Michelle Obama shines on the cover of ELLE USA

Our favourite first lady is back and better than ever as she covers one of the biggest style magazines in the world. Michelle Obama shines on the cover of ELLE USA.

As she gears up for the release of her highly-anticipated memoir 'Becoming',Michelle Obama sat down with talk show legend Oprah for a candid conversation on marriage counselling, career mistakes and why now more than ever, hope is what the world needs.

Touted in ELLE as two of the most powerful women on the planet, the two speak open and honestly. Quite poignantly, Michelle Obama ends the interview with a quote that resonates. She says, "We have a responsibility to be optimistic. And to operate in the world in that way."

Michelle Obama was quite possibly one of the most iconic first ladies we have ever had. Not only was she well-educated and took to her role with class, grace and enthusiasm, she was also well turned out and devastatingly stylish. She was the full package. Since the Obama's have left office, they have been incredibly missed but their legacy lives on

It is to our delight that we find Michelle on the cover of the December 2018 issue of Elle with an accompanying interview with Oprah Winfrey herself. The cover image was shot by photographer Miller Mobley and it features a radiant Michelle Obama wearing a Dior ensemble.

Read excerpts from the interview below:

Oprah Winfrey: First, let me just say: Nothing makes me happier than sitting down with a good read. The book is tender, it is compelling, it is powerful, it is raw. There are so many revelations in this book. Was writing about your private life scary?

Michelle Obama: Actually, no, because here’s the thing that I realised: People always ask me, 'Why is it that you’re so authentic?' 'How is it that people connect to you?' And I think it starts because I like me. I like my story and all the bumps and bruises. That’s what makes me uniquely me. So I’ve always been open with my staff, with young people, with my friends. And the other thing, Oprah: I know that whether we like it or not, Barack and I are role models.

Yup.

I hate when people who are in the public eye—and even seek the public eye—want to step back and say, 'Well, I’m not a role model. I don’t want that responsibility.' Too late. You are. Young people are looking at you. And I don’t want young people to look at me here and now and think, Well, she never had it rough. She never had challenges, she never had fears.

We’re not going to think that after reading this book. Millions of people have been wondering how you’re doing, how’s the transition, and I think there’s no better example than the toast story. Can you share the toast story?

Well, I start the preface right at one of the first weeks after we moved into our new home after the transition—our new home in Washington. It’s the first regular house, with a door and a doorbell, that I have had in about eight years. The toast story is about one of the first nights I was alone there—the kids were out, Malia was on her gap year, I think Barack was traveling. As First Lady, you’re not alone much. There are people in the house always, there are men standing guard. There is a house full of SWAT people, and you can’t open your windows or walk outside without causing a fuss.

You can’t open a window?

Can’t open a window. Sasha actually tried one day—Sasha and Malia both. But then we got the call: 'Shut the window.'

[Laughs]

So here I am in my new home, just me and Bo and Sunny, and I do a simple thing. I go downstairs and open the cabinet in my own kitchen—which you don’t do in the White House because there’s always somebody there going, 'Let me get that. What do you want? What do you need?'—and I made myself toast. Cheese toast. Then I took my toast and I walked out into my backyard. I sat on the stoop, and there were dogs barking in the distance, and I realised Bo and Sunny had really never heard neighbour dogs.

They’re like, What’s that? And I’m like, 'Yep, we’re in the real world now, fellas.' It’s that quiet moment of me settling into this new life. Having time to think about what had just happened over the last eight years. Because what I came to realise is that there was absolutely no time to reflect in the White House.

We moved at such a breakneck pace from the moment we walked in those doors until the moment we left. It was day in and day out because we, Barack and I, really felt like we had an obligation to get a lot done. We were busy. I would forget on Tuesday what had happened on Monday. I forgot whole countries I visited, literally whole countries. I had a debate with my chief of staff saying, 'You know, I’d love to visit Prague one day.' And Melissa was like, 'You were there.' I was like, 'No, I wasn’t. Wasn’t in Prague, never been to Prague.' She had to show me a picture of me in Prague for the memory to jog. So the toast was the moment that I had time to start thinking about those eight years and my journey of becoming.