Michelle Obama has recalled how her mother, Marian Robinson, used to make her birthday cakes “every year,” including when the former first lady and her family were living in the White House.
The 58-year-old attorney discussed her relationship with the 85-year-old during an appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show on Monday to promote her children’s cooking program, Waffles + Mochi.
During their conversation, TV host Drew Barrymore asked Ms Obama a series of rapid fire questions, including one about her favourite food memory. In response, the former FLOTUS cited Robinson’s home cooking on her birthdays.
“My mom used to bake homemade cakes for us for our birthdays and that was part of our birthday,” she explained. “And my mom even did this when she lived with us in the White House.”
This is not Ms Obama’s first time opening up about her relationship with her mother. In honour of Mother’s Day this year in May, she shared a throwback photo of her, Robinson, and her two daughters, Malia, 24, and Sasha, 21, who she shares with husband Barack Obama, on Instagram.
In the caption, she shared a sweet tribute to her mother, writing: “I’m so thankful for the love, guidance, and care that my mom has instilled in me. I’ve shared so much of her wisdom with my own daughters over the years.”
Elsewhere in her interview with Barrymore, the former first lady opened up about her children’s eating habits when they first entered the White House at the ages of seven and 10, respectively, after her husband began his first term as president.
According to the book author, because she was juggling multiple responsibilities at the time, she couldn’t give her children the most nutritious food options.
“I was getting to the point where I couldn’t figure out how to feed my kids healthy foods, because I was trying to do what most parents would do, give them something fast and quick,” she said. “I saw my kids’ health being affected by the fact that we did too much fast food, we did too many sugary drinks.”
She went on to note the importance of giving her children a well-balanced diet and confessed that she used to be unaware of what “healthy” food to give them.
“It’s not that we can’t have fun but when fun is what you do,” she explained. “So I struggled with that as a parent, and I figured: ‘Here I am college-educated, law degree,’ and I don’t know what to feed my kids, what’s healthy.”
She acknowledged that it encouraged her to explore the topic of healthy eating further, explaining: “I set out to embrace this issue and educate us as a nation, but to also help parents learn what works for their kids.”
