Has Michelle Obama retired? After Netflix shows, memoir Becoming and podcast Waffles + Mochi, the former US first lady is ‘chasing summer’

Mar 13 , 2021

Former first lady Michelle Obama recently made comments about potentially retiring with her husband Barack – how serious was she?. Photo: Reuters

After the White House, Barack did a Spotify podcast with Bruce Springsteen and penned A Promised Land, while Michelle will star in Waffles + Mochi

Michelle said she struggled with ‘low-grade depression’ due to Covid-19, which she spent at home with daughters Malia and Sasha

Former First Lady Michelle Obama says she is mulling retiring from public life four years after leaving the White House and becoming a private citizen.

Obama told People magazine that she’s “[selectively] picking projects and chasing summer”.

Former US President Barack Obama and former US First Lady Michelle Obama arrive for the 59th Presidential Inauguration on January 20, 2021, at the US Capitol in Washington, the US. Photo: AFP

“Barack and I never want to experience winter again,” Obama, a native of Chicago, Illinois, told the magazine, in the interview published on Wednesday. “We’re building the foundation for somebody else to continue the work so we can retire and be with each other – and Barack can golf too much, and I can tease him about golfing too much because he’s got nothing else to do.”

After leaving the White House, the Obamas relocated to the Kalorama neighbourhood of Washington, bought another home on Martha’s Vineyard, and kept busy with numerous advocacy, literary and entertainment ventures.

A Promised Land by Barack Obama. Photo: Bookazine

They’ve both written memoirs (the first volume of Barack Obama’s memoirs, A Promised Land, was released in late 2020), and completed film and podcast projects through their production company, Higher Ground, with more projects in the pipeline. The Michelle Obama Podcast debuted in 2020 and the former president recently did a Spotify podcast project with Bruce Springsteen titled Renegades: Born in the USA.

The former first lady also has a new Netflix children’s show, Waffles + Mochi, that will debut soon and a special edition of her wildly successful 2018 memoir Becoming is being released for young readers.

In the near future, the Obamas will also celebrate the opening of the Obama Presidential Library in Chicago, which is currently under construction.