Michelle Obama reveals what she was thinking after Trump inauguration

The former first lady also spoke candidly about going to marriage counselling with her husband

Michelle Obama has revealed exactly what was running through her mind following Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration in January 2017.

On Tuesday 18 December, the former first lady appeared on Jimmy Fallon’s The Tonight Show to promote her top-selling memoir Becoming.

While on the show, Fallon quizzed Obama about the goings-on of Trump’s inauguration, asking her what she was thinking as she boarded Air Force One with her husband, Barack Obama, following the proceedings.

“Bye, Felicia,” Obama replied, as Fallon showed a photo of her and Barack waving from the plane’s entrance.

The phrase originates from the 1995 film Friday, and has since become widely used as a term of dismissal.

Obama’s response was met with rapturous applause and cheers from the audience, in addition to chuckles from the host and a drum roll from the talk show’s resident band The Roots.

“A lot was going on that day. That was a day,” she continued.

The author explained there had been a fair amount to absorb in the lead up to the occasion, what with her daughters wanting a sleepover with friends for their last night in The White House and Melania Trump presenting her with a Tiffany box on the day of the inauguration.

Obama’s mention of her awkward encounter with the new first lady also sparked a flurry of laughter among the audience, which she responded to with a knowing smile.

While discussing Becoming with Fallon, Obama candidly spoke about the fact that she and her husband had previously been through marriage counselling.

She explained that all marriages require dedication and commitment, regardless of how happy they may seem from the outside.

“I want young people to know that marriage is work, even the best marriages require work,” she said.

The former first lady had initially decided to take her husband to marriage counselling in order to iron out his shortcomings, as opposed to seeking guidance for their marriage together.

Nonetheless, she soon realised that both of them had a responsibility to work on their relationship.

“I was one of those wives who thought, ‘I’m taking you to marriage counselling so you can be fixed, Barack Obama’,” she said. “Because I was like, ‘I’m perfect.’ I was like, ‘Dr X. please fix him.’

“And then our counsellor looked over at me. I was like, ‘What are you looking at? I’m perfect.’

“Marriage counselling was a turning point for me understanding that it wasn’t up to my husband to make me happy,” she continued.

“That I had to learn how to fill myself up and have to put myself higher on my priority list.”

In November 2018, Obama revealed while appearing on Jimmy Kimmel’s talk show that she would never run for political office, despite numerous people imploring her to do so in future.

She made her stance on the subject abundantly clear in her memoir, in which she wrote: “I’ll say it here directly: I have no intention of running for office, ever.”