Michelle Obama is reflecting on her time on Ellen DeGeneres’ show years ago and the one thing she’s still slightly perturbed that she made her do. And she’s finally speaking out about it.
Speaking in a new interview with on Amy Poehler‘s “Good Hang” podcast, the two women were having a discussion about aging and their abilities. When the comedian asked the former First Lady if she could still do push ups at this stage in her life and that prompted Obama to recall her previous appearance on “Ellen” back in 2012 where she was made to do the exercise—much to her displeasure.
Explaining that while she now has to do them on her knees now, she said that she has to alter “regular push-ups” because of her anatomy and the fact that her “arm length doesn’t go all the way down” and that DeGeneres’ pushup challenge was when she was first made aware of it.
“I don’t need to do regular push-ups. I have nothing to prove. I can but it’s my hard. My arm length doesn’t go all the way down,” Obama explained. “You know who pointed that out was Ellen because my first term, she challenged me to a push-up competition. I’m the first lady, you know.”
She continued: “She heard that I worked out. So I’m on her show doing push-ups and I did more push-ups than her but she still says I didn’t go down all the way. Anatomically, I don’t think I can. My arms are very long and she’s a much smaller person than me.”
Despite the unfortunate circumstance, Obama still somehow won out on the challenge, churning out 25 in total and making DeGeneres tap out. The two have also maintained a level of friendship since then with the former daytime talk show host serving as a cohost for Obama’s “The Light We Carry” book tour in 2022.
Check out the throwback clip below!