Michelle Obama says quarantine, Trump gave her 'low-grade depression'

WASHINGTON: Former US first lady Michelle Obama says she has been suffering from “low-grade depression” due to the coronavirus pandemic, the rising racial injustice and the "hypocrisy" of the Trump administration.

Amid all the challenges facing the country, Obama said she is managing the "emotional highs and lows" by trying to maintain a routine, trying to not be hard on herself, getting outdoors and spending time with her family, NBC News reported.

“I know that I am dealing with some form of low-grade depression,” she said in the latest episode of her podcast released on Wednesday.


"Not just because of the quarantine, but because of the racial strife, and just seeing this administration, watching the hypocrisy of it, day in and day out, is dispiriting," the channel quoted her as saying.

In the episode, Obama, 56, spoke with the Washington Post opinion columnist and friend Michele Norris about the rise in protests over racial injustice since the death of George Floyd.

Floyd, 46, died after being arrested by police outside a shop in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Footage of the arrest on May 25 shows a white police officer kneeling on Floyd's neck while he was pinned to the floor.

The police officer has since been charged with murder.

Obama added that the stories of Black people being wrongfully arrested, killed or "dehumanised" have been weighing on her.

"I'd be remiss to say part of this depression is also a result of, what we're seeing in terms of the protests, the continued racial unrest, that has plagued this country since its birth," she said.

Obama also discussed the attitudes some Americans had about the country inaugurating its first Black president when her husband Barack Obama was elected in 2008.

"The reaction to it on all sides, the vast discomfort with the notion that a Black man could be sitting in the highest level of office, we saw that. We saw the signs, we saw the nooses," she said.

Obama also discussed the issue of people who refuse to wear masks, calling their actions "frustrating" as America is struggling to combat the disease that has killed over 150,000 people in the country.