I cried for 30 minutes straight: Michelle Obama on day of Donald Trump’s inauguration in 2017

Former United States (US) First Lady Michelle Obama opened up about how she felt on the day of then-President Donald Trump's inauguration in January 2017. She shared her experience on the "Michelle Obama Light Podcast" (by Audible) on Tuesday (March 7).

"That day was emotional for so many different reasons. We were leaving the home we had been in for eight years. The only home our kids really knew. They remembered Chicago, but they had spent more time in the White House than anywhere else," Obama said. 

“There were tears, there was that emotion. But then to sit on that stage and watch the opposite of what we represented on display – there was no diversity, there was no colour on that stage, there was no reflection of the broader sense of America," she added. 

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"You walk through the Capitol, you wave goodbye, you get on Marine One and you take your last flight off flying over the Capitol, where there weren’t that many people there. We saw it," the former First Lady said, in an apparent jab at Trump over how many people attended his inauguration. 

Obama said the family then went to the Andrews Air Force Base, said goodbye to the military, and got on Air Force One. "And when those doors (of Air Force One) shut, I cried for 30 minutes straight. Uncontrollable sobbing," Obama also said during the podcast. 

Since leaving the White House, Michelle Obama has revealed details about her mood on the day of Trump's inauguration. According to a report by ABC news, Obama said in her book that she was unable to put on a happy face and smile during the inauguration.

In the audio of the book, Obama said, "Someone from Barack’s administration might have said that the optics there were bad, that what the public saw didn’t reflect the President’s reality or ideals, but in this case, maybe it did. Realising it, I made my own optic adjustment. I stopped even trying to smile," according to the report. 

(With inputs from agencies)
 

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