Michelle Obama has taken a veiled swipe at Donald Trump after revealing she and husband Barack Obama were not invited back to the White House for the hanging of her official portrait. The former First Lady has a chequered relationship with Mr Trump, who replaced her husband in January 2017 following a two-term presidency. But Mr Trump seemingly broke with tradition among US Presidents of inviting immediate predecessors back to the White House to unveil their official portraits.
During an interview on the Tonight Show, host Jimmy Fallon noted Mrs Obama only recently returned to the White House for the first time since she and her husband left office.
But the former First Lady quickly jumped in and in a deadpan tone said: “No. Wasn’t invited.”
“Oooh, shade,” she then joked to laughs from the audience in the studio and from Fallon himself.
In September 2022, the Obamas made their first joint return to the White House for the unveiling of their official portraits in a ceremony hosted by current US President Joe Biden.
It was the first time that Michelle Obama had visited the White House in five years.
Referring to the portrait hanging, Mrs Obama continued: “It was really a beautiful experience.
“That’s tradition. You do your official portraits. The next president is supposed to invite you back to hang them. We were never invited back.”
She added: “It’s also a time for the staff to come back and reminisce and be together. It’s a ritual.”
READ MORE: Surgeon astonished after teen, 16, survives ‘miracle’ shot to head
The latest veiled dig at Donald Trump is an illustration of the rollercoaster relationship the pair have experienced over recent years.
In her memoir “The Light We Carry”, she took aim at the former President, describing the hurt she felt by his victory in election in 2016.
The book was released six years after the Obamas left office when Mr Trump replaced her husband Barack as US President.
The former First Lady wrote: “It shook me profoundly to hear the man who replaced my husband as president openly and unapologetically using ethnic slurs, making selfishness and hate somehow acceptable, refusing to condemn white supremacists or to support people demonstrating for racial justice.”
Mrs Obama also once revealed she cried for half-an-hour after she and Barack boarded Air Force One upon leaving the White House for the last time.
The Obamas left the White House adter eight years at the beginning of 2017 following Mr Trump’s victory in the presidential election.
She said during an episode of her podcast that was shared with People magazine: “When those doors shut, I cried for 30 minutes straight, uncontrollable sobbing, because that’s how much we were holding it together for eight years.”
