‘Many billionaires are not happy people’: Michelle Obama talks politics and going ‘a little low’ in first Australian event

It was a curious question: who was going to pay $895 (US$640, £476) to see Michelle Obama speak at 12.30pm on a Tuesday in Melbourne? While she is an indisputably excellent public speaker, the ticket prices for Obama’s first-ever speaking event in Australia raised a few eyebrows, ranging from the $895 “platinum” package (which promised a priority seat, an “exclusive” brunch, and a “commemorative lanyard and tote bag”) to the cheapest seats at $195 a pop.

A sign that expectations may have been bigger than our wallets in a cost-of-living crisis: two weeks ago, my “cheap” seat at the back was suddenly upgraded to a much better spot due to “a recent change in production requirements” that was left unexplained. Another: the visibly empty patches at the front of the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.

None of this is a reflection on Obama herself, who still managed to lure a sizeable crowd on a weekday afternoon. Her speaking tour, which only reaches Melbourne and Sydney, has been organised by Growth Faculty, a company that stages events about workplace leadership – so it wasn’t all that surprising when host Annabel Crabb opened by saying she would not ask Obama about current politics, because, Crabb claimed, “that is a convention that former first ladies don’t comment on”.

“And what else is there to say? I’m sorry?” Obama said jokingly.

The former first lady never shied away from delivering veiled but sharp remarks on current politics. When Crabb quoted the former Australian senator Amanda Vanstone as saying, “Think of the dumbest guy you know in politics”, Obama interjected with: “Everyone, close your eyes. Just imagine! Hmmm.” The applause and laughter of the crowd almost drowned out the rest of the quote. (“When a woman that dumb can succeed in politics, that’s equality.”)

Asked how she felt her famed catchphrase, “When they go low, we go high”, resonated now when so many prominent figures seem to benefit from openly terrible behaviour, Obama said, “You know those folks aren’t happy. You don’t show up like that in the world and have that not eating away at your soul.”

• Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best reads

She said she hoped to teach children today that accumulating wealth and assets was not a measure of happiness and self-worth. “It is not. I know plenty of billionaires, many of them are not happy people in the world. They’ve got a lot of stuff – but that’s what they focus on, just accumulating stuff.”

“I guess I don’t agree with the fact that they are getting away with all of this and it seems to be fine. It isn’t fine. None of this is fine,” she added. “Nobody’s happy. We don’t feel better. No one is feeling better. I can see that and feel that. So going low doesn’t work … Our economy isn’t better. We’re seeing a lot of injustice and unfairness happening in the world. Our kids are feeling a level of depression. We are worried more about the cost of living. Things are not better. It’s not working.”

Barack and Michelle Obama stand with Donald and Melania Trump during the 2017 presidential inauguration. Photograph: Reuters

Obama said that the racist abuse directed at her during her time in the White House, and the severe criticism of even the most benign initiatives she spearheaded, such as promoting healthy eating among children, meant she had to “build up an armour”.

“That’s what I don’t like about politics,” she said. “It’s not honest. It’s not true … right now, the current administration has just launched an entire initiative around health and obesity. The same administration that criticised me and called me the nanny state and told me to stay away from fast food and get out of people’s menus … it was never real. Understanding that, putting it aside, and just doing the work is what I had to do.”

But, she admitted, even she sometimes needed to go “a little low” by venting in private.

“Going high isn’t just a public act of stoicism all the time. It is a measure of how we should behave as adults in the real world. You go have your tantrum in the closet, like a real adult,” she joked, adding: “Don’t call yourself a leader and not have the personal discipline to just shut up and think.”

After eight years in the White House, then eight more years of recovery, the Obamas now spend much of their time spreading the word that there will be a world, and an America, beyond Trump. This is often done via public speaking events and their media company Higher Ground, which puts out documentaries and podcasts such as the one hosted by Michelle herself.

Obama said her dream podcast guest would be Dolly Parton or Elton John. “But I’ve met Nelson Mandela. I’ve met two popes. I’ve met Maya Angelou … I’ve met Stevie Wonder. Prince performed at the White House months before he died,” she added.

“We’ve lived an extraordinary life and have had an opportunity to … be in places that I would have never imagined, as Michelle Robinson on the south side of Chicago. So it’s hard for me to sit here and want more, because we’ve had so much.”

After a second show on Tuesday night in Melbourne, Obama heads to Sydney for two more shows on Thursday and Friday, which will be hosted by the ABC’s Leigh Sales.