The Obamas have just gone public with a very intimate and painful struggle: They had a miscarriage and went on to use in vitro fertilization, or IVF, to conceive their two daughters 20 years ago.
Michelle Obama has opened up about her life in a new memoir, Becoming. And in the book, she reveals she struggled with fertility issues before conceiving her two daughters, Sasha and Malia.
In an interview with Robin Roberts for a special on the book, which will air on ABC Sunday night (US time), the former first lady said she had a miscarriage 20 years ago.
In an early look at the new Michelle Obama memoir, Becoming, the Associated Press reported that the Obamas turned to IVF after a miscarriage left them feeling alone, “failed,” and “broken.”
“We were trying to get pregnant and it wasn’t going well,” the former first lady writes. “We had one pregnancy test come back positive, which caused us both to forget every worry and swoon with joy, but a couple of weeks later I had a miscarriage, which left me physically uncomfortable and cratered any optimism we felt.”
“I felt lost and alone, and I felt like I failed because I didn’t know how common miscarriages were, because we don’t talk about them,” Obama said. “We sit in our own pain, thinking that somehow we’re broken. That’s one of the reasons why I think it’s important to talk to young mothers about the fact that miscarriages happen.”
She also said she underwent in vitro fertilization in her mid-30s in order to conceive her two daughters, after realising “the biological clock is real, because egg production is limited.”
Eventually, Obama became pregnant, first with Malia, who is now 20, and then Sasha, now 17.
Obama told Roberts she decided to tell her story so women know they are not alone if they’re struggling to start a family. “I think it’s the worst thing that we do to each other as women, not share the truth about our bodies and how they work, and how they don’t work,” she said.
