Michelle Obama defends decision to skip Trump's inauguration, ‘I just told myself…’

Michelle Obama is defending her decision to skip Donald Trump's presidential inauguration. On Thursday's episode of The Diary of a CEO podcast, the former first lady explained that it helped her learn the “art of saying no.”

Michelle Obama on skipping Trump's inauguration

“You know, as a box-checking person who has been checking her whole life, doing the right thing, trying to always be an example, always going high … I think I just told myself, ‘I think I’ve done enough of that,’ and if I haven’t, then I never will,” Michelle told Steven Bartlett. “It’ll never be enough. So let me start now,” she added, referencing her decision to snub Trump's inauguration in January.

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However, the Becoming author admitted that she “basically tricked” herself into skipping the event by making sure she had nothing “to wear.” “I was like, if I’m not going to do this thing, I’ve got to tell my team,” she recalled, adding, “I don’t even want to have a dress ready, right?”

Michelle explained that if she actually had a dress picked out for the event, she would have ended up doing “the right thing [by attending].” She further noted that her decision to skip the event allowed her to practice the “art of saying no,” which she feels “the young women out there” must learn.

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“After all that I’ve done in this world, if … I still have to show people that I love my country, that I’m doing the right thing, that I am … going high all the time, all I’m doing is keeping that crazy bar that our mothers and grandmothers set for us,” Michelle added.