High alert! Michelle Obama, 58, didn’t realize how series White House security really was until daughter Sasha, now 21, had her first playdate there. The former First Lady revealed what it’s like to be her friend during an interview with Kelly Clarkson on Thursday, Dec. 15.
Michelle looked great as she sat down with the country singer/chat show host. She wore a charcoal-hued wool jacket with a salt and pepper sweater. Barack Obama’s wife had on gleaming statement earrings and her micro-braided hair was raked back into a high ponytail.
Giving fans a glimpse at what life in the White House was like, Michelle told Kelly story about her first time inviting people over to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. After meeting another mom she liked, Michelle decided to host a play date. The author didn’t think much of it when she first asked her daughter’s pal over, but the situation turned out to be much more of an ordeal that she bargained for. “At first I just saw her and I was like, ‘Why don’t you have little Olivia come over?’ And of course, she was like, “Sure.”
It wasn’t until later that her friend told Michelle what happened on her side. “Later, as we became friends, she told me the story of what it was like, coming to pick Olivia up after that, coming to the White House.
While the FLOTUS is undeniably popular, she pointed out some of the downsides of being her buddy. “What is on the other side of being my friend?” she adked Kelly. “Well, it is a social security check, it’s a background check. All that. It’s a clear vet before you can even come in the gate.”
And that was without the mom even entering the White House itself. (Still, she made sure to look polished for the visit. Michelle revealed her pal “went and got her hair done, her nails done, and washed her car.” “She was like, ‘Yeah!'” the politician’s wife laughed. “‘I’m not showing up messy at the White House.”
Michelle tried to be polite and walk little Olivia out, not realizing that was a huge security no-no. “You do not leave the residence as a principal,” she later learned. “It sets off all this outside security. The counter-assault team goes into action. Black flack jackets with machine guns, dogs. They start descending.”
So, when the mother-of-two went outside, security was out in full force. “Here I come, her car is now surrounded by security,” Michelle remembered.
The situation didn’t stop there. Continuing to act like a typical mom, Michelle invited little Olivia and her mom out onto the famous South Lawn of the White House.
“I’m like, ‘Get out, come on out,'” she remembered. But Michelle’s now “good friend” had been explicitly told, “Under no circumstances, ma’am, are you to get out of your car.”
“This woman is about to pee her pants,” Michelle laughed, explaining how she continued to beckon her pal. “I’m calling her, I’m like, ‘Get out.’ And she’s like, [groan.]”
Her friend handled the situation with total poise, however, “slowly” making her way out of her car to have a “great chat” with her new friend. “She played it all off, I didn’t know any of this,” Michelle went on, explaining why she had to include the anecdote in her new book The Light We Carry.
Luckily, the star didn’t scare off her pal. The friendship turned into a lasting connection and she now considers Sasha’s friend Olivia “like a daughter.”
Finishing the tale with a lesson, Michelle said, “If I hadn’t taken the risk to extend myself and to reach out to a stranger, and make a friend, she wouldn’t be in my life. And so if I can make new friends, anybody can, all right?”