In a new episode of her podcast, former first lady Michelle Obama says that she grew up thankful, but that kids today are significantly less so.
“When I think about what our parents did or didn’t do, and maybe it’s a little bit different because we’re brother-sister, because that same gender dynamic may make it a little bit hard,” Obama said on Wednesday’s episode of her podcast, which she co-hosts with her brother, called “IMO with Michelle Obama & Craig Robinson.”
“But I know we got along for some of the same reasons,” Obama said. “Our parents worked hard enough without us fighting and causing havoc. We knew our parents were working as hard as they could. We knew that they were giving us as much as they could. I guess we grew up grateful.”
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“What we had was a lot of gratitude for the little bit that we did have,” the former first lady continued. “So it was sort of like, well, what was there left for us to be fighting about?”
The current generation, she said in the conversation that also included Damon and Marlon Wayans —brothers who are actors and comedians — doesn’t exhibit gratitude. She said that parents, too, have changed.
“Perhaps sometimes in this generation, where kids have, I think, too much, parents are giving kids a lot of stuff, and they’re not giving them some guidance,” she said.
“I don’t know about you, but my parents never asked me once whether I was happy. There was never even a question,” she added.
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Obama also praised Marlon Wayans for raising a transgender child.
“I wanted to talk, Marlon, a bit about, you know, just so proud of how you are being a role model for dealing with a child that’s transgender,” Obama said. “You know, that warms my heart, particularly as a Black man, um, you know … would you care to share that journey?”
Wayans told Obama that the experience “really taught me what real unconditional love was.”
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During an appearance on “The Jennifer Hudson Show” in September, Wayans said he “went through the five stages of grief to get to the beautiful magical place called acceptance.”
“All this was happening to me at one time, and then it was just, like, this universal thing, acceptance, yes, and once you accept, you release, you give yourself to God and everything just everything is alright,” he said at the time.
