Michelle Obama Reveals How She Settled Into Her New Home
To mark the release of her memoir, Michelle Obama joined Oprah Winfrey at Hearst Tower for a wide-ranging discussion. Here, she reflects on her long-awaited return to domestic life.
Millions of people have been wondering how you're doing, how's the transition, and I think there's no better example than the toast story. Can you share the toast story?
Well, I start the preface right at one of the first weeks after we moved into our new home after the transition-our new home in Washington, a couple miles away from the White House. It's a beautiful brick home, and it's the first regular house, with a door and a doorbell, that I have had in about eight years.
Eight years.
And so the toast story is about one of the first nights I was alone there-the kids were out, Malia was on her gap year, I think Barack was traveling, and I was alone for the first time. As first lady, you're not alone much. There are people in the house always, there are men standing guard. There is a house full of swat people, and you can't open your windows or walk outside without causing a fuss.
You can't open a window?
Can't open a window. Sasha actually tried one day-Sasha and Malia both. But then we got the call: "Shut the window."
[Laughs]
So here I am in my new home, just me and Bo and Sunny, and I do a simple thing. I go downstairs and open the cabinet in my own kitchen-which you don't do in the White House because there's always somebody there going, "Let me get that. What do you want? What do you need?"-and I made myself toast. Cheese toast. And then I took my toast and I walked out into my backyard. I sat on the stoop, and there were dogs barking in the distance, and I realized Bo and Sunny had really never heard neighbor dogs. They're like, What's that? And I'm like, "Yep, we're in the real world now, fellas."
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