Entertainment

Former First Lady Michelle Obama Named In People Magazine’s ‘People Of The Year’

(Photo credit REMKO DE WAAL/AFP via Getty Images)

Font Size:

Former first lady Michelle Obama has had a huge year in 2019.

Obama was chosen as one of People magazine’s People of the Year. Other women chosen include Jennifer Lopez, Jennifer Aniston and Taylor Swift.

The former first lady’s memoir “Becoming” sold over 11.5 million copies across print, digital and audiobooks globally to date, putting it on track to become one of the most successful memoirs.

“We believe this could be the most successful memoir in history,” Thomas Rabe, head of one of Penguin Random House’s parent companies, said in March 2019 after 10 million copies had been sold, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Obama, however, wasn’t always confident about her memoir or the subsequent stadium tour that followed. (RELATED: Obamas Sign Deal To Produce And Host Podcasts With Spotify)

“I still remember waking up in a bit of a panic the night before my first tour event in the United Center in Chicago, this huge basketball arena,” Obama recalled. “Were people really going to come? Was it going to be any good?”

“Here I’d been first lady of the United States for eight years, giving speeches in front of huge crowds, but this felt so different,” she added.

People did show up. Obama packed stadiums the same size singers such as Swift and Ariana Grande can fill.

“I recognize now that the memoir and the tour were really different than what I’d done before — I wasn’t promoting a policy or rallying votes; I was out there, alone, talking about my feelings and vulnerabilities,” Obama said.

Obama claimed sharing “feelings and vulnerabilities” has been the most “powerful” part of her year.

“That’s been the most powerful part of the last year — talking with all sorts of young people about how the things that we think are our inadequacies are usually our strengths,” she added. “The simple act of sharing our fears and vulnerabilities helps us embrace our own stories and recognize how much we share with one another.”

Other accomplishments for Obama include being nominated for a GRAMMY for her audiobook, releasing her first Netflix special, being named the World’s Most Admired Woman and being listed on TIME’s list of most influential people.