Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey holidaying together in Hawaii

The First Lady is bunkered down at the chat show host's sprawling luxury estate in Maui, reports suggest

Jenn Selby
Tuesday 07 January 2014 12:53 GMT
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Wondering where Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey have disappeared to?
Wondering where Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey have disappeared to?

Wondering where Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey have disappeared to?

Haven’t seen them looking disapprovingly at inappropriate selfie-snapping or comforting a career-ravaged celebrity on a couch for a while? Well that’s because they’ve upped sticks and packed off to Hawaii together, reports suggest.

According to TMZ, the pair are currently holidaying on the paradise island. The First Lady is apparently bunkered down at Oprah’s sprawling luxury estate in Maui.

A source told the US gossip site that SWAT teams and members of the Secret Service are on hand at the 12-bedroom mansion to provide Obama with maximum security for the duration of her stay.

A caravan of black SUVs and Maui police cars were also spotted over the weekend.

A Maui local, Paul Meyer, told local publication The Maui News that his usual cycling path was interrupted by police barricades and “secret service agents”.

“Two young guys were there and Maui police officers, and they said the road is going to be closed for the next week,” Meyer said. “I asked, ‘Is Michelle Obama in town?’ and the policeman just nodded.”

Michelle was originally on a 17-day holiday to Oahu with president Barack Obama and the couple’s two daughters, Malia and Sasha.

But the rest of the family flew out of the State on Saturday, apparently leaving the First Lady to enjoy the rest of her stay in Winfrey’s company.

The vacation is thought to be ahead of celebrations for the First Lady’s 50th birthday next Friday 17 January.

Representatives for both Obama and Winfrey are yet to confirm or deny the reports.

Winfrey has long been a supporter of the Obama’s, both politically and personally. The hugely influential chat show host’s backing of Obama’s election campaign in 2008 marked her first ever political endorsement, and she joined the president on his trail from Iowa to New Hampshire, labelling him “the one” in front of scores of prospect voters.

Off the beaten campaign track, they became close friends, attending intimate dinners and parties together. But reports that the trio had fallen out emerged in July 2013, after a number of observers noted Winfrey’s absence from the president’s second inauguration.

Further reports in October suggested that Winfrey declined to promote Obamacare medical reform as a result of the couple’s “failure to bring her in as a confident,” a source close to Winfrey allegedly told the New York Post.

These reports were later denied by Winfrey’s people, and she was seen in the couple’s company once more during Mandela’s memorial events in December.

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