Rather than playing out overly sentimental tropes reserved for television series finales, Michelle Obama got real while promoting her best-selling memoir onThe Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon Tuesday when talking about her last day living in the White House.
Before the late night host could even finish asking what was going through Obama’s head when walking onto Air Force One after witnessing President Donald Trump’s inauguration, the former FLOTUS cut him off with two dismissive words: “Bye, Felicia!”
.@MichelleObama on what she was really thinking while waving goodbye after Trump's inauguration: https://t.co/GLJjNIkvZz #FallonTonight pic.twitter.com/ptkHStB0Dd
— The Tonight Show (@FallonTonight) December 19, 2018
While this might not be a complete revelation to those who observed Obama’s much-memed face throughout Trump’s inauguration, her frank response resulted in uproarious laughter from the studio audience.
https://twitter.com/SimonNRicketts/status/822495266087505923?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E822495266087505923&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fthehill.com%2Fblogs%2Fin-the-know%2Fin-the-know%2F315346-the-internet-is-having-a-field-day-with-michelle-obama
“Is that what was going through your mind?” Fallon asked after composing himself from doubled over laughter.
“A lot was going on that day,” said the Becoming author, pointing out that her daughters had a sleepover with friends the night before they moved out.
“‘Are you guys kidding me?'” Obama recalled urging her daughters to get going. “‘We’re leaving. You gotta take all your stuff, pick it up. The blankets, the bears.’ They’re all crying, and it was like, ‘Get out. We’ve got to go.'”
And of course, she said with a bemused expression, “There was that, and then the Tiffany’s box.” (Obama had previously revealed on Ellen that Melania Trump had surprised her with the gift of a “lovely frame.”) “It was just all a lot.”
https://twitter.com/soft_sass/status/915587768599711744?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E915587768599711744&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Ffortune.com%2F2018%2F01%2F31%2Fmelania-trump-michelle-obama-inauguration-gift-tiffany-box%2F
From calling President Trump a “kook”-inciting “misogynist” to calling out the illusion of leaning in (“because that shit doesn’t work all the time!”), the Becoming author hasn’t pulled any punches in her book or on her book tour.
And considering that the memoir became the best-selling book of 2018 only two weeks after its release, it looks like the American people may be enjoying her candor.