Former U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama has been enjoying her time as a private citizen since her husband, former President Barack Obama, left public office in 2016. She revealed that she recently learned a new skill this year that could be quite unexpected for someone her age, background and stature.
Speaking with People magazine, Obama shared that she finally had the time to achieve a goal she wanted to try for so long. For 2019, Obama has learned to play the cornhole and she joked that it could be akin to a sacrilege for someone from the Midwest like her to learn this late in life.
A cornhole is originally a game from Germany that was rediscovered and redeveloped in the farmlands of Ohio and Kentucky nearly a century ago. It involves tossing corn bags on metal stakes within a cornhole box. The original game consisted of spikes and horseshoes.
Obama also revealed that her favorite movie of the year was Toy Story 4, American Son and Booksmart. She spent most of 2019 going on a book tour to promote her memoir "Becoming," and she said that she was touched by the reaction from the readers.
"Becoming" sold over 700,000 copies on its first day of release in North America. It went on to sell 1.4 million copies within a week and was the highest-selling book released in 2018. As of press time, "Becoming" sold over 10 million copies around the world.
Meanwhile, Obama and her husband are currently empty nesters with both their kids, Malai and Sasha, in college. She shared that this new phase in their lives allowed her and the former president to rediscover each other.
For several years, the Obamas' lives were filled with the school events of their daughters and her husband's work as a politician, who eventually became the leader of the free world. Now, the former first lady revealed that she and Barack have a lot of quality together.
Malia has been attending Harvard since leaving the White House. Sasha, on the other hand, just started her freshman year at the University of Michigan this fall.
The FLOTUS' People feature, however, received some criticisms on social media. Netizens said that Obamas are no longer relevant thus the unnecessary cover and story on the magazine.
Supporters of the former White House residents rallied behind the couple. They said that the Obamas are beautiful and inspiring and greatly missed by the people.
