Barack and Michelle Obama at the Democratic National Convention.Credit :
MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty
Michelle Obama jokes that she and Barack Obama deal with one tiny issue that many married couples argue about daily — how they use their thermostat.
During an appearance on Amy Poehler’s Good Hang podcast on Tuesday, May 13, the former first lady, 61, opened up about her nighttime routine, which often involves getting her bedroom to the perfect temperature for a good night’s sleep.
“The change in temperature is wild for any woman anytime, especially in this battle with a partner, right?” Michelle told Poehler, 53, during their lighthearted conversation. “Because [Barack is] always cold.”
“And I’m like, ‘Do not touch.’ And sometimes I wake up hot, and I’ll wake him, [and say], ‘Did you touch the thermostat? You touched the thermostat, didn’t you?’ ” she jokingly recalled. “He’s like, ‘I didn’t, I swear to God!’ ”
Barack and Michelle Obama.
Barack Obama/Instagram
According to Michelle, the former president now knows to leave the temperature of the room alone.
“He’s afraid of the thermostat,” she joked. ‘I said, ‘I don’t care what you do, do not touch anything in this room after I go to sleep.’ ”
Elsewhere in their conversation, the former first lady spoke about how her health has changed as she entered her 60s, and revealed that she developed a “frozen shoulder” — a condition known as adhesive capsulitis. It involves stiffness and pain in the shoulder joint, per the Mayo Clinic, which often develops in women over 40 years old and can last for years.
“I had frozen shoulder a couple years ago,” Michelle told the comedian.
“And guess what? Nobody knows what causes it, and there’s nothing you can do about it,” Poehler replied with a joking smile. “Like every ailment for women in their 50s.”
“They’re like, ‘Yeah. I guess it just hurts,’ ” the Parks and Rec actress continued. “And it’s like, how long is it gonna hurt? And they’re like, ‘I guess forever maybe?’ ”
Michelle has been candid in recent months about how she’s been slowly changing her physical and mental health as she ages into her 60s — even sharing that she has begun to help navigate her next phase following her public life in the White House with her husband, 63.
The former first lady revealed in an appearance on Jay Shetty’s On Purpose podcast last month that she was in a phase of “transitioning.”
Michelle Obama at the DNC.
Joe Raedle/Getty
“I’m 60 years old, I finished a really hard thing in life with my family intact. I’m an empty nester. You know my girls are in — they’ve been launched. And now for the first time, as I’ve said before, every choice I’m making is completely mine,” she shared.
“I now don’t have the excuse of, ‘Well, my kids need this,’ or ‘my husband needs that,’ or ‘the country needs that.’ So, how do I think about this next phase, and let me get some help,” she added.
Michelle — who has been a longtime advocate of therapy and has done it for years — likened it on the podcast to getting a “tune-up,” and she noted that she felt that this was the perfect time in her life to do so, knowing all the things she already did.
“Let me unwind some old habits. Let me sort through some old guilt that I’ve been carrying around. Let me talk about how my relationship with my mother has affected how I think about things,” she shared.