-Hey, guys. -Welcome back to the show.
-Hi, Jimmy! -Nice to see you.
-It's good to see you, too.
-Congrats on everything and this book.
-Thank you. -The number 1 book right now.
3.5 million copies sold? -Yeah.
-Number 1 book... [ Cheers and applause ]
-Thank you, guys. -...of 2018.
-The baddest playlist on Earth.
-Yep. -My boy.
-Yeah. -Questlove.
-Questlove, yeah. -Thank you.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-This is interesting. When you do your book tour,
you have a playlist of music that you play during the event.
And it was made by our very own Questlove.
-Yes, indeed.
-How did you hook up with Questlove?
-Just called him and said -- [ Laughter ]
"What you doing? You free?"
-"You free," yeah. -"You want to hook me up?"
And he was like, "Okay, I'm on it."
-Yeah. -And so, he went in.
-She asked me for like 40 or 50 songs.
-Yes. -And what'd you give her?
-1,100.
[ Laughter ]
-I mean, he doesn't mess around. -I know, I know.
And it's available on Spotify and Pandora.
-Spotify and Pandora, yeah.
-What is the playlist? What is it called?
-It's the -- I think the Michelle Obama Musiquarium.
That's what I called it. -The Musiquarium, yeah.
-I am honored. -Can I --
Normally, when someone writes a book...
-Mm-hmm. -...they come do talk shows,
but then they go to maybe, like, a bookstore,
a Barnes & Noble, you know, whatever it is.
You sold out the Barclays Center tomorrow.
-I know. -Sold out stadiums.
[ Cheers and applause ]
What? -It's a trip, yeah.
-I knew it was gonna be big,
but did you think it was gonna be this big?
-No. No. Absolutely not.
I mean, we started, you know, selling tickets,
and then, they were selling out fast.
And then we wanted to make sure everybody had access,
and then I wanted to have a lot of young people there.
So I wanted to give 10% of every house away,
and I wanted to give thousands of tickets away,
so we had to have a bigger venue.
-Yeah.
-And it just got bigger and bigger and bigger.
-You've given over 15,000 tickets away to people
that either couldn't afford it or just couldn't get tickets.
And then, also, tomorrow night, 250 Blue Star families...
-Yeah, absolutely. -...are gonna be there.
That's amazing that you're doing and giving that back.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Thank you.
-It's "Becoming," and you see you "becoming," Michelle Obama.
-Yeah. I'm becoming me, yes, yes.
-I love the dedication. If you don't mind,
I'd just like to say it -- "To the loves of my life,
Malia and Sasha, my two most precious peas,
who are my reasons for being.
And Barack who always promised me an interesting journey."
[ Laughter ]
-It's true.
-"And Jimmy Fallon." [ Laughter ]
I thought that was thoughtful, and I feel --
We don't have to show it,
but I just thought that was thoughtful.
-I couldn't leave you out. -You didn't have to do that.
-I couldn't leave you out. We've done so much together.
You've been such a part of my journey of "becoming."
-I know, but you didn't even ask.
I mean, you didn't get permission.
I'll give it to you now. -I should have.
I'm sorry. I am sorry about that.
-No problem. -I'm glad you're okay with it.
-Yeah, I'm totally cool with it. [ Laughter ]
I just to want -- You've made a real impact
on every issue that you've worked on.
You touch upon it in the book. I want to remind everyone,
thanks to you, 45 million kids
are eating healthier breakfasts and lunches.
1 million students... [ Cheers and applause ]
...are getting 60 minutes of physical activity every day.
[ Cheers and applause ]
You persuaded businesses to hire or train
more than 1.5 million veterans and military spouses.
[ Cheers and applause ]
A billion dollars invested in girls' education worldwide.
I mean -- [ Cheers and applause ]
Every time we've talked to you, you always had a new initiative.
-Well, and you help me every step of the way.
I mean, you guys were always down for anything
that allowed us to shine a light on those issues.
And we had fun doing it, which is one of the reasons
why we were so successful, is because you brought humor
to a lot of the stuff that was serious.
So, I love you for that, and I will -- I will --
-Absolutely. The feeling's mutual.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-What is happening with the Global Girls Alliance?
-You know, we are actually raising money.
We've got a number of interesting projects online
that people can fund directly.
So, one of the things we wanted to do with the alliance
is find some of the best work happening
all over the world and allow people, like you guys,
to get online, learn about it, and fund it directly.
And my hope is that, this year, at some point,
I'll be able to go and visit some of those programs.
But we've had a big summit, pulling young leaders together,
meeting some of the people on the ground, doing the work.
So, we're moving and grooving. -Yeah.
-So, yeah. -You really are.
[ Cheers and applause ]
So many stories I want to discuss in the book.
It's such a great read.
I got to talk about your brother, Craig.
-Craig, my big brother. -Your big brother.
How many years apart are you and Craig?
-He's like 1 1/2 years. -Yeah.
-But he's like 6'6."
He's my big brother, and it's hard to be much taller than me.
But I look up to my brother. -Yeah, you do, yeah.
You've got some pretty funny stories in here about --
The fire drill?
-Well, most people know my father had M.S. growing up.
And part of the story is sort of showing how,
when you have a parent with a disability,
you kind of feel like you have to plan
a little bit more, because, you know,
my dad couldn't walk without the assistance of a cane,
and, eventually, he was in a walker.
So, my brother was always kind of in his doomsday mind-set
when he was younger.
It's like, "What will happen if I go blind?"
So he would ask me to blindfold him,
and he'd walk around the house to make sure he could
get around if he got blind. [ Laughter ]
He -- There was a time that he had me
tie his right hand behind his back
just in case it got cut off. [ Laughter ]
No, seriously.
So that he would be ambidextrous,
and he would do that for a week. -Wow.
-And so, in the book, I talk about how
we were really obsessed about fires and how we'd get out
because we lived on the second floor,
and then, how we would get dad out.
So he would make us run fire drills
and make my father lay on the floor
so he could drag him around the house.
[ Laughter ]
You know, and this tells you a little bit about my father,
who was a very, you know -- He was a very dignified man.
But he humored us because he knew.
And I was always his little -- Yeah.
-I was his sidekick in all this.
I was his assistant, so I had the, you know, notepad,
and I was checking the fire alarms,
and, "Get on the floor, Dad!" [ Laughter ]
And then he'd drag him.
-"Come on. We did this five times already."
-That's right. That's right.
And he was like 10 years old.
He was a little kid, but he thought,
"If something goes wrong, I've got to be ready."
So that's one of the reasons why we've learned to be prepared
and on time, which my husband
had to kind of get around to that.
He didn't... [ Light laughter ]
He wasn't good with time until we got married.
-You said that the first time you met him, right...?
-And he was late! The first time --
First day of work, his first job, dude was late.
I was like, "Triflin' brother..."
[ Laughter ] You know?
I was like, "I don't know about you," you know?
But eventually, he came around.
When we had little kids, and he'd be the kind of person
who would call and say, "Honey, I'm on my way home."
-Yep.
-And it would be hours before he'd get home,
only to find out that he didn't know what "coming home" was.
I said that's where hope actually began.
He was hopeful that he would get home.
[ Laughter ] -Too much work.
-But he couldn't quite, you know...
So I had to start telling him, "Well, you tell me
where you are, and I'll tell you how long
it'll take you to get home." [ Laughter ]
-See, that's a partnership right there, absolutely.
-He didn't get our on-time gene.
He's much better now after 26 years of marriage.
-Is that right? -Yeah, yeah.
-Oh, my gosh. Congratulations.
-He's gotten much better. -I'm going on 11.
It'll be my anniversary this week.
-Well, bless your heart. [ Cheers and applause ]
Congratulations. -And I have two girls.
-Yeah. -They're 4 and 5 now.
A lot of people come up to me, and they go,
"Oh, don't you miss when they were babies?"
-Like, "No way." -I don't.
-Babies are cute, but they're hard.
-Yeah. They're cute, but they're hard.
That's great. But I like who they are now.
-Every age they are, yeah.
They're interesting, they have things to say.
-That's what I'm saying.
-And don't you find they're so very different?
-Oh, my God. -You think you are a good parent
until you have a second one, and then you realize
you had nothing to do with the first.
-No, they're just their own people.
-Yeah. -Oh, completely.
They're totally two different kids.
Now you have -- You have teenagers now.
-I have young ladies. -Young ladies.
-Young women, yes. [ Cheers and applause ]
-And you -- do you --
Do you miss when they were babies now?
-No, I loved the baby stage.
I'm like you -- I love every age,
but now they're really interesting.
We're friends.
There are boyfriends we can talk about.
-Isn't that amazing?
-You know, they drive, so they can --
you know, they can earn money, so they ask for less.
I love it. [ Laughter ]
-My babies will never have boyfriends or learn to drive.
They're not leaving the house at all.
They're just staying in one room.
-I've always said, as quiet as it's kept,
the second term of the presidency
was really fueled by Barack's desire
to keep them with their agents into their teen years.
He was like, "We've got to win,
because I don't want those girls walking around."
He wanted men with guns with them.
[ Laughter ] -Taking care, exactly.
-He worked extra hard on those votes.
He's like, "Come on, voters!"
-We've done a bunch of great, funny bits,
and I love that you just get out there
and you talk to everybody and you're so personable.
But people really connect to you.
And you say in the book it's about liking yourself.
-Yeah. -That makes you connect.
Explain that a little.
-Well, I think people can smell inauthenticity.
You know? And if you're not comfortable
in your own skin, that comes across.
You know, that's one of the challenges,
I think, that politicians have,
because politicians aren't always "people" people.
And you have to really enjoy people, because folks will --
they will sense that.
So, for me, I am Michelle Obama behind the scene
in the Blue Room, when we're acting up,
when I'm in the White House as First Lady, when I'm here.
I'm always the same person,
and it's easy to keep up with that.
I don't have to make up a story of who people think I should be,
and in that way, it allows me to be comfortable
and enjoy every minute of my time
with the people that I meet.