Michelle Obama Says She Is Suffering From Low-Grade Depression

Former US first lady, Michelle Obama is reportedly suffering from low-grade depression. She opened up about this on the second episode of her new podcast - The Michelle Obama podcast. In the episode with Michele Norris, she talked about how the current Black Lives Matter movement is affecting lives and communities. She talked about how racial injustice and certain administrative decisions have been affecting her. The first episode on the Michelle Obama podcast had been with her husband, Barack Obama, where she discussed a myriad of things from family, to origins, and race.

Also Read: I Thought My Struggle With Depression Was Over. And Then Lockdown Happened

On dealing with Depression

“I know that I am dealing with some form of low-grade depression,” she said. “Not just because of the quarantine, but because of the racial strife, and just seeing this administration, watching the hypocrisy of it, day in and day out, is dispiriting. I’ve gone through those emotional highs and lows that I think everybody feels, where you just don’t feel yourself, and sometimes… there has been a week or so where I had to surrender to that, and not be so hard on myself,” she added.

On Black Lives Matter

In her podcast, she also said “I have to say, that waking up to the news, waking up to how this administration has or has not responded, waking up to, yet another, story of a Black man or a Black person somehow being dehumanised, or hurt or killed, or, falsely accused of something, it is exhausting. And, and it, it has led to a weight, that I haven’t felt in my life, in, in a while.”

There was an unprecedented amount of protests and solidarity in early June after the death of George Floyd, an African American Man by a police officer. The protests have spiked a lot of conversations around police brutality, racial profiling and white supremacy across the United States. George Floyd is one of the many black people like Breonna Taylor, who lost their lives in unprovoked police violence situations.

Also Read: Racism In The US: Indian Immigrants Can’t Turn Their Back To These Injustices

Michelle Obama also elucidated on how the pandemic has left her feeling low. She said managing "emotional highs and lows" required "knowing yourself" and "the things that do bring you joy". To cope with this, she also talked about the many activities that the Obama household has undertaken to boost mood, like making 1000 piece puzzles and playing cards.

Anureet is an Intern at SheThePeople TV