Michelle Obama Still Believes America Isn't Ready for a Female President — And Claims There Are Men Out There Who 'Won't Vote for a Woman'
Michelle Obama clarified her past remarks about the U.S. not being ready to elect a female president.
Jan. 21 2026, Published 4:21 p.m. ET
Michelle Obama has addressed her controversial comment in which she said the U.S. was not ready for a female president, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
The former first lady clarified in an interview on Wednesday, January 21, that she believed the country was progressing and moving toward the direction where one day a female could be voted into the White House.
Michelle Clarifies Her Remarks About a Female President
Michelle clarified she believes the country in ‘moving’ in the direction of electing a female president.
Michelle, 62, broke down her past comment while chatting with Alex Cooper on the Call Her Daddy podcast.
While promoting her 2025 book, The Look, Michelle quipped: "That's why I’m like, don’t even look at me about running 'cause you all are lying. You're not ready for a woman."
During Wednesday’s interview, Michelle explained her comment was mostly based in "humor" and noted she does believe the U.S. could one day elect a female president.
Michelle said there needs to be discussion breaking down people’s feelings towards a female president/
"Look, we've come a long way, you know? And what my husband has said, and I agree with (is) change takes time. Context matters, right? 50 years ago, we were fighting for the Equal Rights bill," Michelle explained as she noted "there are people alive today that couldn't marry the opposite race, couldn't love who you love. This is recent history of a country that's been around for hundreds and hundreds of years."
Michelle reiterated "it takes time" while noting the country is "moving in that direction" on electing a female president.
When asked her thoughts on the possibility of a female being elected president, Michelle suggested there needs to be a larger conversation about why voters feel reluctant about a woman leading the nation.
"There are men out there that were not gonna vote for a woman. You know, that … people have had those conversations, right," she said. "Let's just be real about it, and let's put that on the table and talk about what that's about."
Michelle highlighted past qualified female candidates like Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris.
"Let’s not be mad because I made the statement. Let’s look at the fact that we’ve had two really qualified female candidates," Michelle added in reference to past Democratic nominees former First Lady and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former Vice President Kamala Harris, who served in the Senate as well as Attorney General of California and District Attorney of San Francisco.
Both Clinton and Harris lost to Donald Trump, who had no previous public service experience when he was tapped as the Republican nominee in 2016.
Michelle also pointed to Clinton when she spoke about her husband Barack Obama defeating her as a "newcomer" in 2008.
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Michelle also claimed her past comment was rooted in ‘humor.’
"One who was first lady, secretary of state, well educated, you know. My husband beat her," the former first lady said. "People were more comfortable with him as a newcomer, right."
"We've had qualified women … There's a falling shortness that is happening that I, you know, I’d say, 'Look, well, why can’t we talk about that. Why are we pretending that that didn’t just happen," she added.
