Michelle Obama Reveals Her Mother’s Last Words to Her Before She Died

The former First Lady of the United States — who lost her mother in 2024 — reflected on one of their final conversations before she died and how she's preparing her own children to live without her someday.

Michelle Obama is taking a bittersweet walk down memory lane. The former attorney opened up about one of her last conversations with her late mother, Marian Robinson, while promoting her new book, "The Look," on Wednesday, November 5.

Speaking with her friend, La La Anthony, at People Inc.'s exclusive in-person event at the publication's headquarters in New York City, Michelle joked that her mother had been preparing her and her brother, Craig Robinson, for her death since she was 10.

But now, she understands why. "What she was doing was letting us know that she loved us, but that we could live life with and without her, and I understand that now as a parent," said the author, who shares daughters Malia, 27, and Sasha, 24, with her husband, Barack Obama.

She explained, "I want my daughters to know, 'I love you, you love me, but you don't need me. You know everything you need to know to be successful.'" When her mother became ill, Michelle spent more time with her, caring for her.

One day, as they sat on the couch while watching TV, Marian — who was already nearing the end of her life — leaned over and said to Michelle, "Wow, that was quick." When Michelle asked what she meant, she simply replied, "Life."

"That's all she said, but what I got from that was even in her practical-minded way, that you're never ready. And I don't think that she was done living. It just comes, and then life is over," Michelle reflected.

"I was like, 'Let me hear that. Let me understand that, that even with a wonderful life, I want to be present,'" she added. Michelle, who turned 60 this past January, also reflected on her age.

"I think that feeling of 60 is about trying to be present in the feeling. Trying to be present in this moment in my life so that this last chapter is exactly the way I want it to be," she said.

"This is the first time in my life where every single decision I make is mine," she continued. "It's what I want to do. ... What do I want, what do I feel? This is the first time that I've been able to do that for me, no excuses. That means that the consequences are mine, too, and there's a freedom with that."

Michelle added that she wanted to be mindful of how she spends this decade of her life. With that, she's also keeping a beauty practice passed down from her mother. "I'm coloring that gray hair," she declared in her recent cover story for People.

"I'm not wincing [when I see one], but I'm not leaving it there long. My mother dyed her hair until the day she died," she explained. "She had a beautiful sandy color blonde that mixed in well with the gray. I was like, 'Yeah, I'm going to be doing that too.'"