Michelle Obama
Corona gave back her lost time with Malia and Sasha
The uncertainty caused by the corona pandemic is not leaving Michelle Obama unscathed.
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2020 was also challenging for Michelle Obama. With "People" she talks about the negative – and positive – sides of the Corona year.
Corona, violence against African Americans and the US election: As for many other people, the events of 2020 were psychologically stressful for Michelle Obama (57, "BECOMING: My Story"). In a Zoom interview with "People" magazine, she now talks about unexpected positive side effects of the pandemic, occupations in lockdown and the background to her slight depression.
"This time allowed us to get some of the stolen moments back with our girls," says Obama, referring to the corona quarantine with husband Barack (59, "A Promised Land") and their daughters Malia (22) and Sasha (19). Actually, the two students should have finally left their home "nest" by now. However, the pandemic resulted in an unexpected reunion of the family, who take turns in Washington D.C. and stayed on Martha's Vineyard Island, Massachusetts.
During the lockdown with their parents, however, the usual domestic rules no longer applied to Malia and Sasha. "I didn't want you to miss out on being independent," recalls the former first lady. "They came back as young women, so our conversations are more like those of their peers than those between mother and daughter."
Michelle Obama overheard her daughters' online lectures
The pandemic-induced distance learning with online lectures and seminars allowed Obama to get to know a side of her children that would normally have remained hidden from her. "It's interesting for me to overhear some of their seminars and see how they interact with their professors," she explains. "When your kids go to college, you don't see that side of them."
While her daughters loved to cook in lockdown, the lawyer spent a lot of time knitting – and is now almost addicted to it. It is something that you can never really master. Obama explains: "When you've knitted a scarf, there's the blanket. And once you've knitted the blanket, there's the hat, the socks …"
In addition to knitting, she spent a lot of time swimming. As she got older, the 57-year-old noticed that the intensive training she used to do "just doesn't work anymore". "So I thought swimming was one of those easy, good cardio things." She now swims "almost a mile" at a time.
"Minor Depression" came as no surprise
The many negative events of 2020 did not leave Michelle Obama unscathed, however. In the interview, she describes her feelings as a "slight depression", which, however, did not surprise her. "It was during a time when a lot of difficult things were happening," she explains. "There was the ongoing murder of African American men by the police. To see this video of George Floyd alone, to experience those eight minutes. That's a lot to deal with. Not to mention being in the middle of a quarantine found. "
The occurrence of depression is "understandable" in times like these, says the author and podcaster. However, she first had to realize what she was going through: "Because we often think that we have to hide this part of us. That we always have to be on top and pretend that we are not paddling like crazy below the surface of the water. "
The ex-first lady sees "light at the end of the tunnel"
Obama, who has now been vaccinated against the coronavirus and encourages everyone to follow suit as soon as possible, now sees a "light at the end of the tunnel". She told her daughters one of the things that kept them going: "The fact that I'm old enough to know that things will get better."