Hearts are breaking for Michelle Obama following her most recent announcement.
On May 31, Michelle took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to reveal her beloved mom Marian Robinson had passed away. She was 86 years old.
“My mom Marian Robinson was my rock, always there for whatever I needed,” Michelle wrote on X. “She was the same steady backstop for our entire family, and we are heartbroken to share she passed away today.”
My mom Marian Robinson was my rock, always there for whatever I needed. She was the same steady backstop for our entire family, and we are heartbroken to share she passed away today. We wanted to offer some reflections on her remarkable life: https://t.co/F7T6q625PC
— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) May 31, 2024
Michelle concluded her personal statement by saying, “We wanted to offer some reflections on her remarkable life” before sharing a link to her family’s joint statement.
In the statement, the family shared that Robinson “had a way of summing up the truths about life in a word or two, maybe a quick phrase that made everyone around her stop and think.” The shared a few of Robinson’s favorites, including:
“Don’t sweat the small stuff.”
“Know what’s truly precious.”
“As a parent, you’re not raising babies — you’re raising little people.”
“Don’t worry about whether anybody else likes you. Come home. We’ll always like you here.”
The statement talked about their time at the White House and the staple Robinson became during her son-in-law’s eight years in office.
“With a healthy nudge, she agreed to move to the White House with Michelle and Barack. We needed her. The girls needed her. And she ended up being our rock through it all,” the statement read.
“She relished her role as a grandmother to Malia and Sasha — just as she doted on Avery, Leslie, Austin, and Aaron. Less encumbered by the responsibilities of motherhood, she’d indulge in a little more fun and games while keeping any danger of spoiling her grandchildren safely at bay.”
The statement continued, “And although she enforced whatever household rules we’d set for bedtime, watching TV, or eating candy, she made clear that she sided with her ‘grandbabies’ in thinking that their parents were too darn strict.”
According to the family, Robinson “passed away peacefully” the morning of May 31; agreeing “none of us are quite sure how exactly we’ll move on without her.”