Michelle Obama recalls struggle of parenting in the White House

Former first lady Michelle Obama is finally opening up about the time she spent in the White House.

In the latest episode on American television host Conan O'Brien's podcast titled 'Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend,' Michelle shared anecdotes from eight long years she spent in the White House

Sharing some details about her struggles as a parent living in the White House, the Becoming author told O'Brien, "We had to parent by creating this cocoon of normalcy in a pretty crazy, abnormal world. We spent eight years just going, 'It's OK! You'll be fine, this is normal, just go to school. You have men with guns...hey, you know, you're safe, don't complain! You have food, so don't complain to me.'"

"It was very much, keeping them in their reality," she continues. "Making sure we went to the parent teacher conferences, and that we went to the games and that we were sitting on the sidelines with them," she added.

Stating that they considered it important that Sasha and Malia had sleepovers with their friends, Michelle said, "We had kids sleeping over at our house."

Adding that her daughter thought no one wants to come for a sleepover at the White House, she said, "I was like, 'You are wrong, my friend. But their view was, 'I don't want to be here, I'm here all the time. I want to go to X's house."

Appreciating her daughters for smoothly managing their time in the White house, Michelle said, "I am in awe of my children for the way they have managed this whole thing with poise and grace. There's a resilience that they've had to develop."

"They've also had to sacrifice a lot of their childhoods, living in this glare and being the subject of some of this nastiness themselves and learning, at a very young age, how do you recover from that. They were the ones going out into the world every day, trying to be regular little girls," Michelle recalled.