Keen to learn more about inclusive workplaces? Want to be inclusive of the LGBTQ+ community? Learn more & request an invitation for a very special 2-hour session here!
The former first lady of the United States of America, Michelle Obama opens up about her miscarriage, the struggle to cope with it and going through IVF to conceive.
Michelle Obama, the former first lady of the United States of America is an inspiration to millions of women around the world. In an exclusive interview with ABC News anchor Robin Roberts, the former first lady reveals hitherto unknown challenges on her difficult journey to motherhood. Part of the interview was aired on Good Morning America where she revealed that she had suffered a miscarriage 20 years ago, which left her feeling “lost and alone.”
EXCLUSIVE: @MichelleObama to @RobinRoberts on suffering a miscarriage 20 years ago: “I felt lost and alone.” More coming up on @GMA and then watch the @ABC special covering her journey to motherhood and more from her memoir, “Becoming,” Sunday night 9/8c. https://t.co/LivWLBgeRA pic.twitter.com/gzIe8LTYC2 — Good Morning America (@GMA) November 9, 2018
EXCLUSIVE: @MichelleObama to @RobinRoberts on suffering a miscarriage 20 years ago: “I felt lost and alone.” More coming up on @GMA and then watch the @ABC special covering her journey to motherhood and more from her memoir, “Becoming,” Sunday night 9/8c. https://t.co/LivWLBgeRA pic.twitter.com/gzIe8LTYC2
— Good Morning America (@GMA) November 9, 2018
Coping with a miscarriage can be very traumatic. Apart from the physical distress, the emotional agony takes a humongous toll on a woman and very often, the couple’s relationship. Michelle and Barack Obama’s marriage was no different and had hit rock bottom following the miscarriage. In fact, Michelle Obama also revealed that the couple had to seek marriage counseling to sort out the differences and save the relationship.
“Marriage counseling for us was one of those ways where we learned how to talk out our differences,” Michelle Obama says in the interview. “I know too many young couples who struggle and think that somehow there’s something wrong with them. And I want them to know that Michelle and Barack Obama, who have a phenomenal marriage and who love each other, we work on our marriage. And we get help with our marriage when we need it.”
Often it is seen that women who suffer a miscarriage are unable to to deal with the pain, which is worsened by the isolation that ensues as this is still a somewhat taboo topic. Michelle Obama aptly articulates the anguish when she says, “We sit in our own pain, thinking that somehow we’re broken.” In India, things get more complicated because more often than not it is the woman who is blamed for not being able to give the family a ‘family-heir’. Also, the additional pressure to try and conceive a child as soon as possible, further adds to the trauma.
Michelle Obama also spoke of how she and Barack Obama underwent fertilization treatments to conceive their daughters Sasha and Malia, now 17 and 20. “The biological clock is real … egg production is limited. I realised as I was 34 and 35, we had to do IVF. I think it’s the worst thing that we do to each other as women, not share the truth about our bodies and how they work.”
These revelations come ahead of Tuesday’s release of Mrs. Obama’s memoir Becoming, where she talks about the fascinating journey her life has been, from the challenges of growing up as a African-American girl in Chicago to her momentous ascension as the country’s first black first lady.
A part time backpacker, an accidental baker, a doting mother, a loving wife, a pampered daughter, an inspired blogger, an amateur photographer read more...
Women's Web is an open platform that publishes a diversity of views, indivisual posts do not necessarily represent the platofrom's views and opinions at all times.
Stay updated with our Weekly Newsletter or Daily Summary - or both!
Dushyanta clearly remembered everything. But he didn't have any intention to accept a poor woman from a remote hermitage as his wife and her son as theirs.
Dushyanta clearly remembered everything. But he didn’t have any intention to accept a poor woman from a remote hermitage as his wife and her son as theirs.
She sat motionless on the royal bed, her knees drawn up to her chin, staring vacantly outside the palace window.
She was sheathed in exquisite scarlet red silk, shot through with golden threads forming intricate traditional patterns. Chests of gems and jewellery were strewn all over the bed. The maids were fussing over whether a diamond-studded necklace would suit their queen or a gold choker would look better. Another younger maid was arranging her tresses in a coiffeur.
Actor Siddharth sent out a distasteful tweet in response to a tweet by Saina Nehwal, in what he thought were clever words, but this slur on any woman is not acceptable.
Trust me when I say I’ve run out of patience in stopping myself from calling this ‘liberal’, self-proclaimed feminist actor out umpteen times in the past.
Let me count them out for you.
Michelle Obama was loved by many as First Lady, especially by women. Her book Becoming is proof of why it was so. As this author tells us, so much of it resonates with the common experiences of being a woman.
“Everyone on earth, they’d tell us, was carrying around an unseen history, and that alone deserved some tolerance.” – Michelle Obama, Becoming, Pg. 7.
After reading Becoming by Michelle Obama, the thoughts I had expressed themselves as a letter to her – a personal letter from me, the woman, to Michelle, the woman. Here’s what I said to her.
Becoming by Michelle Obama touches the reader in unexpected ways. "The book is not just her memoir," says Piyusha Vir. "but extends Hope to all who read it."
Becoming by Michelle Obama touches the reader in unexpected ways. “The book is not just her memoir,” says Piyusha Vir. “but extends Hope to all who read it.”
When the book was first released, I knew this one was going to be a winner! Not just because it was written by the first African American First Lady of the United States but also because here was a woman every bit as ambitious and driven – something she admits to in the book – as any other when it came to her dreams and goals.
When Shonda Rhimes first reviewed this book on her website, it included some inside stories of how she got to read the book before anyone else and was invited to be part of an exclusive book discussion, and her own experience of reading the book.