Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Stevie Wonder serenades First Lady Michelle Obama with 'Michelle Amour' rendition

'It’s nuts. I feel like crying right now. I didn’t think that it was going to be that emotional,' she says about leaving the White House

Maya Oppenheim
Thursday 12 January 2017 10:59 GMT
Comments
Stevie Wonder serenades outgoing First Lady Michelle Obama

Michelle Obama is a PR dream. The outgoing First Lady is on virtually every social media platform imaginable, even SnapChat, holds consistently high approval ratings and is a regular patron on the late night talk show circuit.

But last night marked her final talk show appearance as First Lady. Appearing on the Tonight Show, alongside host Jimmy Fallon, Ms Obama discussed how emotional the final days leading up to leaving the White House had been and was also serenaded by Stevie Wonder.

The singer performed “My Cherie Amour”, swapping the lyric “You're the only girl my heart beats for” with “you'll always be First Lady in our minds”, prompting Ms Obama to appear emotional.

“My Michelle amour, as sweet as flowers bloom in May. My Michelle amour, you're the only one that we adore,' he sang.

Speaking to Fallon, the outgoing First Lady spoke of how emotional she felt about leaving the White House.

“It’s nuts. I feel like crying right now,” she said about her imminent departure. “I didn’t think that it was going to be that emotional, because it’s like, yeah, we’re ready. We’re good. We’re ready to go. It’s been eight years. Eight years is enough, we’re packing up. But it has been surprisingly emotional for all of us, in ways that we didn’t expect.”

Ms Obama also addressed the much asked question of where her 15-year-old daughter Sasha was during Barack Obama’s final speech as President on Tuesday night.

While Ms Obama and their daughter Malia were there to hear his farewell speech, people quickly noticed Sasha was nowhere to be seen and a “Where Is Sasha” hashtag trended on Twitter.

“She had a final,” Ms Obama confirmed, as had previously been explained by a White House official. “And, you know the Obamas, girl - Sorry! You better take your test. You can say goodbye later.”

Ms Obama discussed her own final address as First Lady last Friday in which she made an emotional defence of Anerica’s diversity.

She explained that it was talking about the fears of children in America which made her become tearful at the end of the speech. “When I think about the fact that some of them are afraid about what’s to come,” she reflected. “I don’t want them to be afraid. I want them to embrace the future and know that the world is getting better. We have bumps in the road, we have ups and downs. But I want our kids to move forward, I don’t care where they come from, with strength and with hope.”

Ms Obama was one of the most popular figures in the 2016 election, appearing alongside Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail. Although there have been calls for Ms Obama to run for president in 2020, Ms Obama has adamantly ruled out ever running for office.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in