Michelle Obama has opened up about navigating menopause while serving as First Lady, a challenge that hit her harder than expected during one of the most high-pressure periods of her life.
On her podcast The Light (IMO), the 61-year-old shared how severe hot flashes disrupted her most public moments in the White House.
“It comes suddenly, you wake up one day and you’re having hot flashes,” she said. “I was in my mid-to-late 40s. I woke up and started having these severe bouts of heat and sweating. I was like, what happened?”
At first, she tried to push through without medical help. “I told myself, ‘I can get through this,’ instead of calling my doctor,” she admitted.
But the symptoms became impossible to ignore while managing her demanding schedule.
“I’ve got speeches to give, I’m on planes, I’m dressed up with my hair done,” she explained. “There was one trip where I had about 40 hot flashes. I was like, I can’t live like this. I can’t get off this plane soaking wet.”
She even worried others might misread her physical response. “It’s like a hot furnace is lit inside you.
Your organs feel like hot coals, and then you just burst with water. You’re dripping, your clothes are soaked, and you have to change everything.”
Eventually, Michelle turned to hormone replacement therapy, which she said made a significant difference.
But the experience made her realize how little women discuss, or even understand, about menopause.
“We need to talk about the symptoms,” she urged. “A lot of women aren’t even taught to recognize what’s happening to their bodies.
We should embrace transition, it’s not something negative. If we’re alive enough to experience change, then we’re blessed.”
Now in her 60s, Michelle said she’s never felt better. “The best time of my entire life is right now,” she said.
“I do not wish to be 20 again, not in any way, shape, or form. There’s a real freedom about this stage of life.”
Looking ahead, she’s already planning for the decades to come. “I’m thinking about my 70s and 80s. I want to be able to do some of this stuff in my 80s.”
