Tag Archives: First Lady

13 Important Takeaways from Michelle Obama’s Farewell Interview with Oprah Winfrey

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Michelle Obama sat down with Oprah Winfrey on Monday night for her final farewell interview at the White House, and it was just as emotional, empowering, and beautiful as you’d expect it to be.

Here are just a few of the biggest takeaways and standout revelations from the CBS interview, which will air again on Wednesday, Dec. 21, at 8 p.m. on OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network.

1. This election was just as tough for her as it was for you. The First Lady hit the campaign trail hard in support of Hillary Clinton this year, but as she explained to Oprah, this election was just as hard for her as a citizen as it was for her as First Lady. In the interview, Obama revealed she had gone to bed before the results of the election were called, only to wake up and find out Donald Trump had won when she checked her phone in the morning.

“This past election was challenging for me as a citizen,” she said. “To watch and experience. It was painful.”

2. Fellow WOC, take it from her: Racism is a reflection on the people being racist more than it is a reflection on you. Throughout her time as First Lady, and even when her husband was first campaigning back in 2007, Obama has been subjected to countless racist remarks and unforgivable levels of disrespect. But while at first, these remarks took her aback, she ultimately realized that what these horrific trolls were saying wasn’t in any way a reflection on her, but more a reflection on them.

“You know, color, wealth — these things that don’t matter still play too much of a role in how we see one other,” she said. “And it’s sad, because the things that least define us as people is the color of our skin, it’s the size of our bank account. None of that matters.”

“It’s our values,” she continued. “It’s how we live our lives. You can’t tell that from somebody’s race, somebody’s religion. People have to act it out. They have to live those lives. So that was the blow back, and then I thought, OK, well, let me live my life out loud so that people can then see and judge for themselves. And that’s what I want young people to do. Just live your life.”

3. The Obamas are truly the greatest couple of all time. In the middle of the interview, President Barack Obama popped in as a surprise guest, gushing about his wife and once against proving what an incredible power couple they are.

“We all knew she was brilliant and cute and strong and a great mom,” Obama said of his wife. “But I think the way she blended purpose and policy with fun so that she was able to reach beyond Washington, on her health care initiative and her military family work, it was masterful.”

4. The First Lady has no intentions of running for office. Ever. Bursting bubbles and breaking hearts everywhere, Obama reiterated that she has no intentions of running for president in 2020 or beyond, both because of what a difficult job it is and because she wouldn’t want to put her family through it again.

“The next family that comes in here, every person in that family — every child, every grandchild — their lives will be turned upside down in a way that no American really understands,” she said. “And it’s not for us to complain about it, so you don’t hear complaints, but it is a truth, an actuality, that there is a weight to it.”

“People don’t really understand how hard this is,” she continued. “And it’s not something that you cavalierly just sort of ask a family to do again.”

5. Her mom will be leaving D.C. to go back to Chicago as soon as they’re out of office. While both the President and First Lady were vague about where they plan to move after Sasha finishes high school, the First Lady made it very clear that at least one member of the family would be peacing out as quickly as possible: her mother.

“She’s going back to Chicago — she’s, like, ‘Bye, Felicia,'” she said. “Grandma is done.”

6. Malia and Sasha are both going through their rebellious teen phase. Yes, even members of the First Family aren’t immune to teenage hormones, and given that most teens “start to bristle against all kinds of authority” at some point, it makes sense that growing up in the White House might have its own set of problems. Luckily, the First Lady acknowledged that they’ve mostly been able to work through any “tensions.”

“Imagine being 18, 17, 16, 15, and you’ve got at least eight men with guns driving you around,” she said. “Walking into your parties. You know, not letting you ride in friends’ cars. I mean, there were those tensions, for sure, that we had to sort of work through.”

7. In her opinion, her greatest achievement has been setting an example for young women everywhere — especially young black women. During her interview, she discussed how proud she is that so many young women got to see “somebody educated, strong [and] outspoken … on a regular basis” during her time as First Lady.

8. Sometimes you have to brush off the haters if you want to move forward. In order to get through her everyday life, the First Lady often just has to put on her blockers and power through — incredible advice for even us plebeians.

9. Words matter. Throughout the interview, the First Lady continuously reiterated how much words matter — especially for kids.

“Words matter,” she said. “What we say, how we behave — we are modeling to the next generation.”

10. Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey are definitely going to go glamping soon. Now that the First Lady is about to have some free time, Oprah is trying to sell her on taking a fabulous vacation. Just imagine how epic it would be to go glamping with two of the most powerful, incredible, and influential humans in the world.

11. She and the President are ready to do whatever is necessary to help the Trumps succeed. The First Lady is ready to pass on the torch to her successor, Melania Trump, and has said “the door is open.”

“Words matter,” she said. “[T]he words that we say moving forward, all of us, it matters. Which is one of the reasons why Barack and I are so supportive of this transition. Because no matter how we felt going into it, it is important for the health of this nation that we support the commander-in-chief.”

12. That being said, she still can’t wrap her head around the leaked audio tape between Trump and Billy Bush. After The Washington Post first published the clip, Obama responded with a fiery, impassioned speech pointing out precisely why it was so inappropriate and scary — and of course, she still stands by what she said 100 percent.

“You know, to have a candidate for the presidency speaking in such terms about women, as I said, was not — it was not a normal thing,” she said in the interview. “So my response, you know, in light of what I was seeing from my female staff, what I was hearing from my daughters, their reaction to it, for me required a different kind of response.”

“You can’t just stand before people and just give a regular political speech,” she continued. “Something that Barack and I have always tried to be, in this office, is honest … A lot of people had been shaken to their core. And still are. They are still feeling the reverberations of that kind of caustic language.”

13. Hope is more important than ever. Given that one of the biggest parts of Barack Obama’s campaign was hope, Oprah asked if she felt the First Lady thought her husband lived up to maintaining it.

“Yes, I do — because we feel the difference now,” she said. “See, now we’re feeling what not having hope feels like. You know? Hope is necessary. It’s a necessary concept.”

“And Barack didn’t just talk about hope because he thought it was just a nice slogan to get votes,” she continued. “I mean, he and I and so many believe that if you — what else do you have if you don’t have hope?”

Credit: cosmopolitan

Melania Trump will become just the second foreign-born first lady in US history.

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A foreign-born, former supermodel who married an eccentric billionaire is about to become the United States’ next first lady.

Melania Trump, who will become just the second foreign-born first lady in US history, will assume the very public role after having spent much of her husband’s presidential campaign avoiding the campaign trail and the limelight, saying she preferred to remain home in New York to care for the couple’s only son, who is 10. She will succeed First Lady Michelle Obama, who has taken on a very public and active role in advocating for health and wellness issues.
Trump delivered only a handful of speeches as her husband bounded from one unlikely phase of his campaign to the next. But she did lay out in broad terms what her priorities would be as first lady in the final week of the campaign — and to accomplish at least one of those, she may have to begin in the West Wing.
That’s because Trump said in a speech last week outlining the priorities she would bring to the East Wing that in addition to “helping children and women,” she said combatting cyber bullying will be “one of the main focuses” of her work as first lady.
While Donald Trump has repeatedly mocked his opponents on Twitter over their looks and intelligence, Melania Trump vowed to combat meanness on the Internet, saying “our culture has gotten too mean and too tough,” particularly as others are mocked over their “looks or intelligence.”
“It is never OK when a 12-year-old girl or boy is mocked, bullied or attacked. It is terrible when it happens on the playground, and it is absolutely unacceptable when it is done by someone with no name hiding on the internet. We have to find a better way to talk to each other,” Melania Trump said, delivering a rare speech in Pennsylvania last week. “We must find better ways to honor and support the basic goodness of our children, especially in social media.”
But while her agenda as first lady may be tinged with irony, Melania Trump has in many ways been a balancing force for her husband — chiding him in private when his temper flared and he lashed out on Twitter at his political opponents and urging him to be more “presidential” in their private conversations.
She has also served as a symbolic counterweight to her husband’s hardline rhetoric on immigration. While the Slovenian-born former model has said she agrees with her husband’s immigration proposals, Donald Trump and his supporters have frequently touted Melania Trump’s status as an immigrant to push back on attacks that Trump is anti-immigrant.
Melania Trump has said becoming a naturalized US citizen in 2006 has been “the greatest privilege in the world.” She will become the second foreign-born first lady, 192 years after England-born Louisa Adams became first lady.
But her immigration history also risked becoming a liability during the campaign amid reports that she may have worked as a model in the United States before obtaining the proper paperwork to work legally in the US. She and her attorney have insisted she followed all appropriate laws.
Before her speech last week, Melania Trump delivered only one major speech in the campaign — at the Republican National Convention before her husband accepted the Republican presidential nomination.
While initially well-received, the speech was ultimately tarnished by controversy after it came to light that parts of the speech were lifted from Michelle Obama’s speech to the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

Zimbabwe’s First Lady To Get Wheelchair For Mugabe To Continue Governing

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Zimbabwe’s first lady says she plans to get a “special” wheelchair for her 91-year-old husband so can continue to rule.

Speaking at a political rally on Saturday, Grace Mugabe told supporters that she would get a wheelchair for her husband, President Robert Mugabe, to use.

In the televised speech, Mugabe, 50, vowed to push the wheelchair herself, taking a swipe at critics who say her husband is too old to govern.

Mugabe told supporters she would ensure her husband remains in power as long as he can still speak.

Credit: AP

Former First Lady Storms Liaison Office In Abuja, Takes Away N100m Property Worth

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Shocking details of a raid on the Benue State Liaison Office in the Asokoro area in Abuja by the former First Lady of Benue State Yemisi Suswam has been provided to newsmen.

Witnesses told SaharaReporters that the raid was conducted by associates close to Yemisi Suswam operating under the cover of darkness. These witnesses told our correspondent that Yemisi’s associates drove two large trucks to the Liaison Office in Abuja, with the intent to cart out and steal all the expensive furnishings.

It was learned that Yemisi Suswan and her sister received a contract from the Benue State government to furnish and design the Benue State Liaison Office in Abuja, which sources said was an unlawful government contract due to conflicts of interest. It was also learned that because the former First Lady and her sister furnished the office they knew the exact items to steal.

The night-time assailants–under the direction of Yemisi Suswan–stole everything they could fit into their trucks, especially pricey gadgets, electronics, and home-office accessories. The items removed included television sets, refrigerators, rugs, plates, pots, DSTV decoders, and bed sheets.

It has also been learned that the Federal Capital Territory Police Command have identified a Police Sergeant, Shola Adeniyi, and another unknown associate to First Lady Suswam, as suspects in this brazen raid and have began investigating these leads.

Read More: saharareporters

First Lady Urges Nigerians To Embrace Yoga

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The First Lady, Hajia Aisha Buhari, on Sunday in Abuja urged Nigerians to embrace yoga to enhance their physical and mental well-being.

Buhari, who spoke at the First International Day of Yoga, organised by the Indian High Commission in Abuja, said, “Yoga is a gift from India to the world”.

The first lady, who was represented by Alanyingi Sylva, the wife of the of the former governor of Bayelsa, Timipre Sylva, pointed out that Yoga had been a success story of India.

“Her (Aisha’s) message is to thank the Indian High Commission for bringing Yoga and to encourage Nigerians to embrace the initiative of yoga.

“This is because, it (yoga) is for the well-being of your mind and body. Yoga is a very welcome initiative by the Indian High Commission because it has been around and it has been a source of well-being for the Indian people.

“It is a gift from India to the world. They’ve had a success story of yoga for thousands of years and they are bringing it to Nigeria.

“We hope it is going to add to the well-being of Nigerians. Nigerians should do what is physically fit for them to enhance their well-being,” she said.

The Indian High Commissioner, Ajjanpur Ghanashyam, said yoga was a concept designed for the well-being and wellness of humankind.

He said: “It tries to put together the body, the mind and the soul with the rest of environment and nature.

“The beauty of it is it doesn’t require any money, it doesn’t require equipment; it does not require any kind of financial investment and it helps you.

“Basically what it does is to make sure that your bones are fit, the joints of your bones are well-healed and well-oiled.

“You also feel more focused when you do your work and much more happy with yourself, with your family, with your environment and with your friends.

“So most people think that Yoga is a form of exercise; it is not just an exercise, it is much more than exercise,” he said.

Ghanashuam said Yoga had the capacity to increase the oxygen content inside the body to ensure well-being.

“It has been proved that children who do Yoga perform better in their examinations.

“They are able to hold their minds and focus on to what they are doing by helping their attention span to go up,” he said.

The Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, whose address was read by Ghanashyam, said India was proud that the UN had taken Yoga as one of the world’s invaluable legacies.

“If we really wish to have a stable, stress-free life, we need to have a stable inner self.

“The opportunity of stability of inner self comes through the practice of Yoga when we attempt to explore our inner self everyday for a certain period of time.”

The UN General Assembly on December 11, 2014, declared June 21 of every year as the International Day of Yoga.

Credit: NAN

Aisha Buhari Closes Beauty Parlour In Kaduna

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Soft-spoken but extremely eloquent, there are many things that make Aisha Buhari, wife of Nigeria’s new president thick. Blessed with an infectious smile; many, often as a result of her warm disposition, underrate the power that lies in her.
Though, only soaring in popularity in recent months especially in the build up to the March 28 presidential elections where her husband, Muhammadu, a retired military general and former Head of State, coasted to an overwhelming victory, Aisha has always been a known face especially among people who seek to pamper their bodies. The First Lady, until recently, owned one of the biggest spas and beauty institute in the country. Situated along Camp Road, a high brow area of Ungwan-Rimi Government Residential Area in Kaduna State, Hanzy Spa and Hanzy Beauty Institute was always a beehive of activities all week long. It is the first beauty institute in Northern Nigeria and is a National

Board of Technical Education accredited vocational training centre and registered by the Ministry of Education with the aim of exploring the untapped wealth in the emerging beauty industry.

However, since the victory of her husband in late March before his swearing-in in Abuja, the nation’s capital, on Friday, Aisha has since closed down the beauty parlour to take up the new role of Nigeria’s First Lady. The spa and beauty institute patronised by individuals across class, was sighted close to the private residence of the immediate past Vice President, Namadi Sambo. The institute was consulted by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation/Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company to help train individuals under its Youth Empowerment and Skill Acquisition Programme.
But as popular and strategically-placed as the spa and beauty institute was, not many knew Aisha was the brains behind it. Like her more popular husband who is famed for shying away from limelight and prefers to stay at the background most of the time, she operated the business only as a professional and not as wife of a former Head of State at the time. Many clients, who visited the place and also came across her, attested to how simple and impressive at customers’ relations she was.
But Aisha didn’t just venture into the business of pampering people’s skin and bodies – she worked very hard to learn the tricks of the business and how to succeed in it. A trained esthetician who obtained a diploma in Beauty Therapy from the Carlton Institute of Beauty Therapy, Windsor, United Kingdom and a certificate course from the French Beauty School, Esthetique Academie Dubai, she is a member of the United Kingdom’s Vocational Training and Charitable Trust and the International Health and Beauty Council.
In an interview she granted Thisday Style last year, the beautiful Adamawa State-born mother of five said: “I’m a very busy person who does her things quietly. I keep to my profession as an esthetician, managing my spa and beauty institute both in Kaduna and Abuja. I also personally perform some advanced facial treatments like mesotherapy, gold facial and application of TCA etc. I have a number of documentations on my experience in this area including writing a book titled “The Essentials of Beauty Therapy.”
Though, now saddled with the bigger responsibility of giving her ageing husband the needed moral and emotional support required to bring massive transformation in a country craving for change, Aisha’s training and experience as a beauty expert could come to bear in the colouration of things within her control in the coming weeks. For neighbours close to the First Lady’s now closed beauty institute, they would miss the atmosphere she brought to the area.

First Lady Angry With Jonathan Over Rejection Of PDP BoT Chair Offer

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First Lady, Patience Jonathan is allegedly angry with her husband President Goodluck Jonathan.

Patience Jonathan is not happy with her husband’s decision to reject the position of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Board of Trustees position allegedly offered him by the party.

Jonathan decision not to accept the offer did not go down well with the First Lady, who saw the offer as a compensation for the loss of the exalted Presidential seat.

She believed the position would still make both of them relevant in the schemes of things in the party. She was reported to have told her husband that half bread is better than none.

Jonathan had reportedly turned down the offer, citing the need for him to rest for a year before coming back into active politics.

Read More: NewMail

Patience Jonathan Begs Nigerians Not To Weep For Jonathan

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The First Lady, Patience Jonathan on Thursday called on Nigerians not to weep for her and President Goodluck Jonathan over the loss of March 28, 2015 presidential election.

Rather, she urged Nigerians to thank God on their behalf for seeing them through throughout their years in Aso Rock.

Patience Jonathan, who was speaking at a farewell/award ceremony organised for her by the National Council of Women Societies, (NCWS) noted that President Jonathan has achieved what no Nigerian has accomplished.

She said there is nothing her husband was looking for having been deputy-governor, a governor, vice-president, acting-president and president. She stated that not all Presidents and their wives, who entered Aso Rock came out together.

Read More: NewMail

First Lady Screams “No” To Divorcing Jonathan

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President Goodluck Jonathan on Sunday gave an insight into the fate that awaits him under the incoming government of the President-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari.

He recalled the story of the last ruler of apartheid South Africa who was divorced by his wife for accepting to abolish minority rule in the country, and said jokingly that he hoped his wife will not also divorce him after he might left office. Mrs. Jonathan replied with a shout of “Nooooo”.

Her response was greeted with a loud applause by congregation members.

The President also prepared the minds of the ministers and aides who served under him, saying though times await them all.

He said, “I believe there are reasons for everything. Some hard decisions have their own cost, no doubt about that.

“That I have ran the government this way that stabilised certain things, the electoral process and other things that brought stability into this country. They were very costly decisions which I myself must be ready to pay for.

“Some people come to me and say this or that person, is he not your friend that benefitted? Is it not your government that this person benefitted from? But this is what the person is saying.

“But I used to say that worse statements will come. If you take certain decisions, you should know that those close to you will even abandon you at some point.

“And I tell them that more of my so-called friends will disappear. When FW De Clark took the decision to abolish minority rule in RSA, even his wife divorced him. I hope my wife will not divorce me. But that is the only decision that has made RSA to still remain a global player by this time. If we still had that minority rule there, by this time, nobody will be talking about RSA.

“If you take certain decisions, it might be good for the generality of the people but it might affect people differently. So for ministers and aides who served with me, I sympathise with them, they will be persecuted. And they must be ready for that persecution.

“Quoting Tai Solarin, may your ways be rough. To my ministers, I wish you what I wish myself. They will have hard times, we will all have hard times. Our ways will be rough.”

Read More: saharareporters

Group Accuses First Lady Of Hiring Thugs To Protest Against Dickson

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A socio-cultural group, Niger Delta Solidarity Forum, NDSF, has alleged that the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan and her godson and presidential aide, Mr. Waripomowei Dudufa, are planning to destabilise the peace and prevailing stable political atmosphere in Bayelsa State by engaging about 1,000 political thugs to protest against the state governor, Seriake Dickson on the streets of Yenogoa.

The NDSF however said it would “mobilize its members across the entire region and resist any planned street protests in Bayelsa State.”

In a statement issued on Thursday by its General Secretary, Nelson Ebebi, the group alleged that Mrs. Jonathan, along with Dudafa and two incumbent senators from the state intend to cause chaos and confusion by sponsoring street protests in Yenagoa, the state capital.

Read More: dailypost

Amaechi Blasts First Lady, Calls Mrs Buhari An Epitome Of A Good Wife

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Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, has aimed a few insults in the direction of the first lady, Dame Patience Jonathan. Amaechi opined that the first lady was not acting as a proper role model to women across the country.

This comes after Dame Jonathan was found to be making hate speeches at Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) Presidential campaigns across the country as well as making personal attacks on APC presidential candidate, General Buhari.

Speaking at a Buhari Meets Women programme, he unflatteringly compared Dame Jonathan to the wife of General Buhari, Aisha Buhari. “Mrs Buhari has been going from one state to another campaigning for her husband. A very intelligent woman. Am epitome of a good wife. She has never abuse Mr President or those abusing her husband. She didn’t behave like the first lady,” he said.

Read More:  Naij

“Vote for my Husband, He will Perform Better” – Patience

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First Lady Dame Patience Jonathan, on Wednesday in Ikom, Cross River, appealed to Nigerians to re-elect her husband as President of Nigeria.

Patience, who made the call at the PDP rally in Ikom, Cross River Central Senatorial District, said her husband deserved re-election for a second term. She said she was in Ikom in continuation of the PDP nationwide women rally to solicit votes for her husband.

The first lady, who spoke shortly after inaugurating the 6,000-capacity Ikom Township Stadium, said Jonathan had so far performed well to earn a second term in office.

“I came to thank you for keeping to your promise in 2011 to vote for my husband. And I want to use this opportunity to appeal to you to you to repeat the same thing in the March 28 presidential election. My husband, during his first tenure, has performed tremendously and has impacted positively on the people especially women.”

Read More: dailypost.ng