'Ungrateful' Michelle Obama Whines She Couldn't Function Without Her White House Glam Squad — and Admits She'd Never Wear 'Off-The-Rack' Clothes

Obama complained that a glam team was a 'necessity' of White House life.
Nov. 10 2025, Published 11:20 a.m. ET
Michelle Obama was labeled "ungrateful" and "out of touch" for complaining about why she needed a three-person glam squad to get through her days as First Lady, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
Obama, 61, is currently promoting her new book of photographs, The Look, which chronicles her outfits during her time in the White House. She made controversial comments about her need for every outfit to be perfectly custom-tailored, while dismissing the idea of wearing "off the rack" clothing.
Glam Team Was a 'Necessity'

Michelle complained about why a glam team was a 'necessity' while she was First Lady.
"Every day, every time I was 'up' as we called it, I was up for the public, and the days were long," Michelle whined during a Thursday, November 6, appearance on The Jamie Kern Lima Show about life during the two terms her husband, Barack Obama, served as president.
"So, as you mentioned to save time... I know having a glam team trifecta, it feels like a luxury, but it was a time necessity," she continued about her three-person team of a hairdresser, makeup artist, and stylist.
Michelle further moaned, "There's absolutely no way that I would be able to do my hair and makeup and have clothes ready that fit, because rare is the woman that can live 'off the rack,'" referring to purchasing ready-made clothing at a store as opposed to custom-fitted items.
'Ungrateful and Classless'

Michelle's expensive-looking outfit on Lima's show came across even worse with her 'off the rack' comment.
Michelle's incredibly haughty comments drew the ire of X users, and the clip went viral.
"Idk why she tries so hard to be relatable. It always sounds like a rich person complaining about being rich," one person huffed.
A second user observed, "Starting to feel like maybe Michelle Obama is a bitter malcontent addicted to complaining about her incredibly privileged life."
"'Where is the woman who can live off the rack?' Just spitballing here, but I would say about 99% of women live off the rack," a third person pointed out, with a fourth in agreement, writing, "Millions of women live off the rack every day. And most from the discount rack."
A fifth user jeered, "Complain complain complain. She is so ungrateful and classless."
Standard of Beauty Are 'Psychologically Damaging'

Michelle donned a stunning blue gown with a crystal belt for a White House state dinner in 2010.
Michelle continued to grumble to multimillionaire cosmetics mogul Lima, 48, about how draining it is to fit into certain standards of beauty.
"The work that it takes to take yourself out of your natural state of being, and to become something totally different, it is psychologically damaging, it is physically exhausting, and it is financially ruining for so many of us," the Becoming author vented.
Michelle hoped her book would help change the "definitions" of beauty ideals.
"I hope The Look starts this conversation among us. Cause it has to start with us, trying to fight against fitting into these narrow definitions of what beauty is, regardless of what the world says," she told Lima.
Complaints About Paying for Food


Michelle's glam squad had her looking like perfection for the 2015 White House Correspondents Dinner.
This wasn't the first time Michelle has been called out for bemoaning White House life in an out-of-touch way.
"I mean, much is not covered," the Netflix producer shared in a May appearance on The Diary of a CEO podcast.
Miffed Michelle continued, "You’re paying for every food... every bit of food that you eat, you know," while admitting that she wasn't "paying for housing and the staff in it."
"But everything, even travel, if you’re not traveling with the president, if your kids are coming on a Bright Star, which is the First Lady's plane, we had to pay for their travel to be on the plane,” the Chicago native revealed.



