Michelle Obama has joked about a time her two daughters made her and husband Barack Obama cocktails that were “a bit too weak”.
The former First Lady discussed her relationship with her children, Malia, 24, and Sasha, 21, while appearing onToday on Monday to promote her newest book, The Light We Carry.
During the conversation, she recalled an instance where her grown-up daughters, who have their own place and are living together, invited their parents over for drinks.
“We were going to take them out for dinner, and they said: ‘Why don’t you come over to our spot for cocktails?’” Michelle told TV hosts Jenna Bush Hager and Hoda Kotb. “And we were like: ‘OK, let’s see what this is going to be about.’”
She poked fun at her children’s cocktail making skills, adding: “Well the martinis were a little weak, so I don’t think they really knew what it was.”
The Becoming author pointed out a moment that surprised her, where her children called her out for not using a coaster.
“When we got the glasses, they were like: ‘Uh, uh, uh, use a coater,’” Michelle continued. “And I’m like: ‘You never used a coaster in my house. So now when it’s your stuff you want to take care of it.’”
The 58-year-old attorney went on to share what she “loves the most” about her children’s relationship is that they are “each other’s best friends”. However, she said that this wasn’t always the case.
“There was a period of time when they couldn’t stand each other,” she explained. “And I said: ‘You wait. You are going to wake up one day and you are going to look over at that other person and know that you two share something very unique,’ especially given what they’ve been through.”
Michelle emphasised her happiness about her daughters looking out for each other, adding: “And to see them in that place where they’re one another’s support systems and they’ve got each other’s backs, is just, it’s the thing that a mother would want.”
When Bush Hager asked Michelle if this was the thing that she was “the most proud of, of all the things [she’s] ever done,” the former FLOTUS responded: “Without a doubt.”
She further explained that being a mother has always been her number one priority, which she made clear to other people when her husband became president.
“When I first came into the White House, when people asked me what my agenda was going to be, I said what I thought was not a controversial thing was that my first job is being ‘mom-in-chief,’’’ added. “If I couldn’t raise my children, make sure they got through that experience whole, how could I help anyone else?”
This wasn’t Michelle’s first time addressing how grown up her children are. During an interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in April, she acknowledged that her daughters are “amazing young women” and poked fun at how her their interests has changed over the years, as she said that they now have “boyfriends”.
“They loved the Jonas Brothers. Now they’re bringing grown men home,” she joked. “Before it was just pop bands, now they have boyfriends and real lives and all that stuff.”
“They have grown up right before our very eyes,” she added. “And they’re doing well.”
Michelle also noted that before she and her husband left the White House in 2017, they made sure their children were adjusted to the “real world”.
“I listened to what my mother said when she was raising us,” Michelle continued. “She said: ‘I’m not raising babies, I’m raising real people to be out in the world.’ And I kept that in mind with the girls.”
