Former first lady Michelle Obama revealed how she felt during President Trump’s inauguration in an interview during the Essence Festival on Saturday.
Obama told journalist Gayle King that her children cried during the event because they were leaving their home of eight years.
{mosads}“And then we had to meet the Trumps. That day was very emotional. And then to sit at that inauguration and to look around at a crowd that was not reflective of the country, and I had to sit in that audience as one of the handfuls of people of color. All that I had to hold on to over those last eight years, and it was a lot emotionally,” Obama said.
“By the time I got on the plane, it was a release of 8 years of trying to have to show up.”
King then asked Obama about how she felt about Trump rolling back a lot of what former President Obama accomplished.
“People ask me that question all the time and I can honestly say, our upset wasn’t over our legacy,” Michelle Obama explained.
“We weren’t there to instill our legacy, but the upset it would cause the country. What saddens me is what it’s doing to the country as a whole. What we have to be really conscientious of is what kind of country we’re leaving for our children or grandchildren.”
Michelle Obama published her best-selling memoir “Becoming” in 2018 and has been touring for the book since.