Michelle Obama Tells Us How She Really Feels About The Lean In Movement

Michelle Obama sat down with poet Elizabeth Alexander recently at the Barclay's Center in Brooklyn to discuss her new book, Becoming. And she got very frank about the expectations facing working women and mothers.

“That whole ‘so you can have it all.’ Nope, not at the same time,” Obama said. “That’s a lie. And it’s not always enough to lean in, because that shit doesn’t work all the time.”

She quickly apologized for swearing, saying she "forgot where she was" but didn't walk back her sentiment.

"I'm back now," the former First Lady said, smiling. "But sometimes that stuff doesn't work."

Obama's mention of "leaning in" was a reference to Facebook's Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg's 2013 book which encouraged women to follow her example and "work harder" in order to have an ideal work, life, and family balance. Sandberg has recently found herself facing criticism over Facebook's efforts to discredit critics and has acknowledged that not much has changed regarding her equal representation in the workplace since she advanced the "lean in" theory.