When Barack Obama was still the president, his wife Michelle Obama and their two daughters were one of the most well-guarded personalities in the world. This is understandable since the U.S. has a lot of enemies who wouldn’t think twice of getting to the President through his family.
But being under the constant watch of one’s security personnel has its disadvantages. One will not be able to do things as spontaneously as before because everyone who comes into contact with the First Lady has to be properly screen beforehand.
This security arrangement became problematic for Michelle Obama on one occasion, Express reported. It was the day when gay marriage was legalized in the US and Michelle wanted to be part of the crowd’s celebration going on outside the White House.
Mrs. Obama explained that with all the bullet-proofing, it is sometimes hard to hear what’s going on outside the White House. “And we’re in the White House and when you’re in residence, there’s so much bullet-proof glass that sometimes you don’t hear what’s going on outside,” the former FLOTUS told Ellen DeGeneres.
“And we were having dinner,” Michelle continued. “And we were listening and we knew that there was celebration happening, but we didn't realize that thousands of people were gathering in front of the White House at that time to celebrate.”
It was her staff that told Michelle that people were actually crying tears of joy and were celebrating, which got her thinking that she wanted to see what was happening outside. “I want to be in that,” Michelle said. “We had worked to make sure that the White House was lit up in the LGBT colors.”
However, then-president Barack Obama and her daughter Sarah thought it was a bad idea to join the celebrating crowd. It was her other daughter, Malia, who decided to join with her mom for the adventure.
It took the mother-daughter pair a quarter of an hour to get near to where the celebration was. However, they remained incognito and stood off to the side.
“It took 15 minutes to get outside,” Michelle Obama recounted. “And we stood along with all the cheering crowd. Off to the side, mind you, so no one would see us, with security surrounding us. And we tried to have our tender mother-daughter moment. But we just took it in. I held her tight and my feeling was, we are moving forward.”