Michelle Obama has opened up about a moment early in her time as first lady that left her both angry and aware of the double standards she faced in the public eye.
In a recent episode of her podcast, IMO With Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson, the former U.S. first lady recalled how a seemingly simple decision over what to wear during a 2009 family vacation to the Grand Canyon turned into national controversy.
“The fact that we had to spend time thinking about that kind of stuff in ways that my husband didn’t — it was really infuriating,” Obama told her brother. “Then an article, a negative article, still happened.”
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She said the incident occurred as she and then-President Barack Obama prepared to step off Air Force One for a hike. While she agonized over how to appear “appropriate” for a first lady, Barack chose his outfit in seconds.
“It was 100 degrees,” she recalled. “Barack — I was like, ‘Well, what are you wearing?’ He was like, ‘Well, I’m gonna throw on some sneakers, I’m gonna take my jacket off and roll my sleeves up’ because that’s what men can do. White shirt, no collar, no tie. That was how he changed.”
Faced with the choice between hiking shorts and a dress, Obama decided on Bermuda shorts, a decision that later drew waves of criticism.
“I can’t wear hiking shorts there, and I can’t wear a dress to hike,” she said. “That would be crazy. People would call me ‘disconnected’ and ‘un-American.’ I eventually opted for the thing that felt mostly me. And it was the Bermuda shorts.”
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Despite her practical choice, the former first lady was met with headlines mocking her attire, including “Who Wears Short Shorts? Michelle Obama,” and “Michelle Obama: The Shorts Heard Round the World.”
Years later, she reflected that she “would not wear shorts again on Air Force One” after the uproar, though she maintained she simply dressed for a family vacation.
Wardrobe scrutiny has followed other first ladies as well. Melania Trump, for example, faced backlash in 2017 for her casual look during a visit to hurricane-hit Texas and again in 2018 for a jacket emblazoned with the words, “I really don’t care. Do u?”
Trump later defended the jacket, she reportedly told ABC News, “I want to show them that I don’t care.”
