Michelle Obama praised for response to Jimmy Kimmel’s ‘sick’ question about sex life

‘For some very sick reason, you are very obsessed with this portion of that major historical event,’ former first lady says

Michelle Obama is being praised for her “perfect” response to a question late-night host Jimmy Kimmel asked about her sex life.

The interaction between the former first lady and Kimmel occurred during Tuesday’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, during which the host repeated a question about her and her husband Barack Obama’s sex life that he had first asked during Ms Obama’s Becoming book tour.

“I asked you a question that night, and I actually asked your husband this question, as well and he kicked it back to you. I asked you, on the night that Seal Team Six took out Osama bin Laden at your husband’s order, did you and your husband make love that night to celebrate?” Kimmel said.

The question was met with a composed answer from Ms Obama, who first acknowledged the late-night host’s “sick” obsession with the way the May 2011 event impacted her personal life.

“You know, I have to tell your audience that, for some very sick reason, you are very obsessed with this portion of that major historical event,” she said. “In a way that no one else, no one in the history of all the conversations I’ve had, has anybody ever drilled down on this particular point like you, Jimmy Kimmel.

“So I turn that back on you. You’re still that little boy in your bedroom, under the cover with the flashlight, going: ’I hope nobody sees me.”

Read more:

• Kate Middleton ‘mortified’ by Meghan Markle telling Oprah she made her cry
• Will casual sex be riskier of safer after lockdown?
• Psychologists say toxic positivity is on the rise – but what is it and why is it harmful?

After Kimmel agreed with her, Ms Obama, who was on the show to promote her new Netflix children’s series Waffles + Mochi, added: “I’m still pleading the fifth.”

The former first lady’s handling of the situation earned her praise on social media, where many called out Kimmel for being “disrespectful” with the question while applauding Ms Obama’s response.

“She didn’t owe him any response, but her reply was perfect. It is gross and disrespectful that Jimmy Kimmel asks the first lady this kind of question. It’s not funny,” one person tweeted.

Another said: “The former first lady is here to talk about a CHILDREN’S SHOW. @JimmyKimmelLive already asked her this before and she deflected. He clearly didn’t learn it wasn’t appropriate. Shop fetishising this powerful and magnificent woman.”

“Disrespectful. She definitely handled that better than I would have,” someone else wrote.

As noted by Kimmel, he also raised the question to the former President of the United States during an interview in November 2020.

At the time, Mr Obama also deflected the question, revealing that he believes his wife of 28 years was asleep.

“I suspect she was asleep,” the former president said. “‘Cause the truth of the matter, most of the time, by the time I was done working, she’d be snoozing. So - Michelle goes to bed about 9 o’clock.”