Former First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama reflected on her time living in the White House while her husband Barack Obama served as President from 2009 until 2017. The author and activist was questioned about her attitude towards the East Wing, where her office was located, during a recent interview with The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. She fondly remembered her time in that wing, labelling it as the place where everyone would go to feel “light” and to remind themselves of “the reasons [they] were doing this”. Michelle, 61, joined her husband, 64, in the prestigious house for the two terms he was in office, with their daughters Malia Ann, 27, and Sasha, 24.
While sitting across from American talk show host Stephen Colbert, Michelle was asked about the photos of the East Wing she published in her new book, The Look. He questioned her about the spirit of that side of the White House and wondered why she felt it was so significant. Michelle explained: “You know that’s where life happened.”
She continued: “I mean, the West Wing was work, sometimes it was sadness, it was problems, it was the guts of the White House and the East Wing was where you felt light. That’s where children came, we had puppies and literally apples, and it was an important distinction because the West Wing team needed that break. They needed to come to a place where they could be reminded of the reason we were doing this.”
Michelle went on to outline what it was like moving into the famous residence and how it really felt to live there: “What I will remind people is that house is not our house. We never viewed it as our house. We were there for a time; we had a job to do. We always felt it was the people’s house. And yes, every family, every administration has a right and a duty to maintain the house, make investments and improvements, and there are plenty of things that needed fixing there.”
She added: “There was a whole standard of norms and rules that we followed to a tee, that we painstakingly tried to uphold because it was bigger than us. That East Wing, that’s not… my feelings about that, it’s not mine. It is ours.”
When did Michelle Obama live in the White House?
Michelle and her family first moved into the Washington, D.C., residence in January 2009 after her husband, Barack, became the first African American elected to the presidency. The Obamas lived there while the former president served two terms and moved out on January 20, 2017. He was succeeded by Donald Trump, who won the 2016 presidential election against Hillary Clinton.
© Getty ImagesWhere do the Obamas live now?
After departing the White House, the Obama family moved into a mansion property close to their former home in the Kalorama neighbourhood of Washington, D.C., so that their youngest daughter, Sasha, could finish high school. The house has nine bedrooms and eight bathrooms, with glimpses of its interior being shown off in recordings of Michelle’s podcast, IMO, with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson.
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