(The Hill) – Michelle Obama says she and former President Obama would dissuade their daughters from getting inked by threatening to show off matching tattoos on social media.
“My generation, tattoos meant something totally different,” the former first lady said during an appearance Tuesday on “The Kelly Clarkson Show.”
“We used to threaten our kids,” Obama said of daughters Malia Obama and Sasha Obama, now 24 and 21.
“If you get a tattoo, we’re going to get exactly the same kind, and show it on TikTok or whatever,” Obama said to laughs.
“Take the cool away,” Obama, 58, exclaimed.
“We’re going to make it so uncool,” she continued, “Barack Obama is going to have a heart on his shoulder.”
The tattoo talk came as Obama opened up about her choice to wear her hair in braids after leaving the White House in 2017.
Asked by Clarkson about remarks during her “The Light We Carry” press tour that she didn’t feel comfortable wearing natural hairstyles, Obama said, “A lot of people don’t remember, as the first Black family in the White House, the journey there wasn’t smooth.”
“There were people who tried to turn us into others,” Obama said. “So we had to overcome a lot of that.”
“I was like, braids — people aren’t going to understand braids. At least not at that time,” she said.
“Now, fortunately, more people are showing what it means to be beautiful,” Obama told Clarkson.
“I’m grateful to this generation that’s owning every part of themselves,” she said. “We need to create a broader definition of who’s American, who counts, what beauty is.”
And Obama explained she might not be as anti-tattoo as she once was.
“It shouldn’t be politicized. Most kids who are wearing tattoos, piercings, they’ve got long nails,” Obama said. “Their value system is about individuality.”
