Michelle Obama is pretty in plaid during talk at Obama Foundation summit
Michelle Obama is pretty in plaid!
The former first lady took the stage at the Obama Foundation summit in Chicago looking as gorgeous as ever in a figure-flattering plaid dress and strappy heels that gave view of her toned, mile-long legs. She polished off her look with major bling by Jennifer Fisher -- a pair of $295 hoop earrings and a $2,000 chain choker with white diamonds and sea pearls.
She styled her hair in tousled waves, while keeping her makeup to a minimum. Judging by her toned figure, Michelle is still making time to hit the gym!
She sat down for a conversation with poet Elizabeth Alexander to talk about friendship, social media and parenting. Husband and former president Barack Obama watched from the audience.
"I love my husband, and he is my rock, but my girlfriends are my sanity," the former FLOTUS said. "And when you live eight years in the White House, where you can’t even open a window, you can’t walk out on your balcony without notifying three people so that they can shut down security, your walk outside is a walk around the same loop on the South Lawn over and over and over again because the thought of you leaving those gates requires 50 people’s attention and work and inconvenience … when you live like that for eight years, you need your girlfriends."
Michelle also had some things to say about male friendships, emphasizing that "women, we do it better than men."
She continued: "I’m, you know, sad for you guys. Y’all should get you some friends. Get you some friends and talk to each other, ‘cause that’s the other thing we do; we straighten each other out on some things, our girlfriends."
Of course, she wasn't afraid to take a subtle jab at her husband's friendships -- or lack thereof.
"I just wish sometimes Barack, it’s like, ‘Who are you talking to?’ And it can’t just be Marty [Nesbitt, a Chicago businessman and close friend]," she said. "I see a lot of men laughing, but y’all need to go talk to each other about your stuff, because there’s so much of it, it’s so messy! Just talk about why you all are the way you are."
As the talk continued, the 53-year-old also opened up about her two daughters, Sasha, 16, and Malia, 19. The mother of two recalled the tough choices she had to make raising her children in the public eye. Sasha is currently in high school, while Malia is a freshman at Harvard University.
"We could have spent eight years feeling sorry for them, that they were living in a bubble, that every misstep for them would be on YouTube or that they had to drive around in their teenage years with men with guns … that they didn’t have access to their father in a way. We could’ve felt bad for them and there would’ve been a truth there," she said.
Michelle added: "But our view was, this is their life, and we can’t apologize for the life they have, because a whole lot of it is good. So it was like, ‘Get up, go to school, don’t feel sorry for yourself, yes it’s hard but it’s hard for everybody.’ We have to raise our children to be the adults we want them to be, and that starts young. You can’t be so afraid that life will break them that you don’t prepare them for life."
But when all is said and done, Michelle is one proud momma!
"They have brought me so much happiness and pride, how they have carried themselves and responded to the pressures that they didn’t ask for, living a life they didn’t want but coming out on the other end as good, solid people."
For more on Michelle, watch the video above.
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