Michelle Obama discusses her struggles as a young black woman in Netflix trailer

Michelle Obama opens up about her working-class upbringing on the South Side of Chicago and her struggles as a black woman in the new trailer for the upcoming Netflix documentary ‘Becoming.’

Taking place roughly two years after she and her family left the White House, the film chronicles the former first lady’s 34-city tour for her best-selling memoir of the same name as she reflects on her past and how it shaped her. 

‘I am from the South Side of Chicago. That tells you as much about me as you need to know,’ Obama, 56, says at the start of the trailer for the documentary, which drops on May 6. 

Set to Alicia Keys’ ‘Girl on Fire,’ the video features old photos of Obama as a child in the neighborhood, including pictures of her with her parents, Fraser and Marian Robinson.  

‘It was a typical working-class community: some good music, some good barbecue, some good times,’ she recalls of her formative years. 

The trailer cuts to Michelle looking back on her time as first lady while speaking at a community engagement.  

‘So little of who I am happened in those eight years. So much more of who I was happened before,’ she explains. 

Director Nadia Hallgren weaved together Obama’s commentary on her life with  behind-the-scenes footage of her tour and her on-stage interviews.

The promotional tour, managed by the concert promoter Live Nation, had the scale of a rock tour, with a string of dates at sold-out arenas. 

Many of the moderators were A-list celebrities, including Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Tracee Ellis Ross, and Stephen Colbert.  

The trailer highlights the struggles Obama has faced as a black woman. During one interview with journalist Michelle Norris, she recalls how her high school guidance counselor thought she was ‘reaching too high.’  

‘We can’t afford to wait for the world to be equal to start feeling seen,’ she says after being asked how she persevered as a black woman. ‘I feel like I got to share with you all that the energy that’s out there is much better than what we see.’ 

Obama also opens up about becoming a media target when she was candid and vulnerable on the campaign trail. 

‘The only thing I can share is that it hurts. That changes the shape of a person’s soul,’ she says in the documentary, according to the Associate Press. 

In the trailer, she quotes her mother as she claims that she and her husband, former President Barack Obama, are not extraordinary people.  

‘As my mother would say, Michelle and Barack Obama aren’t special. There are millions of Michelle and Barack Obamas all over the world,’ she says as footage shows her husband giving her a sweet kiss on the cheek. 

‘If we can open up a little bit more to each other and share our stories, that’s what breaks down barriers,’ she adds. 

The trailer ends with a crowd cheering for Obama at one of her sell-out book tour events.

‘This is totally me, unplugged for the first time,’ she says. 

Netflix made the surprise announcement about the release of the documentary last Monday, describing the film as ‘an intimate look into the life’ of the former first lady.   

In a statement, Obama said the experience of the tour ‘drove home the idea that what we share in common is deep and real and can’t be messed with.’

‘We processed the past and imagined a better future. In talking about the idea of “becoming,” many of us dared to say our hopes out loud,’ she explained.

‘I treasure the memories and that sense of connection now more than ever, as we struggle together to weather this pandemic, as we care for our loved ones, tend to our communities, and try to keep up with work and school while coping with huge amounts of loss, confusion, and uncertainty.’ 

The documentary is the latest release from Higher Ground Productions, the production company created by Obamas. Their exclusive multi-film deal with Netflix has already proven fruitful.

Their first film, ‘American Factory,’ by Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar, won the Academy Award for best documentary earlier this year. The Obamas did not attend the Oscars, nor received a statuette.

Higher Ground was also behind the acclaimed recently released documentary ‘Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution,’ by James Lebrecht and Nicole Newnham.

Obama’s memoir, ‘Becoming,’ has sold more than 11 million copies and been translated into more than 20 languages. The former first lady’s popularity has made her a potentially pivotal figure in the 2020 presidential campaign.

Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, recently said that he’d pick her as a running mate ‘in a heartbeat,’ before adding that he didn’t think she ‘has any desire to live in the White House again.’