Michelle Obama celebrates her mom ahead of US Mother's Day with Instagram tribute: 'You are my rock and my best friend'

Former first lady says her mother 'laid out the blueprint for how I have raised my own girls'

Michelle Obama has celebrated her mother and all the lessons she learned from her in a heartwarming tribute shared to Instagram ahead of Mother’s Day in the US.

On Friday, the former first lady shared a clip from her new Netflix documentary Becoming, in which she and her brother Craig discuss parenting with their mother Marian Robinson.

In the clip, which begins with photos of Obama and her brother as children, the mother-of-two asks her own mother what she says when people ask what the secret to parenting is.

“I think I do tell them that there is no secret,” Robinson says, later adding: “I had fun with my kids. I just couldn’t wait to see what they were going to come in and say next, because it was always something.”

In the caption, Obama explained that she is reflecting on the lessons her mother taught her and her brother over the years, and how the lessons have impacted her own parenting to daughters Malia, 21, and Sasha, 18.

“As we head into Mother’s Day weekend, I’m reflecting on the lessons that my mom taught me and my brother Craig over the years,” she wrote. “When we were growing up, she always gave us the space to ask questions and share our ideas.

“And she always took us seriously, carefully considering what we had to say and responding with thoughtful questions, and plenty of encouragement. All along, she was empowering us to be ourselves, kindling the unique flame burning inside each of us.”

According to Obama, her mother also “laid out the blueprint for how I have raised my own girls”.

The Becoming author concluded the sentimental post explaining what her mother means to her.

“Mom, you are my rock and my best friend, and you have been a guiding light throughout my life. I love you!” she wrote.

This is not the first time Obama has opened up about the valuable lessons she’s learned from her 82-year-old mother. In 2019, the 56-year-old wrote in a personal essay for People that her mother and father, Fraser, were “wholly invested” in their children and had poured “a deep and durable foundation of goodness and honesty, of right and wrong, into my brother and me. After that, they simply let us be ourselves.”

According to Obama, since becoming a mother herself, she has since seen “how important that kind of freedom is for all children, particularly for girls with flames of their own — flames the world might try to dim”.

Becoming, which documents Obama’s 34-city book tour for her 2018 memoir of the same name, was released on the streaming platform on 6 May.