Michelle Obama Says She’s Considering Retiring

Michelle Obama used quarantine to teach herself to knit. The former first lady says she’s “hooked,’ and is currently knitting her husband, former president Barak Obama, a crewneck.

“Knitting is a forever proposition. You don’t master knitting, because once you make a scarf, there’s the blanket. And once you do the blanket, you’ve got to do the hat, the socks.… I could go on about knitting!” she told People. 

Obama discussed her new hobbies and plans for the future in an interview that was published ahead of the release of her new Netflix show Waffles & Mochi.

The new show talks about healthy foods and healthy eating, with Obama playing the friendly neighborhood grocer, Mrs. O. The show wrapped filming shortly before COVID-19 and all the hardships of 2020 hit.

“These have been challenging times. Many people have struggled: jobs lost, people going hungry,” she says. “We’ve learned to count our blessings, the importance of health and family.”

Obama said quarantine allowed her and her husband to have more time with their two college-aged daughters, Sasha and Malia.

“This time has allowed us to get some stolen moments back with our girls,” Obama said. “Those recaptured moments have meant the world to us, and I think they’ve made our relationships with our children even stronger.”

Outside of knitting, Obama said she taught herself how to be a better lap swimmer. She also said her daughters have been enjoying extra time experimenting in the kitchen.

Despite the new hobbies, Obama revealed that she faced hardship with her mental health this past year, describing her experience as “low-grade depression.”

“That was during a time when a lot of hard stuff was going on,” she explained, mentioning her difficulty dealing with the death of George Floyd last spring on top of the pandemic. “Depression is understandable during these times. I needed to acknowledge what I was going through, because a lot of times we feel like we have to cover that part of ourselves up, that we always have to rise above and look as if we’re not paddling hard underneath the water.”

While Obama seems to be keeping extremely busy, she said she looks forward to retirement with her husband somewhere warm.

“Barack and I never want to experience winter again. We’re building the foundation for somebody else to continue the work, so we can retire and be with each other — and Barack can golf too much, and I can tease him about golfing too much because he’s got nothing else to do,” she said.