Michelle Obama complains about her costs while living in the White House, says she had to pay for her own food

Former First Lady Michelle Obama triggered a wave of criticism after complaining about how difficult her life was while in the White House.

Complaints about the struggles she faced while her husband Barack Obama served two terms as president did little to earn any sympathy for the 61-year-old, who spoke about how costly it was to live at the White House.

“It would be cool if Michelle Obama had literally anything positive to say about anything,” conservative commentator Meghan McCain wrote on X in response to a clip of the former first lady’s comments.

It would be cool if Michelle Obama had literally anything positive to say about anything. https://t.co/SIG6NnChzm

— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) May 4, 2025

“How do you raise kids in the White House? It’s dangerous,” Obama said on “The Diary of a CEO” podcast.

“As the first black potential president, we knew there would be death threats … how would we afford it? Because it’s expensive to live in the White House, as many people don’t know,” she said.

“I mean, much is not covered,” Obama continued. “You’re paying for every food, every bit of food that you eat, you know, you’re not paying for housing and the staff in it … but everything, even travel, if you’re not traveling with the president, if you’re kids are coming on a Bright Star, which is the first lady’s plane, we had to pay for their travel to be on the plane.”

“It is an expensive proposition, and you’re running for two years and not earning an income, so all of that was in my mind, how would we manage this?”

Obama’s concerns were met with anger and criticism on social media, where one former Obama fan really let the couple have it, declaring that the “absolute f–king audacity these rich and clueless have is beyond disgusting.”

“I’m done with the bougie, the elite, the completely out of touch dictating how everyone in this country thinks and feels. The fucking ignorance and self pity, the attention seeking poor me-I am just disgusted,” the X user wrote.

I have always liked Michelle Obama, that ended this morning.

I have been watching clips of her making the rounds complaining about her time as First Lady. She is complaining that living in the White House was too expensive because they had to pay for their own food and pay for…

— Elizabeth has no more fucks to to give (@ElizabethGiddi1) May 3, 2025

“Her husband made $400k/year,” the post continued. “When he was elected I was a single mom trying to recover from losing everything when the market crashed and I lost my house in foreclosure and had to file bankruptcy.”

“How dare she complain about anything finance related when she literally charges $1M to give a speech? That is some kind of nerve,” she continued. “That woman has literally had the perfect life handed to her on a silver platter including Ivy League educations for her daughters she can STFU right now. Absolutely ungrateful, selfish, and a wannabe victim. Just gross.”

Countless other X users completely agreed.

There was never a time since she hit the public eye that she wasn’t whining about something. She’s not happy if she’s not miserable.

— ♿️ Zen Jordan (@RollingLady) May 4, 2025

Which makes it even more perplexing that they bought an $8 million dollar mansion right after leaving the WH. Seriously, how does one become unemployed, & immediately buy a multi million dollar house? Especially, if they were struggling before that purchase.

— SPC (@SPC6829366) May 4, 2025

Even living in the White House she found a way to be a victim.

— VoxPop (@VoxPoptics) May 4, 2025

Imagine living in the most iconic house in the country, with security, power, and global reach — and your takeaway is: “I had to pay for my own food.”

Michelle, people would pay to sleep in a White House closet.

You weren’t struggling — you were riding Air Force One off your…

— Vern (@iBLEEDmaroon247) May 4, 2025

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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.

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