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Photo by: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images for Live Nation

In an interview she gave last week, former First Lady Michelle Obama discussed how it was to live as a Black woman in the White House.

When our forever first lady began her nationwide book tour for “The Light We Carry,” a moving talk about it took place in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 15.

Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images for Live Nation

She spoke openly with Ellen Degeneres about the difficulties she encountered as a woman who had to uphold a particular image while also being Black. Obama quipped that if she had worn braids at the White House, people would have referred to her as a “terrorist.”

“Remember when she wore braids? Those are terrorist braids! Those are revolutionary braids!”

The former First Lady said that she participated in the unspoken game to aid Americans.

“Let me keep my hair straight. Let’s get health care passed.”

Photo by: Stephen J. Boitano/LightRocket via Getty Images

The Chicago native also said that the general public wasn’t “ready” to see a Black woman in her true beauty.

“They ain’t ready for it! The code of ethics at a workplace, as Black women, we deal with it, the whole thing about do you show up with your natural hair?” the 58-year-said.

She went on to describe the criticism she and her husband, former President Barack Obama, endured during his two terms as commander-in-chief.

Photo by: Mark Wilson/Getty Images

“They tripped out when Barack wore a tan suit,” she said, referencing her husband’s decision to opt out of the standard navy or black suit in 2014. “The great indignity, the scandal of the Obama administration.”

She continued to express the many criticisms that Black Americans face daily.

“That’s the African American experience. But women in offices that are worried, ‘Should I wear skirts? Should I wear pantyhose?’ I hate pantyhose. But when you’re carrying all this other stuff, this mask, these differences, and you’re trying to do your job. It’s just an extra burden on overcoming.”

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