I've seen you since 2016, you look alike and so does Barack. Obama like you really discovered what it means to live your best life. Yes, it seems like you all took living your best life to a new level. Do you know? Yeah, I mean, we're happy people, but I you know. you get happy, oh yeah, the white house, yeah, yeah, look, it was an honor to serve, I mean, it was the greatest privilege of my life to serve as first lady of this nation and I will do that and I will continue to work for I try to be a service person to try to make sure my life means something to someone else, but those eight years were hard, I mean, it's hard work and it takes a toll, so anything after that it's like they look really happy and it's like Yeah, yeah, because it's not that, so yeah, we're happy people, but why wouldn't we be?

We have our health, you know, we have each other, we have a sense of purpose, you know, I mean, there are things to complain about, him and I, but we. We two have nothing to complain about, that's why we believe we owe so much because to whom much is given, much is expected, Saúl, I really can't sit here and complain about my life, what worries me are the lives of people who have no voice, the people that don't have jobs, the people that don't have healthcare, there are so many people that are struggling with things so it's hard for me to look at the life that I've been given and I complain about anything so I know that you don't make resolutions, but we are here establishing the commitment contract for a better vision for ourselves.

Do you have a vision for

2020

and beyond? Do you see her? Oh, for us as a people not for you Michelle Obama Oh, for me, okay, it's easier for me that the next phase of my journey to becoming is to really continue to make sure that what I do has meaning and purpose, anticipate someone outside of myself, so My vision in particular is to continue to help young people find, build and support the next generation of leaders to help them understand a broader sense of values ​​within which they can operate because I believe that We are missing that right now that our leaders are not paving a good path for what we want our children to be.

I'm sorry to say that I don't want to make this political in any way, but I think young people are hungry for something and it's time for them to do it. step up and take the initiative because we are getting older and we have to get out of the way for them because they will have answers that we have never thought of, so my hope is to empower the young people. I want to empower the next generation of politicians, community activists, teachers, doctors and lawyers, and I want to be part of establishing a set of values ​​and principles that we can all be proud of in this country, you know, honesty. know empathy, compassion, caring for others, and as you say "honor being" said before, you've also made voter awareness a top priority for this year's presidential election every year.

I mean, what I have said with voter registration is that this is not something that we can do every four years because we have to change the habit of people and of voting, we do not have the habit of being engaged citizens and that is not something that it be done every four years, okay, it's a presidential campaign, register, no. We have to talk about this every day when we want to do something in this country when a company wants to market and sell us something they don't do it every four years they do it every day every minute every 30 seconds tell you what to buy what to do we have to do it with civility and because people don't understand why the government isimportant in their lives because I always say that the government does not have a marketing budget, it cannot be in the teeth, you tell it what it is doing for you and your schools and your roads and your communities, then we start to take it for granted and think that this is all a game, but we have to have these conversations every day, every day, why it's important, why it's relevant to you.

I know and so no, it's not just this year, it's every year, it's not just this election, it's every election we have. We have to change our culture in terms of our engagement in this political process. You've talked about being 56 in the shape you are. You work on this, although every day you have a wellness goal or a wellness potion for yourself. It is balance and understanding of my walk. I have to understand, try to make sure that I understand what healthy means to me, not in comparison to the person walking next to me, not to the person in the magazine, I'm trying to understand what my blood is. pressure level should be and what my flexibility should be and what does cardio mean to me and when do I feel good because we can also overdo it, we can exercise so much and diet so much that we can be skinny and look a certain way but our bodies are broken inside because we are not walking our path, we are walking someone else's path, so I am trying to discover that every day and that changes because in women our bodies change drastically compared to men, we are going through menopause.

There's a lot going on and I don't think we've done enough to understand what aging means for women's bodies. How are we supposed to look? How are we supposed to feel? We're not talking about it enough and I feel like we're in a time where women are old because we spend money, now we have rich women our age, but the market and the fitness market don't talk to us, they don't serve us. , they serve us. catering catering for Malia and Sasha how does this work where do you see it and what are these classes are they catering to young people in their twenties and thirties who frankly don't have money how is that so I want to achieve it I want to push these industries to start thinking about ourselves, women, mature women, so we are operating with very good information about what we should want, but for me, I have to find that in the absence of that information, I have to seek it out for myself and stop comparing myself. to the woman next to me you don't have to compare because you don't represent you represent what Maya Angelou said in one of her poems you make me feel proud to spell my name WOMAN I am you and when I see you walk it makes me I am proud because you are phenomenal but not a woman Michelle, thank you Michelle Obama.