Robin Roberts has conducted her fair share of interviews, but few have been as intensely personal as her recent chat with Michelle Obama.
She scored the first major interview for the former First Lady’s upcoming book Becoming (available November 13) and got a firsthand account of Michelle’s path from the Southside of Chicago to the White House. Robin was most surprised by how open Michelle was about her struggles with fertility.
“She went there in the book and she was talking about things that she has never talked about,” Robin said. “[There were] intensely personal things that a lot of couples have dealt with, like fertility.”
RELATED: Adrienne Bailon Opens Up About Struggle to Conceive
In the interview, Michelle opened up about having a miscarriage 20 years ago and her process of going through in vitro in vitro fertilization (IVF).
“I felt lost and alone,” Michelle told Robin in a preview clip from their “20/20” interview. “I felt like I failed because I didn’t know how common miscarriages were because we don’t talk about them. We sit in our own pain thinking that somehow we’re broken.”
Fortunately, Robin says Michelle’s vulnerability opened up a larger conversation about fertility among her friends.
“When she was talking to her friends, they would go like ‘I had a miscarriage too.’ No one had really talked about it,” Robin says. “She’s bringing it out to the forefront. It’s very important to get the word out. We shouldn’t be whispering about something like that.”
Even in her absence from the White House, Robin said Michelle is dedicated to seeing change in the world.
“All she’s ever wanted to do — and still wants to do — is just make a difference,” Robin says. “To raise her hand and say, ‘This is how I did it and I’m going to leave some clues for you. I want you to reach every single goal that you have for yourself.’”
