--- title: Michelle Obama Talks About New House in Ellen Interview description: According to former First Lady Michelle Obama, Barack Obama got the worst room in their new house — and that means less closet space. canonical: https://time.com/5129005/michelle-obama-talks-barack-obama-on-ellen/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-02-01T17:46:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:47:20.612Z og:title: Michelle Obama Says Barack Got Worst Room in Their New House og:description: Not enough closet space, apparently og:url: https://time.com/5129005/michelle-obama-talks-barack-obama-on-ellen/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt86aefc6a9a475c0f/6988fa3a4ee26232c3310b2b/michelle-obama-says-barack-closet-is-small.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: Donald And Melania Trump Arrive At White House Ahead Of Inauguration og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Michelle Obama Says Barack Got Worst Room in Their New House twitter:description: Not enough closet space, apparently twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt86aefc6a9a475c0f/6988fa3a4ee26232c3310b2b/michelle-obama-says-barack-closet-is-small.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Check in With Michelle Obama on How Barack Obama Is Handling Having the Worst New Room > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=d4de0634-88ae-4981-bbc0-c78b8116a7d0&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Michelle Obama Finally Opens Up About That Awkward Inauguration Gift Exchange with Melania Trump [Watch (HLS stream): Michelle Obama Finally Opens Up About That Awkward Inauguration Gift Exchange with Melania Trump](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/WoDxRFbB.m3u8) (1:30)  _Published 2018-01-31. The former first lady opens up about the gift exchange to host Ellen DeGeneres and finally reveals what was inside the Tiffany & Co. box_  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Feb 1, 2018 5:46 PM UTC  WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 20: President Barack Obama (R) gives Michelle Obama a kiss as they wait for President-elect Donald Trump and wife Melania at the White House before the inauguration on January 20, 2017 in Washington, D.C. Trump becomes the 45th President of the United States. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch-Pool/Getty Images) WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 20: President Barack Obama (R) gives Michelle Obama a kiss as they wait for President-elect Donald Trump and wife Melania at the White House before the inauguration on January 20, 2017 in Washington, D.C. Trump becomes the 45th President of the United States. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch-Pool/Getty Images) Pool—Getty Images  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Feb 1, 2018 5:46 PM UTC [Barack Obama](http://time.com/4616866/barack-obama-administration-look-back-history-achievements/) may have been the leader of the free world for eight years, but it seems that acquiring enough closet space in his own home is proving to be a challenge. In her first interview since leaving the White House while [appearing on _The Ellen DeGeneres Show_](http://time.com/5126863/michelle-obama-gift-from-melania/) on Thursday, [Michelle Obama](http://time.com/4632217/michelle-obama-influential-fashion/) shared that the former president somehow ended up with the worst room in their new D.C. house. “He still talks about this,” she said. “He got so shortchanged on this whole deal. He doesn’t have enough closet space…sorry! He’s got the smallest room for his office.” Michelle also shared that the pair’s youngest daughter, Sasha, got a two-room suite that has both a living room and a bedroom, so Barack is “really hating on her.” Barack’s not the only one who might not have gotten what they wanted from the move either; apparently, daughter [Malia, a freshman at Harvard University](http://time.com/5099991/barack-obama-talks-taking-daughter-malia-to-college-david-letterman/), has “got a room up in the attic somewhere.” Watch the full interview below. ## Transcript [ LAUGH ] It was a lovely frame. A frame? It was a frame. Yeah, this is, so... First of all, he just walks up the steps without his wife, just leaves his wife behind, he just walks up there Well there's all this protocol, I mean, this is like a state visit, so they tell you, that you're gonna do this, they're gonna stand here, and never before do you get this gift, so I'm sort of like, okay. [ LAUGH ] What am I supposed to do with this gift? [ LAUGH ] The mystery's over, everyone, we finally know what was in that infamous inauguration Tiffany's present, it was a frame. Yeah, and Michelle Obama's First tv interview since leaving the white house. The former first lady opens up to Ellen Degerness about that kind of awkward gift exchange with Melania Trump on the morning of Trumps 2017 swearing in ceremony. Yeah, Michelle Obama explains to Ellen that for a state visit there is all the protocall you have to follow And then Melania showing up with a gift was totally new and obviously unexpected as you saw it play out. Yeah, and from this moment you can tell that Michelle Obama was not quite sure what to do with the gift. And by the way- She kind of looks around there. And, right over here, nope. And- [ LAUGH ] And then the President ended up taking it on back there. The moment became the most gift worthy moment from that inauguration day for sure. Crazy. Yeah, during the Ellen interview Michelle describes her train of thought, saying that she was looking around for someone to take the box before the pictures But everyone, all of the staff had already cleared out. [ LAUGH ] Soldier obviously wasn't gonna take it. He has protocols of all. Thankfully she says husband Obama saved the day, grabbed the box, took it inside. Definitely made for entertainment. Yeah, and you guys can watch the entire Michelle Obama sit down this Thursday on Ellen. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5129005/michelle-obama-talks-barack-obama-on-ellen/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5129005/michelle-obama-talks-barack-obama-on-ellen/"},"headline":"Check in With Michelle Obama on How Barack Obama Is Handling Having the Worst New Room","datePublished":"2018-02-01T17:46:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:47:20.612Z","description":"Not enough closet space, apparently","url":"https://time.com/5129005/michelle-obama-talks-barack-obama-on-ellen/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Barack Obama","celebrities","viral","Michelle Obama"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt86aefc6a9a475c0f/6988fa3a4ee26232c3310b2b/michelle-obama-says-barack-closet-is-small.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt86aefc6a9a475c0f/6988fa3a4ee26232c3310b2b/michelle-obama-says-barack-closet-is-small.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald And Melania Trump Arrive At White House Ahead Of Inauguration","caption":"Donald And Melania Trump Arrive At White House Ahead Of Inauguration","creditText":"Pool—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5129005/michelle-obama-talks-barack-obama-on-ellen/","name":"Check in With Michelle Obama on How Barack Obama Is Handling Having the Worst New Room"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Michelle Obama Finally Opens Up About That Awkward Inauguration Gift Exchange with Melania Trump","description":"The former first lady opens up about the gift exchange to host Ellen DeGeneres and finally reveals what was inside the Tiffany & Co. box","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/WoDxRFbB/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2018-01-31T16:53:49.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/WoDxRFbB.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5129005/michelle-obama-talks-barack-obama-on-ellen/","duration":"PT1M30S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5129005/michelle-obama-talks-barack-obama-on-ellen/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```