Michelle Obama - Cover Star

Michelle Obama has been a First Lady like none before her! She has her feet firmly grounded in reality, as well as mainstream pop culture. She recently admitted to Variety that she’s a devoted consumer and “product of pop culture”.

Mrs. Obama has often used celebrity and television in order to further her initiatives. Remember her insanely popular appearance on Carpool Karaoke with James Corden as part of his 'Late Late Show'? Well Michelle and James sang their hearts out to Stevie Wonder’s 'Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours,' Beyoncé’s 'Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It),' and Missy Elliott’s 'Get Ur Freak On', while driving around the White House.



“First of all, I was riding in a car with somebody else, without the Secret Service,” she revealed to Variety. “So right there, [I said], ‘Let’s keep driving!’ I think we drove around the South Lawn about 100 times.”

Dancing and singing in James Corden’s passenger seat, her appearance quickly went viral across the internet. This, was just part of Michelle’s endeavour to make American politics more relatable.

To name just a few more of her untraditional media appearances, the 52-year-old has also raced along the East Wing in a potato sack with Jimmy Fallon, made a recent cameo on “NCIS,” and she did “random dancing” on Nickelodeon’s “iCarly.”



“What I have never been afraid of is to be a little silly, and you can engage people that way,” Michelle said. “My view is, first you get them to laugh, then you get them to listen. So I’m always game for a good joke, and I’m not so formal in this role. There’s very little that we can’t do that people wouldn’t appreciate.”

Mrs. Obama also explained that as she launched her own initiatives, she knew it would take “reaching people where they lived on a day-to-day basis, and the next step was, ‘How do you do that? Where are the people?’ Well, they’re not reading the op-ed pieces in the major newspapers. They’re not watching Sunday morning news talk shows. They’re doing what most people are doing: They are watching TV.”



The First Lady perhaps understands this because she and her husband love watching TV themselves! They enjoy watching new film releases in the White House family theatre, and Michelle loves binge watching Orange Is the New Black and The Americans.

“On a good flight to China? Having the fifth season of Orange Is the New Black is a lifesaver,” she revealed. “The only way I get through the next season of The Americans is on a long flight. And it helps, because you look up and say, ‘We’re here. We’re landing.’?”

Music-wise, Beyoncé and Rihanna are a playlist-must wherever Michelle is. Even at her Variety photo shoot, the first lady’s assistant brought along a compilation that included all their latest songs.

During her time as First Lady, Michelle successfully tapped into popular media and won the hearts of citizens around the world. She has deservedly triumphed throughout the Obama’s term at the White House.

For Michelle Obama’s full interview, subscribe to Variety.


Images ©Variety