Oprah's 2020 Vision Tour Visionaries: Michelle Obama Interview

Oh so when I started thinking about who has had some of the greatest impact on the global vision of what health and wellness and empowerment looks like this person's name came to mind first Brooklyn please welcome our WW 2020 visionary conversation before the first lady of the United States [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] it's funny [Applause] whoa this does this feel like you just feel like deja vu all over again for you because you were here wearing those bag Balenciaga gold boots yeah Barack is like weirdos boots what'd you do with those boots I was like they put away honey just settle it's just thing when you wear a pair of boots like that you you you it's really like they go to the Michelle Museum that's right you know you don't walk around the street match anything with those boots yes barely get on stage and but does this feel familiar so I know 20 was 20 19 your year or what it was crazy it was unexpected yes it was a good year that's because Michelle Obama's book be coming I know everybody in there has it it wasn't just the best-selling memoir book of the year it's the best-selling memoir of all times and what that says to me I think it's like now eleven point seven million probably twelve since we've been sitting here billion what it says to me is that it's such an extraordinary time to be a strong confident assured and above all else well a woman in the world today absolutely I mean so many people saw themselves in my story it's also a time for owning our stories and I think that's part of what resonated with PSA a lot of people came up and said well you were so vulnerable you was it hard for you to tell sorry to tell your truth there were things you covered that were difficult like trouble in your marriage in trouble having getting pregnant was that hard to do and my response is no that's my story I embrace every aspect of who I am because as I've said I like my story I like all the highs and lows and the bumps in between yeah yeah and I think that you know what we learn from that is people are they are they gravitate to other people's vulnerabilities mm-hmm they we gravitate to one another when we see the best and the worst in ourselves because it makes us feel human mm-hmm you know and I think people connected to the humaneness of the story what happened that you could never have anticipated on the tour I mean didn't you all do 30 cities we did 34 cities we did Europe you know tour in Europe but I think that and I won't say that it was surprising because we're feeling it here you know is that people are hungry for connection they're hungry for community what's happening here is that there are people gathering together they're moving outside of their individual lives and the loaning loneliness that can come with social media obsession and Instagram worlds we feel lonely and when we come together in a space like this you know for whatever the reason whether it's to hear about a book or to talk about health or to see Oprah it reminds us that we are not so on a like and people are hungry for that and it's that hunger and I don't take any credit for it I don't I don't think you know I think we underestimate the the desire for people to feel a connection to each other I know all of the riddle in this room paid money to come out to give up a Saturday we know all that Saturday me and as I said ain't nobody twerking on this stage you know people are talking and having conversations but the the current climate speaks down to people you know we think that people don't want to talk about books and talk about deep things and to you know really be self-reflective speaking of a current climate you know one of the things that you have now become famous forever for is that when they go low we go high and that ain't always easy you know it's not always easy and what I wanted to ask you that in this climate where low has taken new lows yeah how do you maintain a high and not appear to be passive and not lose your equilibrium because low is gone lower yeah yes well because going low is easy which is why people go to it it's easy to go low it's easy to lead by fear it's easy to be divisive it's easy to make people feel afraid that's the easy thing and it's also the short-term thing and for me you know what I learned from my husband what I learned in eight years at the White House is that this this life this world our responsibility and it is so much bigger than us right so what I have to keep in mind is usually when I want to go low it's all about my own ego you know it's not about solving anything it's not about fixing anything it's about seeking revenge on the thing that happened to you yeah and when you as Oprah you talk about purpose yes what it's all about and my purpose on this planet is not to just take care of my own little ego you know there is a bigger purpose for me out there so when I respond to something I have to think about that light I'm trying to shine what role model am I trying to be what what are the words that I'm gonna say and how will it affect young people who are looking at me but that's the bigger picture that puts you in a position to think high because if you're thinking about the long term you don't take the short-term measure of getting even with somebody right here and now today because it makes you feel good in the moment if it's not gonna fix a problem if it's not I'm gonna move the needle then you're not going high you're just being selfish yeah I was going to ask you that because you know when you are the rock star that you are and yes when you're filling stadiums all over the world you're a rock star just take it just take it no yes not just rocks are rock star role model world's most admired woman when you are that well you carry all of those titles does that affect how you then make decisions the is that now a part of what you think about before you make a decision or have an intention I don't know that it's any different today but I feel like I have a risk but when you I believe that when you are a public figure I believe this that when you have any level of a Fame or if you have a platform I believe and I always have believed that I have a responsibility with that platform and I think about kids I care a lot about young people and I know that what we say what they hear come out of our mouths all of us but me in particular because they're paying attention that it has a lasting effect and I am a mother I'm a mother I care about kids first so I think deeply about what kids are hearing me say so yes I do I take that very seriously and I take the words that I say to children very seriously you know when I'm with a young person I want them to hear me I want them to hear me see them it's important for them to know that this person who's so famous and has this platform thinks that they are beautiful and smart and kind and good yeah as I said earlier that everybody just wants to know that you hear me yes and that you see me what's the best advice do you think you've given your daughters oh gosh I give them so much advice they're so sick of me you know now that they're in college I have these tech ding did I ever did I tell you to remember little things like you are eating some green things aren't you what is the thing that over the years was a running theme in your house that you said over and over there you know what I tell them is what I continue to tell themselves is that they have to walk their own walk you know they they cannot define themselves by looking at each other or looking at me or their dad they have to take the time to get to know themselves give themselves a moment to figure out who they want to be in the world not who they think I want them to be not what the rest of the world says about them but to really think about how they want to shape their lives and how they want to move in this world so I don't want them measuring themselves by external influences and for young girls that is hard to do oh no that is a very hard thing to do and everybody should understand that is responsibility its industry larger it drives me crazy hard when it was hard with just cable TV when you're watching all the images and in music videos it's I don't know exponentially difficult yeah with with social media when you're comparing yourself to everybody on social media so I constantly have to remind them that they have to live in their own skin and that takes time too and I try to make sure they understand that that that unfolding of understanding who you are it it is a journey of becoming you don't know it all in your 20s no you don't you just started to go something right how did you do that in the white house where you have access to everything and everybody in the world I think it's difficult for people no matter where you are in your trajectory you want to do have a better life than your parents you want your children and live comfortably everybody does but how do you not spoil children when they have access to everything it it was easy for us you know because we don't think they deserve it you know it's about it wasn't a difficult thing to do you know no the way me and Barack were raised I mean first of all you got to have a mate that shares your value so it starts way back to who you pick you got to have a good picker because if you all don't come to parenting with the same kind of values and understanding that stuff doesn't isn't parenting giving kids things is not parenting is that it is a verb it is an active engaging thing and that means you got to know you your kids are and each one of them are different right so you can't just apply the same principles to the first one that you did to the second one because they come here totally different so we you know we didn't just show up in the white house you know we I'm Michelle from the south side of Chicago a little bitty house I got nice clothes and jewelry now but my mother made my clothes you know I mean we were raised with that's enough you know you'd be grateful for what you have you don't look at the next thing you'd be happy with what do you have and that's how we work in the White House that didn't change because we moved to a different house you know the house didn't define us it's the values that defined us amen amen for us so I heard we read this although you know we can't believe anything we read but I know Malia's third year Harvard and you all all together as a family dropped Sasha off we did we dropped Malia off too yes we all did okay and I heard with the motorcade with the motorcade tried to hide it but it was there it's hard with 20 cars well they think we had him do less cars okay so it had to drop off it was it's always good for any parent who dropped off kids there's the busy part of drop off which is like okay all right and I'm that person while Barack is like trying to put together a lamp I'm like girl you cannot keep all these clothes you brought a hundred shoes and you live in a dorm so you can you can pick ten I mean this is what I'm doing it's like pick 10 shoes you cannot bring all those shoes and she was supposed to do that before we got there which was winnow her clothes but see she didn't understand what dorm life was and I was like girl you got three inches of a closet and so you gotta figure this out so if there's that busyness of trying to move in and pack unpack and fold clothes and clean up a little get it all together and so when you're busy with the busy stuff you're not thinking about the emotional stuff so usually we then drop them off get them in the dorm then we take them out to lunch somewhere and that's like our last lunch and when the emotions come is when we are getting in our cars and getting on a plane and leaving our babies and they're going somewhere where they will now live that's when it hits you it's like we all start choking up it was just late and just like this is the time when I know you're leaving yeah and so we all you know try to hold it together we tried to hold it together to get her in the car so she wouldn't start crying and then me and Barack we bawled like babies you know Barack has that get that ugly loud cry like you know he did that at but we as a graduation like we're sitting there he had his sunglasses on and and speeches are happening and you know we're all chatting and we hear and we look down like are you okay he's like he's gonna kill me for telling that story all that you don't tell them don't tell them so this year is the first time you all have been empty nesters and what's that light and it's so easy a job is it oh no it is really good cuz doesn't the actual energy of a house change ya know what I'm saying is that parenting takes up a lot of emotional space and you know my husband was busy being president so I don't think he understood how much time time and energy don't we wish yes just vote y'all that's all I'm saying just vote but anyway we digress but you know I put a lot of time and energy to parent think these girls in the White House because I wish we were trying to make their lives normal you know so that meant weekends were always a pain right could you had to worry about what party they were going to whether there was alcohol and who was doing what and I had to know who the parents were so you're trying to do that as first lady I mean every weekend for me was hard just following these little girls around and they're gone thank God they are off living their lives as my mother used to say sometimes you you just need to get out there and live your life and have your mistakes where I can't see them because I'm tired of watching you walk at all you know she was there you don't follow them on social you know no no now we have a lot of people who do you know that was like no I'm serious we have my communications director every not group all the young people in our lives that I mentor they all follow the girls you know they're their bigger brothers and sisters who are grown it's like they're watching and they they're the ones because it's better for them to be checked by somebody other than me you know I also had to learn how to parent with a balance of kids who have Secret Service right so you have no matter what am I saying right you don't know what I'm talking about right you know when there's a Secret Service you know how that goes it's like no you don't but they're neither did I but you're trying to make sure that these men and women who are following them around that the girls can trust so I had to get my information about what they were doing or not doing just the same way everybody else from other parents and other kids who will tell on each other you know that takes that that takes some energy and now all that energy I can now place back on me and figuring out my next chapter you know how I want to spend the rest of my life what I want to do what I to 2020 vision is and Beyond exactly exactly exactly so do you all actually now how do you have more time for each other just yes yes so and more emotional time really more emotional energy I mean it's just me and him and Bo and sunny at dinner and there's only they don't talk the dogs don't so we're celebrating 28 right it'll be 28 28 years yeah now that's real time your husband recently posted a message y'all see this message that he posted on Michelle's birthday on social media and said he said that in every scene you are my star and you have called him your soul affirming partner is it more so now 28 years as opposed to earlier years does it just keep getting better or it's it's more seasoned it's it's all of that you know I mean and this is what I try to tell young people it's it's you know marriage is hard and raising a family together is a hard thing it takes a toll but if you're with the person if you know why you were with them you know you understand that there was a friendship and a foundation there that may it may feel like it goes away during some of those hard times but it it's something that you can that we always come back to and we're coming back to that point where we see each other again you know because some of the hardest times in our lives we just we just escaped it we survived it you know we went through a tough time we did some hard things together and now we're out on the other end and I can look at him and I still recognize my husband he's still the man that I fell in love with - who I value and I respect and I trust he's been an amazing father through so much he is he shows up what he has shown up well in the world and it's he has been who he promised he would be to me and so that has been tested over 28 years you know so what I tell young couples is that you got to hang in there you know you can't quit the minute it gets hard because this this thing of living life and building a life together is a naturally hard thing to do so you can't quit when it's hard because then you'll miss the good part and I do joke you know and some people hate when I say this but if you live long enough to be married for 40 years 50 years which is what we're working towards if you get to a point where eight eight of those years are bad ten of those years are bad wouldn't you take those odds you know but that's what marriage is you can have chunks of hard bad times and if that's how you define your marriage by just the hard times then you'll miss the the the truth of what's really there so you were so open in becoming when you talked about it or was a boo-boo they went to therapy and therapy really was an eye-opener for you and for him what we all need to reflect and it's very hard to do it in a marriage with the person you're trying to work on sometimes you need an objective person to just hear you out you know you may not be right you may just want to get it out and so we have him sitting there listening to you get it out sometimes that helps it's like I don't know about yourself I talked about this it taught me that I am responsible for my own happiness that I didn't marry Barack for him to make me happy no one can make me happy you know so my disappointments were about what I thought he should be doing for me giving to me when I hadn't really done the work to figure out what did I want and how do I go after what I want on my you know if I'm gonna show up equal in this partnership I have to be able to make myself happy and so I had to stop focusing on what he wasn't doing and started thinking about how to carve out the life that I wanted for myself with or without Barak and the more I did that the more I succeeded in defining myself for myself the better I was in my partnership and isn't that for you the cornerstone of your own wellness program is defining your own happiness and working towards that but one of the things I said this earlier what I tried to tell my girls is walk your walk you know that's been my mantra one thing I do every year I started doing right after the White House is taking a retreat and I think some of the people who some of my girlfriends who've gone on a retreat we go to this place where you're essentially walking for four hours it is it's hard and my friends who don't know what it is are usually mad at me by the middle of it that's that place where you get up at 5:00 in the morning actly and one of the lessons of walking for that long because it's rare that you have to walk and these are hikes this is up mountains and down streams and valleys and all you have is a Camelback with some water and some hiker is telling you it's water water water and you're just like shut up just shut up with that water when is it over this hike but you're hiking with other people and what you realize is that not everybody has their own way of hiking some people can get up the mountains fast some people are fast on the flats some people are slow and methodical about how they walk and I always found that when I was not enjoying my walk is when I was comparing my walk to somebody else in the group and I had to sort of start telling myself over these four hours stop comparing yourself to the person walking ahead of you or behind you walk your walk do your walk why are you here how fast do you need to go how how fast do you need to take that incline to get through it because if you do what she did in front of you you won't make it so for me the such that I always have to tell myself is what is my journey what what is my definition of health for me not what I see in a magazine you know because the the people in magazines don't look like us they do they don't even set it up to look like us they don't even look like that right so I sometimes I'm at a photo shoot you give urine looks around the photo shoot at last sort of shoot I counted 47 people oh yeah those are yeah yeah this is also rich people's problems talking about photo shoots right and in my photo shoot girl there were like a hundred people yes it requires so many people did youdid make you look like this right people somebody put these bracelets on me and then they moved one over there and I was like why'd you move that one what did why that one but who's got time to figure it out they just push her out on stage just get out there was sort of my walk but some it's somebody else's walk to this way I was talking to Tina Fey recently and she said that she she's at a stage now where she appreciates that she has moved through life in a few different body shapes yeah what do you appreciate most now about your body it's mine all mine and it's a healthy body that works every day and I try hard not to judge it and it is different I mean you have to get to know your body because what this body is at 56 isn't this I can't do the same thing that I did when I was 36 it's not the same body we we are we're living things we're not machines you know we run out of gas we need fuel we need sunshine and light we have to take care of ourselves and when you don't as you get older just like any living thing it begins to fail on you and for me I'm trying to figure out what is that balance that I need to make sure that the this body that God me that I'm taking care of it the best that I can and that it will serve me well as I get older and that isn't doing that what I did at 30 does not take care of this body at 56 so I can't look at some little kid in the gym next to me and even wanna walk her walk because she's 30 you know and I'm 56 with a 56 year old body and I love my body you know and as a as a as a child of growing up with a person with a father with a disability who could not walk my father would have given anything to have any one of my legs for me to judge that and not to just embrace it and be happy that I'm alive moving able to move hmm I haven't L myself appreciate what what God gave you and take care of that yeah be and be balanced about it I like that you so freely speak the number 56 yay for me because you have been around women we all have and men to like oh I'm not gonna say the number oh my gosh I'm turning 40 and oh my gosh I'm trying turning 50 you never had any of that we we are so ridiculous as women you know we were working with we were struggling with so much you know just the notion to the other thing we don't want to talk about our age and then we want to act like we should look like we did when we're 20 you know when I'm sorry men y'all can look any kind of way you know and it seems to be okay it's it's I told my daughters because as they're getting older they start to judge themselves and you know it's interesting when they talk about well I couldn't fit in my jeans that I had last year and I said but you're a whole nother year older you're now becoming a woman you don't have a child's body that's like saying you know at 20 I'm really upset that I couldn't wear my favorite overalls anymore when I was 10 yeah you know that's as ridiculous as it is at 56 to think that I should look like I did when I was 36 or for anyone to judge me like that or to judge a woman like that we're aging a nice culture where people are trying to stop it yes and then you have all of these frozen faces yes and let me tell you when you're old now this is another thing most people I mean you're in a photo line and everybody looks the same and you're like didn't I just meet you no nope y'all just have the same lips right and the same forehead and the same yeah let it go but we have to embrace our change and I'm lecturing to myself truthfully ladies because I do I struggle with this too you know I struggle with looking at the mirror going mmm well whoa oh and I hate I hate looking at myself I hate listening to my voice I hate watching myself on tape because I'm constantly judging myself too just like everybody else really are you still I was gonna ask you is there any self-doubt left yes I remember when cuz I I opened or interviewed you at the very first tour stop in Chicago remember that really little nervous we prayed backstage because I was the first one and I remember you were anxious and I read somewhere where you said you weren't even sure people would show up yeah exactly it's like you know I mean I lived in a cocoon of the White House for eight years I knew sort of kinda that people maybe sort of like me you know might might be interested in the book I don't know you know the people who have read you guys I say I wasn't really I wasn't fishing for a compliment not everybody likes me though you know some people think I'm the devil incarnate you know I mean you know when you're in the politics you get the good and the venom too you know and that's why in the book I remind people look people called me all kinds of things when when I was when I was campaigning for Barack when it was a competition they called me on American and this stuff sticks with you men talked about the size of my butt you know there are people who were telling me I was angry you know you that stuff hurts you know and it makes you sort of wonder what are people seeing you know you know that that stuff is there and look I'm a black woman in America and you know we're not always made to feel beautiful you know we're you know so there's still that you know there's still that baggage that we carry and not everybody can relate to that but yes there is baggage that that I carry just like anybody else I was wondering if touring the world filling arenas and stadiums around the world helped to release some of that self-doubt the release doesn't come from the adoration or the the book sales the work is still from within that's the thing you know it's yes it is it's the voices in my head it's not y'all it's me you know it's me changing the the playbook the the the recording in my head that was that has been played over and over again and that's what a lot of women a lot of you that's why I take take what what children hear from me you know I take that very seriously because my voice becomes the part that the recording in their head so what could that voice possibly be saying to you at this point that brings self-doubt it's always are you working hard enough is there you know are you using this platform or a good purpose are you focused on what other people need are you getting outside of your own ego that's you know we're constantly checking that with the work that we're doing I mean I just spent a year on a book tour talking about me it feels like that's enough now let's talk about somebody else's story now we're where are these girls who are not going to school because you know what in the end that's why I'm here I'm not here to talk about my story or to talk about my journey I'm here to shine a light on other young women and that's your the big work I had that's the big I feel that that's the work that speaks to me you recently released a companion to be coming it's called the the journal lovely for discovering your voice I gave away many for Christmas thank you and I've been keeping a journal you know since about 15 years old I love some of the questions you include in here you say if you could have a conversation with a loved one who has passed away what would you ask him or her I'm asking that of you you know I wish I knew they like on I wish I had taken the time to get to know my grandparents full stories because a lot of what I talk about are my impressions of what my grandparents must have been going through I talk about my paternal grandfather dandy and he was kind of a crotchety old man I read about and now that I'm older I can look back and think why was he so angry but it it was because he was a brilliant black man in the era of segregation and Jim Crow who could not realize his potential and he was probably very bitter about that and imagine how that would imagine how that would feel I wish I was old and I wish I had been old enough to sit down with him and ask him what you know what he went through how did he how did he survive living through a world that had such limited expectations for him when he knew that you know there was so much more for him yeah I would want to unpack that so that I could get to know him better and the reason why I put this kind of stuff in in the journal is because this is what our stories are and I want particularly young people to know that there's time now to have some of those conversations with the elders in your life because the more you understand their stories their journeys their pains and their hurts you get to understand who they are in a full sense and then you judge less and you're more empathetic I wish I understood my elders a bit more but we grew up in an era where you don't ask nobody question you know don't ask dandy that right you know you're you wish if you could have a conversation that's who it would be and I do that with every single one of my grandparents describe your perfect day beginning with breakfast and ending with dinner mmm well we beat somewhere warm we'd be in Hawaii and or someplace warm yeah and I'd wake up and have a workout I'd be outside I do you do buddies do you do breakfast I generally don't I'm not a big breakfast person you know I I probably wouldn't have breakfast I would go out on a long walk where I could see the ocean and some mountains that are you love to hell I love to be outside because so much of our lives we don't we don't have the freedom to just be outside anymore because of security so for both Barack and I crave a chance to be outdoors and I would take a long walk and I would come home and I would have lunch with my husband and I would sit on the beach and I'd read or I talked to some of my girlfriends because I love living in my community I love to have people around our house is usually full of people do you still cook No not a stick of cooking that is not one of the things that I need in defining myself I don't need the cook it's not on my personal list now I know for you like to cook but I like to cook what I want to yes I don't ever want to okay like I could make some hot water for me and since I can cook you can't cook yes I like proved it and cook for y'all you've you've been fed by me you don't do it anymore no and he doesn't either no he doesn't either how do you look after yourself after a bad day that's another one of your journal how do I look after myself after a bad day I tune out the world that is making me feel bad because it's usually something external I just take a break from what's usually do you watch i watch TV but I watch like I like HGTV I wouldn't I you know and I got into this habit because I never wanted to like get caught watching something where I would be mentioned or my husband so that cancels out like most of the news right right so I didn't know news how do you all monitor Newsies we get clips and I watch I get news on my feed and I'd kind of tune and I have a whole communications team so when something goes down they was like you need to see this so I generally and I had to learn how to do that in the White House because if you don't block it out it can eat you up and if I come to your house like the TV is not gonna be on all over the house no no you go to Gail's house all the TV oh yeah no all the TVs are yeah now literally so that when you go for room-to-room it's on air oh no that would drive me crazy that would SAP me of that was good inside yes so you you you don't know watch watch news but what is your favorite TV show oh god I have a lot of favorite TV shows I love blackish and groaning and all the issues I love I love comedy you know I started watching shits Creek Netflix hilarious it's kind of the take off like modern-day take off from Green Acres for young people that was a show that was on a long time ago a long long time ago yes so I like comedies I love the marvelous mrs. Maisel I like that too I like yeah I love TV I love watching TV I probably watch a little too much TV I wasn't listening to myself I was there's this question mrs. Kennedy told a story a long time ago about watching a congressman's wife sneaking silverware from in her bag at the White House so I'm wondering if you saw any weird behavior you witnessed at a White House event Oh God yeah people you know because people usually are nervous when they come to the White House so like if there's a party people usually over drink because they're nervous right because they don't know what to expect but you can see and the drinks at the White House are strong so we have seen some people falling out and I'm not gonna mention any names but uuy we've seen some Spanx and some stuff okay who's the most fun to sit next to at a steak dinner Stephen Colbert was a fun dinner date because he's so cute and charming any smart so he actually knows what's going on so and he'll say things in your ear you know that are in place stop it we're not supposed to be laughing it's time so he was up he was a lovely dinner date and I don't think he knew that he was gonna be sitting next to me I don't even think he understood why he was invited so he tells this story he's like and then I looked up he looked at his wife he's like I'm sitting next to Michelle Obama and he said all she says she said was don't embarrass me so I like her what's the last new thing you mastered the last new thing I mastered I don't know okay that's hard the last new thing I master I don't I'm drawing a blank here maybe I need to master something I just started yoga and there you like it I do I do because this is something I need because I'm getting old so I got to be flexible I think is the most important thing the older you get the more important it were so there are all these crazy yoga poses that you know like they went the day before yesterday and they were trying to have us do something where chin was on the ground they kicked their legs up and I was like I'm about to talk to Oprah I cannot have a bruised chin how do they explain to people because I'm trying some stupid yoga pose I was gonna ask you my next question was what is the last thing that you did that made you feel genuinely older Oh any conversation with a young person you know here's one just personal sentiment I have a godson who you know is just got his permit and his mother sent me a video of him behind the wheel and dad just tripped me out because I was like no one should let that little boy Drive he's on the road I mean he was the kind of kid like the girls would go over his house when they were little and they come back with scratches on their face because he was a wild little boy when he was little and I would come home and it's like oh he must have been it we call him boots you must have been a bujji's house because your face is all scratched up he's driving that made me feel old seeing the young people in my life because to be like this yeah watching them out in the world you know buying groceries having conversations about life like they know something that makes you know the thing about young people though it's like their baby comes out you know it's like my children that can be all elegant and saying interesting points and then I get a FaceTime because somebody doesn't know how to get a stain out of their duvet cover and I'm like oh is still a baby because you don't even know how to do laundry right yet so but that kind of stuff makes me feel I was asking earlier Julian was out and she was talking about her superpower is dance hmm what is yours I don't you know I have a hard time thinking about it as a superpower but you know I I hope it's making people feel seeing you know I hope that that's my superpower that I make the people that I come in contact with feel seen and heard especially young people I hope I have that power to make them feel relevant and whole you know and and deliver it to them what I didn't have when that what was that when I was that age like the sense of importance and relevance in the world I hope that's my superpower I hope my superpower is empathy you know I try very hard even in these times to understand what people are going through when they're angry or hateful or when they're doing things that just don't feel right I try to stand in their shoes and say there's got to be something there's got to be a context that I can understand that helps me see how you see the world so that I can connect with you on some level and I think that's one thing that's missing in all of us you know it's just the ability to stand in somebody else's shoes and understand their pain their hurt their fears their loss and to see them beyond their anger I think it with the is your superpower and I'm also wondering like every time we see you I've seen you out since 2016 you look like and so does Barack Obama like you really discovered what living me your best life means yeah it seems like you all took living your best life to a new level have you you know we're yeah I mean we're we're happy people but I you know did you get happy your oh yeah the white house yeah yeah look there's it it was an honor to serve I mean it was it was the the biggest privilege of my life to serve as this nation's first lady and I will and I will continue to work to try to be a person of service to try to make sure that my life means something to somebody else but those eight years were hard I mean it's a hard job and it takes a toll so anything after that it's like they look really happy and it's like yeah yes cuz it's not that so yeah we are happy people but why wouldn't we be we have our health you know we have each other we have a sense of purpose you know I mean there are things to complain about he and I but we the two of us we don't have anything to complain about that's why we believe we owe so much because to whom much is given much is expected Saul right I cannot sit up here and complain about my life what I'm worrying about are the lives of the people who don't have a voice the people who don't have jobs the people who don't have health care there's so many people who are struggling with things that so it is a hard thing to me to look at the life I've been given and and complain about anything so I know you don't do resolutions but we're here setting the commitment contract for a better vision for ourselves do you have a vision for 2020 and beyond do you see it Oh for us as a people no for you Michelle Obama Oh from me okay good that's easier for me that the next phase of my journey of becoming is is is is really continuing to make sure that what I do has meaning and purpose anticipate somebody outside of myself so my vision is in particular is to keep helping young people to find and build and support that next generation of leaders to help them understand a broader sense of values that they can operate within because I do think that we are short on that right now that our leaders are not paving a good path for what we want our kids to be I'm just sorry to say that I don't want to make this political in any way but I think young people are hungry for something and it's time for them to step up and to take the lead because we're getting older and we need to move out of the way for them because they're gonna have answers that we've never thought of so my hope is that I want to empower young people I want to empower the next generation of politicians and community activists and teachers and doctors and lawyers and I want to I want to be a part of laying out a set of values and principles that we can all be proud of in this country you know honesty you know empathy compassion caring for others and as you say honor to be he said earlier you you've also made voter awareness a top priority for this year's presidential election every year I mean what I've said with voter registration is that this isn't something we can do every four years because we have to change the habit of people and voting we're not we're not in the habit of being engaged citizens and that's not something you do every four years okay it's a presidential campaign get registered no we have to be talking about this every day when we want to do something in this country when a company wants to market and sell something to us they don't do it every four years they do it every day every minute every 30 seconds they are telling you what to buy what to do we need to do that with civic and because people don't understand why government is important in their lives because I always say government doesn't have a marketing budget it can't be on teeth be telling you what it's doing for you and your schools and your roads and your communities so we start taking it for granted and thinking that this is all a game but we have to be having these conversations every day every day why it's important why is it relevant you know and so no it's not just this year it's every year it's not just this election it's every election we have to change our culture in in terms of our engagement in this political process you you you've talked about being 56 in the shape that you're in you work at this though every day do you have a wellness goal or wellness potion for yourself it is it is balance and understanding my walk I've got to understand trying to make sure I understand what healthy means for me not compared to the person walking next to me not the person in the magazine I'm trying to understand what my blood pressure level should be and what my flexibility should be and what cardio means for me and when do I feel good because we can also overdo it right we can work out so hard and diet so much that we might be thin and look a certain way but our bodies are broken inside because we're not walking our path we're walking somebody else's path so I am trying to figure that out every day and it changes because women our bodies change drastically in comparison to men we're going through menopause we've got a lot going on and I don't think we've done enough to understand what aging means for women's bodies what are we supposed to look like how are we supposed to feel we're not talking about that enough and I feel like we're at a time when women are age because we do have we do spend money now we have wealth women our age but the market and the fitness market they don't speak to us they're not catering to us they're catering catering to Malia and Sasha how this work out where looks and what these classes are they're catering twenty and thirty year olds who quite frankly have no money how is that so I want to make it I want to push these industries to start thinking about us women mature women so that we're operating with real good information about what we should be wanting but for me I have to figure out in the absence of that information I've got to seek it out for myself and and stop comparing myself to the woman next to me you don't have to compare because you don't you represent you represent what Maya Angelou said in one of her poems you make me proud to spell my name WOM am you and when I see you walking it makes me proud because you are phenomenal but not a woman Michelle thank you Michelle Obama [Applause]

Channel: WW formerly Weight Watchers

Views: 2,523,303

Rating: 4.7584214 out of 5

Keywords: ww, myww, wellness, oprah, Michelle Obama, oprahsvisiontour2020, resolutions, oprah tour, The Rock, oprah 2020 tour, weight watchers, oprah interview, Michelle Obama interview, oprah interviews Michelle Obama, 2020 vision tour highlights, oprah tour highlights, oprah NYC, Michelle Obama NYC, Michelle Obama Brooklyn, oprah inspiration

Id: XvFaaO5b4hE

Length: 53min 21sec (3201 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 12 2020