First Lady Michelle Obama is Vogue’s cover star for December issue ahead of her departure from the White House
The woman who has proved to be a very well received First Lady, with fans worldwide, was photographed by Annie Leibovitz for the American edition of the popular magazine
AS First Lady Michelle Obama prepares to leave the White House she will grace the front page of US Vogue magazine as December's cover star.
The woman who has proved to be a very well received First Lady, with fans worldwide, was photographed by Annie Leibovitz for the American edition of the popular magazine.
The article on her is prefaced with "Michelle Obama: The First Lady the world fell in love with", suggesting she will be a hard act to follow.
She : "Everything we do is by choice. I could have spent eight years doing anything, and at some level it would have been fine.
"I could have focused on flowers. I could have focused on decor.
"I could have focused on entertainment. Because any First Lady, rightfully, gets to define her role.
"There is no legislative authority; you're not elected. And that's a wonderful gift of freedom."
She said the question she was most asked while on the campaign trial with husband, Barack, the soon to be outgoing US President, 'what kind of First Lady will you be?'.
President Obama wrote to the magazine to say: "Michelle never asked to be First Lady. Like a lot of political spouses, the role was thrust upon her.
"But I always knew she'd be incredible at it, and put her own unique stamp on the job.
"That's because who you see is who she is - the brilliant, funny, generous woman who, for whatever reason, agreed to marry me.
"I think people gravitate to her because they see themselves in her - a dedicated mom, a good friend and someone who's not afraid to poke a little fun at herself from time to time."
On what she will do after leaving the White House she said: "I will take the same approach leaving as I did coming in.
“I won’t know until I’m there. I’ve never been the former First Lady of the United States before.
“But I will always be engaged in some way in public service and public life. The minute I left my corporate-law firm to work for the city, I never looked back.
“I’ve always felt very alive using my gifts and talents to help other people. I sleep better at night. I’m happier.
“So we’ll look back at the issues that I’ve been working on. The question is: How do I engage in those issues from a new platform?
“I can’t say right now, because we can’t spend that much time really doing the hard work of vetting offers or ideas or options because we’re still closing things out here."
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On her fashion choices, something she is often praised for, she said: "It all boils down to comfort level: If I’m going to make you comfortable, than I have to be comfortable first.
"So my first reaction isn’t ‘Who made this?’ But ‘Let’s try it on. What does it look like? Oooh, that’s cute. Oh, wow. I never thought of wearing something like this. let’s put a belt on it. I feel gooood in this.’
";There are definitely designers that I love, people I love to work with. And who they are as people matters. Are they good people?
"Do they treat their staff well? Do they treat my staff well? Are they young? Can I give them a boost? But! When all of that is equal…is it cute?!"
The First Lady is known for being approachable and often enthusiastically up for a hug with whoever she is meeting.
She says of this: "I always touch people because I know that there’s a level of anxiety, people are teary or they’re nervous, and I just try to physically hold them and bring them down and say: ‘We’re here. I’m just Michelle.’
"I want them to be able to walk away from that moment feeling like it meant something to them. And if they’re too nervous, if it feels too…formal, people can’t breathe.
"So that’s what I try to do with my interactions: a hug, a touch. It’s like music. It’s like friendship."
Following Donald Trump's shock win in the race to the White House against Hillary Clinton, the Obama's will be handing over the metaphorical keys to the front door to the couple they did not support throughout the campaign.
However, true to friendly form, the current First Lady met with her soon-to-be-successor, Melania Trump, on Thursday.
A White House spokesman told reporters they chatted about raising children and being good parents.
Michelle even gave the future first lady a tour of the residence, including stepping out onto the Truman Balcony before meeting their husbands at the Oval Office.
The meeting between the two women comes several months after Melania lifted a chunk from Michelle’s 2008 speech at the Republican National Convention.
A photo of their meeting in the Yellow Oval Room was made public by the White House only after the media put public pressure on the administration to release it.
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