Michelle Obama's most memorable quotes from her 'Becoming' book tour
Michelle Obama has spoken out about "the nastiness in politics," marriage to Barack, having "Impostor syndrome" and "having it all" as she continues her book tour.
The former first lady addressed a crowd of 2,700 people in Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall to promote her memoir 'Becoming,'which has sold more than three million copies in less than two weeks.
Here are her most memorable quotes from the tour so far:
On wanting to push Barack Obama out of a window
Speaking candidly about the reality of marriage to a US President and what it takes to make a relationship work Michelle Obama said:
"People tell you it's love, it's not love, you have got to have some of that in there but to stay married you have to have a lot of like and a lot of compromise and hard work and I shared that because for many people they look at my marriage as #relationshipgoals.
"I tell young people there are going to be huge chunks of time where you want to push him out the window, just by accident, you don't want him to be irreparably hurt, but never the other way around. He never wants to push me out the window because I am perfect."
She also expressed her surprise at why people are not more open about relationship counselling.
"Why is that? What is wrong with people?," she said.
"People get career counselling, that's ok, but you're trying to meld two lives forever, that is hard and there is no training for it, there is no class."
On breaking royal protocol
The former first Lady revealed how she had panicked after breaking protocol while meeting the Queen at Windsor Castle.
She said: "I touched her. After all those protocol lessons, I was human."
Recalling the incident, which took place during the couple's last visit of Barack Obama's presidency, she went on to describe the Queen's response.
"So I had all this protocol buzzing in my head and I was like 'don't trip down the stairs and don't touch anybody, whatever you do' and so the Queen says 'just get in, sit wherever' and she's telling you one thing and you're remembering protocol and she says 'Oh it's all rubbish, just get in'.
On not wanting to become a meme
While Mrs Obama's time in the public eye has always been the epitome of grace and dignity she did reveal one of her most common fears.
"If you're thinking about my thoughts when I come out on stage it's 'don't' fall,'" she said.
"One of my primary goals for the eight years was to never become a meme."
On having "Impostor syndrome"
Asked how she feels to be a "symbol of hope" in troubled times, she said: "I still have a little impostor syndrome, it never goes away, that you're actually listening to me.
"It doesn't go away, that feeling that you shouldn't take me that seriously. What do I know? I share that with you because we all have doubts in our abilities, about our power and what that power is.
"If I'm giving people hope then that is a responsibility, so I have to make sure that I am accountable.
"We don't have any choice but to make sure we elders are giving our young people a reason to hope."
On the "nastiness" in politics
While US President Donald Trump was not referred to by name, Mrs Obama did refer to "the bitterness, the nastiness that we see in politics".
Discussing if she still believes in her motto "When they go low, we go high", she said: "My answer is, 'What choice do we have?'"
She also said she saw the challenges to minorities in the US manifesting themselves in "inequality, ignorance, racism, homophobia".
"The one challenge we have in our country is harnessing the power that we do have and not relinquishing that, and I mean voting.
"In our country, every American has one vote but there are people who use that vote every time and people who don't use it at all and sometimes those folks can least afford it.
"In the past election, rather than campaigning for a candidate, we invested time in educating people about the power of voting."
On the "sh**" that "doesn't always work"
Mrs Obama accidentally swore when talking about Sheryl Sandberg's "Lean In" book.
Speaking in New York, as part of her book tour, Mrs Obama was talking about Facebook's Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg's mantra and book 'Lean In' which suggests different ways on how "women can have it all."
Forgetting where she was she candidly said: “That lean in sh** doesn’t always work!”