{"id":438042,"date":"2026-05-21T08:14:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T08:14:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/438042\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T08:14:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T08:14:14","slug":"michelle-obama-reacts-to-viola-davis-in-the-first-lady","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/438042\/","title":{"rendered":"Michelle Obama Reacts To Viola Davis In \u2018The First Lady\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michelle Obama<\/a> is finally addressing Viola Davis\u2019 controversial portrayal of her in Showtime\u2019s 2022 drama \u201cThe First Lady.\u201d<\/p>\n

The topic came up during Obama\u2019s recent appearance on the \u201cBaby, This is Keke Palmer\u201d podcast<\/a>, when she described how she used to prepare for media interviews. The former first lady explained that she and her team would sometimes rehearse the response she really wanted to give before deciding on a more polished answer that she joked wouldn\u2019t \u201cshut down the presidency.\u201d<\/p>\n

Host Keke Palmer said Obama\u2019s approach reminded her of a scene featuring Davis in \u201cThe First Lady.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh yeah, I didn\u2019t watch that,\u201d Obama replied with a laugh. \u201cThat\u2019s the one thing I can\u2019t do.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added that she loves Davis and would be interested in speaking with her, possibly on her \u201cIMO\u201d podcast.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can talk about that scene,\u201d Obama joked. \u201cThen I\u2019ll watch it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neither Obama nor Palmer specified which scene they meant, though it was likely the viral moment<\/a> between Davis and her co-star O-T Fagbenle (who portrayed President Barack Obama<\/a>), in which Michelle warns her husband about the dangers of running for president as a Black man and at one point uses racial slurs, including the N-word.<\/p>\n

In that scene, Davis used exaggerated<\/a> facial expressions<\/a> and pursed lips<\/a> in her portrayal of the former first lady, which quickly sparked backlash on social media<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Davis addressed viewers\u2019 reactions in a 2022 BBC interview<\/a>, saying it is \u201cincredibly hurtful<\/a> when people say negative things about your work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Describing criticism as an \u201coccupational hazard\u201d of acting, the Oscar winner reflected, \u201cHow do you move on from the hurt, from failure?\u201d before adding, \u201cBut you have to. Not everything is going to be an awards-worthy performance.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cCritics absolutely serve no purpose. And I\u2019m not saying that to be nasty either. They always feel like they\u2019re telling you something that you don\u2019t know … that you\u2019re surrounded by people who lie to you, and \u2018I\u2019m going to be the person that leans in and tells you the truth.\u2019 So it gives them an opportunity to be cruel to you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Davis concluded, \u201cI feel like it is my job as a leader to make bold choices. Win or fail, it is my duty to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Davis appeared in \u201cThe First Lady\u201d alongside Michelle Pfeiffer and Gillian Anderson, who portrayed Betty Ford and Eleanor Roosevelt, respectively. The cast also included Kiefer Sutherland as Franklin D. Roosevelt and Aaron Eckhart as Gerald Ford.<\/p>\n

The Showtime drama ran for just one season in 2022 before being canceled<\/a> later that summer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Michelle Obama is finally addressing Viola Davis\u2019 controversial portrayal of her in Showtime\u2019s 2022 drama \u201cThe First Lady.\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":438043,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[430,156,34523,111,139,69,47108,417,75922],"class_list":["post-438042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-michelle-obama","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-showtime","tag-television","tag-viola-davis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438042\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}