- Obama, 57, weighed in on the fallout from Harry and Meghan’s bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey, urging the Sussex’s to ‘forgive’ the royal family
- She spoke to NBC in an interview to be aired on Tuesday morning and to Access Hollywood, promoting a children’s series she has created with Netflix
- The former First Lady said she prays that there will be ‘love and resolve at some point in time,’ insisting that ‘there’s nothing more important than family’
- Obama struck up a friendship with Harry during her husband’s presidency and later forged a bond with Meghan, whom she’s praised for her charity work
- Meghan, 39, and Harry, 36, made several extraordinary and damaging allegations about the royal family during their primetime interview
- They claimed an unnamed member of the monarchy had been worried about how dark their son Archie’s skin tone might be before he was born
- A statement released by Buckingham Palace on behalf of Queen Elizabeth last Tuesday said that the ‘issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning’
Michelle Obama took a thinly veiled swipe at Meghan Markle’s Oprah interview on Tuesday morning, saying that she personally chose to focus on the people she ‘serves’ rather than she while in public service.
Michelle was asked by Jenna Bush Hager for an interview on NBC what she thought of Meghan’s comments in the interview.
‘When you watched Meghan Markle speak out, what went through your mind?’ Bush Hager asked.
At first she replied: ‘Public service it’s a bright, sharp hot spotlight and most people don’t understand it nor should they.
‘The thing that I always keep in mind is that none of this is about us, in public service, it’s about the people that we serve. I always try to push the light back out and focus it on the folks that we’re actually here to serve.’
Bush Hager then said: ‘But what about when she talked about the fact that she experienced racism?
‘I mean I feel like that was heartbreaking to hear that she felt like she was in her own family, her own family, thought differently of her.’
Michelle, who met most of the Royal Family when serving as First Lady, replied: ‘Race isn’t a new construct in this world, for people of color. So it wasn’t a complete surprise to, sort of, hear her feelings and have them articulated.
She went on: ‘The thing that hope for and the thing that I think about is that this first and foremost is a family and I pray for forgiveness and healing for them so they can use his as a teachable moment for them all.’