40 Reasons to Love Michelle Obama

First Lady Michelle Obama recently turned 50, but we say she doesn’t look a day over 40. So to salute our fabulous First Lady, here are 40 reasons to love Michelle Obama!

1. Her full name is Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama.

2. She was born January 17, 1964.

3. She is fabulous at 50!

4. Our favorite: She spoke to Mamiverse moms in 2012, while campaigning for husband Barack Obama’s reelection for a second term in office!

5. She is a Capricorn.

6. She was born in Chicago, Illinois.

7. She was raised on Chicago’s South Side in a one-bedroom apartment.

8. Her father, Fraser Robinson, was a city pump operator and a Democratic precinct captain.

9. Fraser Robinson died of multiple sclerosis when Michelle was 21.

10. Her mother, Marian, was a secretary who later stayed home to raise Michelle and her brother.

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11. As kids, Michelle and her brother Craig slept in the living room with a sheet as the room divider.

12. She and Craig both skipped second grade.

13. Michelle was attending gifted classes by 6th grade.

14. She graduated from the city’s first magnet high school, M. Young Magnet High School.

15. She was her class salutatorian.

16. She graduated cum laude from Princeton University in 1985, with a B.A. in Sociology.

17. She earned a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1988.

18. While at Princeton, she took part in demonstrations demanding more minority students and professors.

19. She is one of only three First Ladies with a Master’s degree. The other two are Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush.

20. Though they both graduated from Harvard Law, she and Barack Obama did not cross paths in Cambridge; he entered the program the same year she graduated—1988.

21. Michelle was assigned as Barack’s advisor when he began interning at the Sidley Austin law firm in Chicago.

22. She repeatedly refused to go on a date with him, saying it would interfere with their work.

23. When she finally relented, their first date was to see the Spike Lee film, “Do the Right Thing.”

24. Barack proposed to Michelle in a restaurant, and the ring arrived on a tray with the dessert.

25. She once took her 4-month-old daughter, Sasha, on a job interview when she couldn’t find a babysitter. And she got the job!

26. She was associate dean of student services at University of Chicago, and developed the university’s first community-service program.

27. During her husband’s presidential campaigns, she wrote her own stump speeches.

28. She’s really tall! At 5’11’, Michelle is, along with Eleanor Roosevelt, the tallest first lady.

29. Her secret service codename is “Renaissance”.

30. In 2006, Essence magazine named her one of “25 of the World’s Most Inspiring Women.”

31. She’s made both the Vanity Fair and People magazine best-dressed lists.

32. She planted an 1,100 square foot organic kitchen garden on the White House grounds, with help from 23 fifth graders from a Washington, D.C. school.

33. Her top agenda item as First Lady has been battling childhood obesity.

34. Her 2012 book, American Grown: The Story of the White House Kitchen Garden and Gardens Across America is part of her effort to fight obesity in the U.S.

35. She says she works out “like a gladiator” and often wakes up at 4:30 to squeeze in a workout. That explains those great arms!

36. Michelle and Barack have certain rules that the girls are expected to follow, such as having to eat their vegetables and strict limits on how long and when they can use the computer or watch television.

37. When she’s on the road, her favorite food is French Fries.

38. The Obamas set strict limits on how much TV and computer time thier girls are permitted.

39. In 2013, she presented the Academy Award for best picture.

40. She has said of her husband, “Barack didn’t pledge riches, only that life would be interesting. On that promise he’s delivered.”