Michelle Obama said she had to develop a “thick skin” while she was the US first lady because politics in her country was “not honest”.
Speaking at an event organised by Growth Faculty, a company focused on workplace leadership, in Melbourne on Tuesday, Ms Obama recalled the racist abuse she faced during her time in the White House as well as the backlash over her initiatives to promote healthy eating among children.
She was compelled to develop a “thick skin” to cope with the pressure and hostility, Ms Obama said.
“That’s what I don’t like about politics,” she said. “It’s not honest. It’s not true.”
“The current administration has just launched an entire initiative around health and obesity. The same administration that criticised me and called me the nanny state and told me to stay away from fast food and get out of people’s menus,” she continued, “it was never real.”
“Understanding that, putting it aside, and just doing the work is what I had to do.”
Ms Obama, who reportedly has a net worth of about $70m, also said that chasing money did not lead to fulfilment and that many billionaires she knew were not necessarily happy people.
“I know plenty of billionaires, many of them are not happy people in the world. They’ve got a lot of stuff, but that’s what they focus on, just accumulating stuff,” she said.
“I guess I don’t agree with the fact that they are getting away with all of this and it seems to be fine,” she added. “It isn’t fine. None of this is fine.”
She also spoke about how there was a “lot of injustice and unfairness happening in the world”.
“Nobody’s happy. We don’t feel better. No one is feeling better. I can see that and feel that. So going low doesn’t work,” the former first lady argued. “Our economy isn’t better. We’re seeing a lot of injustice and unfairness happening in the world. Our kids are feeling a level of depression. We’re worried more about the cost of living. Things are not better. It’s not working.”
Ms Obama popularised the phrase “When we go low, we go high” during her time as the first lady. She, however, admitted that she had to “go low” sometimes by venting in private.
“Going high isn’t just a public act of stoicism all the time. It is a measure of how we should behave as adults in the real world. You go have your tantrum in the closet, like a real adult,” she said.
“Don’t call yourself a leader and not have the personal discipline to just shut up and think.”
