Photo Credit: Shannon Finney / Stringer
Excerpts of Michelle Obama’s new book, Becoming, have leaked and the review are rolling out, but today, readers everywhere can experience what it was like for Chicago’s Michelle Robinson to become our #ForeverFirstLady Michelle Obama.
From heartbreak and humiliation to historic memories, Auntie Michelle get real about her life in the White House, and it highlights the many reasons she’s becoming to us all.
“This book has given me a moment to be able to step back [and reflect] on all that just happened. I am proud. I’m proud of my husband, I’m proud of myself as a family – and not just the girls, but grandma. We did okay,” Mrs. Obama told Steve Harvey and his millions over listeners nationwide.
Steve told the former First Lady she and her family did more than just okay. “You all are something the nation can be proud of,” he said.
Mrs. Obama responded by saying, “You can’t be great without a great support system. Thank you for everyone that voted in the recent elections. Your vote does matter.”
As the former First lady described her book to Steve, the morning show crew, and their listeners, she said, “I say the book is a story of an ordinary life lived in an extraordinary way. Even though my parents didn’t go to college, even though my grandparents didn’t go to college, they had expectations of us as people. Every day I live to make my family proud and my community proud. But there’s nothing new … there are communities like the one I grew up in all over this nation. People think we don’t exist … they think there’s one image to be Black…and that’s why I’m proud to tell my story because I want people to know all of who I am and to not mistake that one.”
She continues, “It’s about Michelle Robinson who grew up about the Southside of Chicago …I get asked all the time, ‘How did you go from being a young girl in the Southside of Chicago to being the First Lady of the white house. This [book] is the answer to that.”
Mrs. Obama wrapped her interview with Uncle Steve and the crew by talking about the importance of positive male role models, and how the men in her life – her father, brother, uncles, cousins – helped mold her.
“I was not a second class citizen among the men in my household. My voice was important to my father. Having a strong man who loves you deeply and a brother that loves you deeply – who will do anything for you – I think that armed me and that equipped me to handle anything.”
Becoming is available in bookstores and digital platforms today!