Michelle Obama has spoken movingly about how husband Barack helped her through the death of her beloved father.
The former US First Lady shared a heartfelt memory of how her then-fiancee held her for hours after a film prompted an outpouring of grief.
During a London event to promote her autobiography, Becoming, she praised Baracks treatment of women and his support following the death of Fraser Robinson in 1991.
In a memory not shared in her book, Michelle recalled: Barack was a shoulder for me to cry on when my father died.
He died only a year before we were getting married. I thought I had it all together.
Barack and I were watching TV, we were watching the film The Father of the Bride.
At the end, Steve Martin has this touching moment with his daughter.
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And I literally cried for hours. I sobbed, wept and Barack was there the whole time. He didnt say a word, he just let me cry on his shoulder.
At 55, Michelle is now just a few months older than Fraser when he passed away in hospital from a heart attack.
The mother-of-two said her working-class dad set the bar high when it came to wanting a man who would treat her with respect and equality.
She recalled how she met Barack at the law firm Sidley and Austin in Chicago when she was 25.
The partners had praised the new student from Hawaii but Michelle was sceptical.
She told the 15,000-strong audience: When youre used to white people underestimating black people and being surprised when they can talk straight, you become sceptical of what their idea of fabulous is.
Michelle saw a picture of the nerdy 28-year-old before they met but was mesmerized by his phone voice.
She continued: So imagine if you have this picture of this nerdy guy who the white partners think is fabulous.
I had to call to give him directions.
And he answers the phone in his Barack Obama voice like “hello its Barack Obama.”
And, ladies, that voice is pretty sexy.
That voice didnt go with the picture, it was smouldering.
I could tell he had more flavour than I thought.
The crowd at Londons O2 arena heard Barack was late on his first day and arrived damp because he didnt have an umbrella despite the rain.
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He soon set to work flirting with Michelle and even offered to quit his internship with the firm if she wasnt comfortable dating a colleague.
The former First Lady said: I fell in love with him. The way he treated people, not just the partners but he would talk to everyone – the secretaries, the doormen.
He was courteous, funny, self-deprecating.
He was the first attorney who wasnt thinking about how much money he could make.
He was thinking about how to use his degree to help others.
It was his heart and soul. And how he treated women.
The pair have now been married for 27 years and welcomed daughters Malia, now 20, and Sasha, 17.
In her candid memoir, Michelle said the pair sought professional help when his fledgling political career took him away from home for much of the week.
Left alone with their two young dauRead More – Source
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