Former first lady Michelle Obama unleashed a long complaint about motherhood on the latest episode of her podcast.
And it left many listeners — and moms — fuming mad about the mother of two girls (Sasha and Malia).
During her most recent episode of her podcast, “IMO with Michelle Obama & Craig Robinson”, the ex-first lady took a question from a listener as she spoke to actress Halle Bailey.
The listener, Abigail, noted that she is a first-time mom and high school music teacher who took a year off to take care of her child and was looking for advice about reentering the workforce while balancing being a mother.
Obama proceeded to argue that society is giving mixed signals about motherhood.
“Our maternity leave policy is ridiculous if you have to follow one, because most of it is three months, four months. I mean, that doesn’t even give a woman’s body time to fully heal,” Obama said.
“Even if you’ve had a natural childbirth, let alone let your hormones stabilize, because your body is still saying, ‘I am feeding this child, literally breastfeeding.’ So your hormones are telling you to do one thing. And the societal structure is telling you to do something else.”
Obama continued, blaming a society that doesn’t support mothers’ “biological needs.”
“And I think we first have to understand that that is actually going on. You know, we don’t live in a society that fully respects and values childbirth. Like, we want people to have them – ‘don’t have an abortion!’” Obama said.
“But you know, we’re not really thinking about how do we create an environment for all women to be able to heal, be focused, and then make the decisions at the right time about when they’re ready to move on.”
She ended by saying the system doesn’t work for mothers because the necessary support systems aren’t there for them.
Take a listen —
This isn’t the first time that she has made head scratching comments about parenthood on her podcast.
Last June, she said she was “glad” she didn’t have a son because he would have turned out exactly like her husband.
“I’m so glad I didn’t have a boy,” Michelle Obama stated.
“Because he would have been a Barack Obama. Ooh,” Obama said, looking down and shaking her head.
“No, I woulda felt for him,” Obama said.
Despite the ongoing comments about raising kids, Michelle has praised Barack for his parenting.
“I think Barack is just like you as a tremendous father, doing it in a lot of grandeur, right,” Obama said on the June 11, 2025 episode of “IMO.”