Michelle Obama Shares Intimate Details in Her Memoir 'Becoming'
Former First Lady Michelle Obama was interviewed by ABC's Good Morning America co-host Robin Roberts. The full interview will air on Sunday night, November 11, 2019. Excerpts from the interview were shown on the morning talk show on Friday, November 9.
The interview was about Michelle's 426-page memoir Becoming that will be released on Tuesday, November 13.
Michelle Obama's Memoir 'Becoming'
People will find out that Michelle's memoir is more about her personal life than about politics. She shares some very personal things about her private life that she never revealed in public before.
She shares experiences that shaped her entire life and not just the eight years she spent in the White House with her family. She begins with her childhood on the South Side of Chicago. She talks about her marriage and being a mother in addition to other things that will inspire those who reads her memoir.
During Obama's interview with Roberts, she shares four areas that she details in her memoir. Television producer Shonda Rhimes has already read an advance copy of the book. She said she doesn't think anybody will be prepared to read a memoir like this one.
Others who have already read the books said Mrs. Obama was careful with every word she said and every move she made when she was in the White House. She had the freedom to tell her story her way in her book.
Memoir Divided Into Three Parts
Obama says her memoir is her story and not her husband's or her children's. She describes Becoming as a memoir of a political spouse unlike any other.
She named those who helped her along the way. She also named those who offended her. She said she was unwilling to leave anything out and pretend that it didn't happen.
Michelle divided her memoir into three distinct parts.
- Becoming Me: Growing Up in Chicago's South Side
- Becoming Us: Meeting and Marrying Barack Obama
- Becoming More: Being the First Black First Lady for Eight Years
1. Marriage Counseling
Michelle said people thought she and the 44th President of the United States have already had a perfect marriage. She said the two of them had to work hard at their marriage. She publically admitted for the first time in an interview that she and her husband have been to marriage counseling.
2. Miscarriage
Mrs. Obama confessed that she and her husband struggled with fertility. Her first pregnancy ended with a miscarriage.
At the time she felt lost and alone and a failure. During that time, people didn't talk about miscarriages as they do today.
3. Daughters Conceived Through IVF
After the miscarriage, the Obamas did not give up on having children. A fertility doctor recommended in vitro fertilization (IVF). Michelle talked about how she gave herself daily injections while her husband was away most of the time. She almost resented him for only showing up for doctor visits.
Both of their daughters were conceived through IVF. Malia was born on July 4, 1998. After graduation, she took a gap year. Now she is studying at Harvard.
Sasha, whose real name is Natasha, was born on June 10, 2001. She is a senior in high school.
Both Michelle and Barack Obama have been protective of both daughters as they were growing up perhaps because of the struggle they had conceiving them.
4. Can't Forgive Donald Trump
Michelle explained why she can't forgive President Donald Trump. For almost the entire time her family was in the White House, Trump challenged her husband's place of birth.
The former First Lady said Trump put her family in danger because some mentally disturbed person could have driven to Washington and did harm to her family based on how insistent Trump was with his false birther conspiracy theory that Barack Obama was not born in the United States.
Shortly after Mrs. Obama shared that with Roberts on Friday, President Trump clapped back. He said Michelle put that false information in the book just to sell it.
Book Tour
Michelle Obama is going on a 10-city book tour across the United States. She is starting in her hometown of Chicago on November 13. She will stop in other major cities like Boston, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Jose, and Washington, DC. Oprah Winfrey and Reese Witherspoon will be her special guests in some of the cities.
Bookstores are expecting Becoming by Michelle Obama to be one of the best selling books of the season.
