Barack Obama says Michelle never wanted to be caught by paparazzi in a bathing suit
Barack Obama is opening up about how he used humor to “maintain perspective” throughout his time as the 44th president of the United States, informing the relatable approach he took in his book A Promised Land. But while writing about the toll that being the country’s leader took on his family, one thing that first lady Michelle Obama was deadly serious about was the promise that she had made to herself when it came to her appearance in front of paparazzi cameras.
“‘This is one of my main goals as first lady. I will not be photographed by the paparazzi in a bathing suit,’” Barack recalled his wife saying for an interview with Vanity Fair. “And she succeeded.”
Although the former first lady was later photographed in a white bikini top and matching shorts while on vacation in 2018, the anecdote stands as one of the highlights of Barack’s book in terms of humor. The former president admitted, however, “Michelle is funnier than me.”
“She’s naturally just a great storyteller,” he continued. “There’s a rule in our household that she can tease me but I cannot tease her. I pointed out that’s not fair, and she says, ‘Yeah. So what?’ I am often the brunt of her humor, and the girls have picked up on that. So at the dinner table, generally, I am the recipient of mockery and jokes.”
Still, he said that not all of his presidency was filled with fun and games, especially when it came to the true impact the position had on his family. Luckily, he had support when it came to expressing these hardships in his book.
“With Michelle, for example. Obviously, a lot of the book is the story of our love and our partnership, and the sacrifices she made for the career path I chose. And, needing to be honest about the fact that she really didn’t want me to be in politics, and it hurt her in a lot of ways,” he said. “I was helped by the fact that she wrote her book first, she had already put out some of that, so that it wasn’t so much me, you know, pulling back the curtain. She had already done that. I was just giving my perspective in terms of how I felt about her distress around some of our decisions.”
Even when it comes to his jokes, he explained, they aren’t all meant to be light, but instead, to show how the entire family used humor as a tool to normalize their experience in the White House.
“Whatever humor comes through in the book is a reflection of me trying to accurately capture my voice, and the back-and-forth with my family, friends, and staff during this journey. I think that all of us use humor, to some degree or another, to help explain the world around us,” he explained. “That was part of how I managed to maintain perspective and take the work of the presidency seriously, or running for president seriously, but not take myself too seriously.”
Read more from Yahoo Life:
Michelle Obama talks experiencing menopause as first lady: 'I can't do this'
Michelle Obama, on podcast, speaks out about experiencing racism: 'White people don't even see me'
Want lifestyle and wellness news delivered to your inbox? Sign up here for Yahoo Life’s newsletter.
