Former US first lady Michelle Obama has said she would never run for political office because she “wouldn’t ask my children to do this again.”
In her first speech since leaving the White House, she told an audience at the America Institute of Architecture convention in Orlando that being in the White House was tough on her family.
With no cameras were permitted at the speech, Michelle Obama told the audience she can help the country as a private citizen without being in the political spotlight, adding that the vitriol of politics meant that people “thought I was the devil.”
She also said she will continue to work for young girls and women around the world who face challenges with education, medical care, economic inequality and violence. “It’s good to get out of the house,” she said about being at the event.
“(It’s been) so far so good, it hasn’t been that long since we left…. it’s good to not have the weight of the world on your shoulders.”
Michelle gave the thousands in the conference hall an inside look what it’s been like for the former first family since leaving the White House.
“Friends are surprised I answer the door now,” she said, adding that her daughters Sasha and Malia can actually open their windows now, something they could never do at the White House.
She said the girls once caused a ruckus when they tried to open their bedroom window that faced the public side of the White House because they liked to listen to the protesters. They found it soothing, she said.
Obama said their dogs, Bo and Sunny, never heard a doorbell before because the White House doesn’t have a doorbell.