Former first lady Michelle Obama in an interview with CBS This Morning co-host Gayle King at Essence Festival on Saturday discussed how she and her family handled Inauguration Day and their departure from the White House.
The New York Times best-selling author touring for her memoir, Becoming, Obama called the Trumps the “other family," reported Essence, and described the inauguration crowd as “not reflective of the country.”
“And then we had to meet the Trumps,” said Obama. “That day was very emotional and then to sit at that inauguration and to look around at a crowd that was not reflective of the country, and I had to sit in that audience as one of the handfuls of people of color, all that I had to hold on to over those last 8 years, and it was a lot emotionally. By the time I got on the plane, it was a release of 8 years of trying to have to show up as we all know we have to do not only perfectly, but a little bit better than perfect to even be considered equal."
When asked about her husband Barack’s legacy “and how it felt to watch everything his administration built be dismantled,” Obama replied:
'People ask me that question all the time and I can honestly say, our upset wasn’t over our legacy. We weren’t there to instill our legacy, but the upset it would cause the country. What saddens me is what it’s doing to the country as a whole. What we have to be really conscientious of is what kind of country we’re leaving for our children or grandchildren.'
The former First Lady talked about a host of topics, including marriage, women need to put themselves first, and how she had to overcome an "angry black woman" stereotype as a public figure.
As to whom she plans to support among the saturated field of 2020 Democratic hopefuls, Obama said that she will be getting “behind whoever comes out of that primary, so we're watching everyone, we're supporting everyone, we're giving advice to whoever seeks it.”