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Former first lady Michelle Obama said she felt "lost" during a conversation with Stephen Colbert on Tuesday about the East Wing of the White House.
Obama joined "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" to discuss her new book, "The Look," which explores how she used fashion to express herself as a public figure and first lady.
Colbert asked Obama about President Donald Trump having the East Wing — which the late-night host said was the "heart" of the building and now "lost" — demolished to make room for a new ballroom to hold events like state dinners.
"Every family, every administration has a right and a duty to maintain the house, make investments and improvements and there are plenty of things that needed fixing there, but the thing, it makes me confused," Obama said. "I am confused by what are the norms? What are the standards? What are the traditions? I just feel like what is important to us as a nation anymore?" she added.
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Former first lady Michelle Obama told late-night host Stephen Colbert she felt "lost" as President Donald Trump demolished the East Wing of the White House to build a new ballroom. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
The former first lady continued, "Because I am lost. There were a whole standard of norms and rules that we followed to a T, that we painstakingly tried to uphold, because it was bigger than us."
"That East Wing, that is not mine. My feelings about that, it is not mine, it is ours. But we have to, as a country, decide what rules are we following? And who is to abide by them, and who isn’t? I am lost. And I hope that more Americans feel lost in a way that they want to be found again, because it is up to us to find what we are losing," she added.
Earlier in the discussion, the former first lady described the East Wing as where "life happened."
"The West Wing was work. It was sadness, it was problems, it was the guts of the White House, and the East Wing was where you felt light. That’s where children came. We had puppies. I mean, literally apples, and it was important distinction, because West Wing team, they needed that break. They needed to come to a place where they could be reminded of the reason we were doing this," she said.
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Former President Barack Obama, left, embraces Michelle Obama during the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center in Chicago on Aug. 20, 2024. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
She also said she never viewed the White House as their house, but as the people's house.
"I never viewed it, we never viewed it as our house. We were there for a time. We had a job to do, we always felt it was the people’s house," she said.
Obama spoke to NBC’s "Today with Jenna & Friends" on Tuesday as well, and joked about the White House construction.
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"There’s no guidebook," Obama said of the challenges of being first lady. "There’s barely a staff. Now we don’t have a building."
Hanna Panreck is an associate editor at Fox News.
