Michelle Obama: Trio of crises, ‘crushing sense of hopelessness’ led to ‘low place’

Michelle Obama says a trifecta of crises — the COVID-19 pandemic, the racial justice movement and last year’s deadly Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol by supporters of then-President Trump — had her facing a “crushing sense of hopelessness.”

“I was in a low place,” the former first lady said in an interview with People magazine published Thursday.

“We were all at home watching what felt like our country and our world unraveling,” she said.

“The death tolls mounting, violence, the insurrection, health care system crushed, all of it.”

That low point, Obama said, helped compel her to pen her new book, “The Light we Carry.”

Described as “part memoir, part self-help” book, Obama said she came up with the idea as friends, family members and fans all seemed to be turning to her for advice.

“Everyone was searching for some answers of how to cope. And for some reason they were asking me, ‘What do you do?’ I had to start thinking about that,” Obama, 58, said.

The book, scheduled to release Nov. 15, details lessons and coping mechanisms Obama said she’s picked up throughout her life.

“These are the things I say to myself when I need to pick myself up. This is how I stay visible in a world that doesn’t necessarily see a tall Black woman. This is how I stay armored up when I’m attacked. The book is that offering.”

The ex-executive mansion resident and former lawyer said it was important for her to show her vulnerability in the book, revealing she’s not always happy when she looks in the mirror first thing in the morning.

“I personally have plenty of mornings when I flip on the bathroom light, take one look, and desperately want to flip it off again,” Obama writes in the book, according to People.

Obama said she’s gotten in the habit of trying to practice kindness toward herself.

“I try it because it is a practice, especially as women. There are societal signals all around us telling us that there is something wrong with some part of us. We’re supposed to age gracefully. We’re supposed to be the same shape that we were when we were in our 20s after giving birth to two, three kids. We’re not supposed to go gray. Our face isn’t supposed to wrinkle,” Obama said.

“I mean, it’s not in our heads. These messages are coming in. They’ve been coming in our whole lives. So the notion that we aren’t affected by it and that I am not affected by it, that’s laughable,” she said.

“So today when I’m looking at the mirror, I still see what’s wrong, but I try to push those thoughts out and say, ‘Wow, you are healthy. Look at your skin. Look how happy you look, your smile,’” Obama explained.

“I try to find the things about me that I love and start my day a little more kind. And that’s just a small simple tool. It doesn’t require a gym membership. It doesn’t require anybody else.”

Obama also told the magazine besides taking up knitting during the pandemic, watching TV offers her “an escape.”

“I am a fully informed citizen. I read the paper, I get briefs, I sit with Barack Obama every night. I know what’s happening in the world. When I’m by myself, I need to be able to turn my head off and think about wallpaper.”

“You name it, I watch it. HGTV. Anything on the Food Channel. It’s not all lowbrow,” she said.

“I love the dating shows, ‘Married at First Sight.’ Oh my God, yeah, I can do it all.”