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Our forever first lady Michelle Obama graced us with her presence at the 2019 Essence Festival and it was everything we could imagine and more. She sat down in an interview with Gayle King (who still doesn’t want to be called auntie) and spoke about leaving the White House, her children, marriage and more.

The Havard Law alum talked about the impact that men like her father and brother had on her life:

“My father and my brother had the greatest impact on my self-esteem because I grew up in a household with men who loved me and respected me very early on, who told me how beautiful I was, who treated me as an equal,” she said. “So even at an early age because I had a father and a brother and the men in my life who didn’t hurt me, who took care of me, the bar for what I expected for myself was set by the men in my life.”

Adding on to the discussion of what it means to have great men in our lives, the mother of two talked about her boo, Former President Barack Obama and what it means to have an equal partnership:

“Equality is not just measured in terms of the wallet. Equality is in terms of the value that they carry. Honesty is the beginning, the middle, and the end. I wouldn’t want to be bothered with someone I couldn’t trust on a day-to-day basis. It’s not just about how much money they make or title. Someone could have the right salary, but the wrong heart.”

We are literally gushing from all of this tea and can’t wait to use Michelle’s advice to find our equal.

Aside from talking about relationships, the 55-year-old also touched on her role as first lady and what she learned from her years on the job:

“For a minute there, I was an angry black woman who was emasculating her husband. As I got more popular, that’s when people of all sides — Democrats and Republicans — tried to take me out by the knees and the best way to do it was to focus on the one thing people were afraid of: the strength of a black woman,” she said.

“I would have to earn my grace and I knew I would have to quickly define myself and I want all young girls out there to know — we all struggle with that, people of color, working-class folks, women of color — people try to define us in a negative way before we get a chance to get out there and tell our own stories.”

You can watch the rest of the interview here:

The Chitown native keeps blessing us with the gems to success from her memoir Becoming to her latest apperence at Essence Fest and we can’t keep up with all of the valuable information she’s given us.

TELL US: Who you like to see Michelle make more appearances?

The Most Talked About Performances, Hottest Looks & More: Go Inside The 2019 Essence Festival
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