Former first lady did not mince words in at the on Tuesday night. Reproductive freedom seems to be on the ballot this November, and Obama didn't shy away from the topic. Rather, she reminded voters that IVF helped her and husband, former President , create their own family.
In her 2018 memoir, " ," the former first lady, who famously called herself “mom-in-chief” while living in the White House, shared intimate details about the troubles she and her husband initially faced when she tried to get pregnant. Obama said she suffered a and eventually conceived her , through in vitro fertilization. “Becoming,” which covers everything from Obama's childhood in Chicago to the racism she confronted while in public office, included her years as the nation’s first black first lady.
Obama also revealed that she felt “lost and alone” after suffering a miscarriage 20 years ago. “We were trying to get pregnant and it wasn’t going well,” Obama, 54, wrote in her book. “We had one pregnancy test come back positive, which caused us both to forget every worry and swoon with joy, but a couple of weeks later I had a miscarriage, which left me physically uncomfortable and cratered any optimism we felt.
” She described how she had to give herself hormone shots to help boost her chances while her “sweet, attentive husband” was at the Illinois state legislature, “leaving me largely on my own to manipulate my reproductive system into peak efficiency.” Obama said she wanted to share her pregnancy experiences to help other women who may be struggling. “I felt like I failed because I didn't know how common miscarriages were because we don't talk about them,” she told “We sit in our own pain, thinking that somehow we’re broken.
” Obama’s older daughter, Malia, is now 26 studied filmmaking at Harvard University and at Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. Her younger daughter, Sasha, is 23. She graduated from the University of Southern California with a sociology degree in 2023.
In the book, the former first lady acknowledged that "even two committed go-getters with a deep love and a robust work ethic can't will themselves into being pregnant." After going through the treatments and becoming pregnant with her eldest, Obama wrote that "somehow in the end it felt as if we'd timed it all perfectly." They later welcomed Malia who she described as "one of the two most perfect babies ever to be born to anyone, anywhere.
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