The former first lady, Michelle Obama, has opened up about the impact her father had on her growing up.
In a recent interview, Obama has said that her father, Fraser Robinson III, who died 30 years ago, stays with her every day of her life.
“When I think about what my dad, as a Black man with M.S, could’ve done – he could have never worked a day in his life, he could have collected benefits, he could have succumbed to his disease and be depressed about it, but he didn’t,” she said.
The 58-year-old continued: “He never felt sorry for himself, he never expected others to do for him, and just the sheer act of him getting up every day and going to work was a statement that – ugh, now I’m going to cry – that stays with me every day of my life.
"There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about the lessons he taught us and how he is not here to see any of it, and so much of it is because of him," Obama says in a clip obtained by People, ahead of Cross Generational Conversation, a one-off panel talk that premieres on REVOLT on Wednesday 14 December.
“What my dad did was beyond money, title, influence, nothing. I would trade it all for what my father provided us in that little bitty apartment on 74th and Euclid.”
Robinson was a pump worker at the Chicago water purification plant and also served as a precinct captain for the Democratic Party. He died from complications of multiple sclerosis aged 55, when Obama was 27 years old.
The REVOLT x Michelle Obama one-off episode, where the former first lady speaks about her father’s influence, was organised as a conversation among Black women of various ages about what it means to be a woman of colour in America.
The two-hour special, moderated by radio host Angie Martinez, also features singer H.E.R., model Winnie Harlow, musician Kelly Rowland, and business owner Tina Knowles-Lawson.
Last month, Obama launched The Light We Carry, a non-fiction book focusing on surviving uncertain times, as the former first lady shares coping strategies for surviving stress.
The Cross Generational Conversation premieres on REVOLT Wednesday, 14 December at 8pm ET.
