Michelle Obama explains her painfully awkward reaction to Melania Trump's gift
Michelle Obama is finally opening up about that time she accepted an inauguration present from Melania Trump and had no idea how the heck to react.
If you're not familiar with the palpably awkward interaction, let's refresh: To kick off the first lady handover, Melania gifted Michelle a medium-sized Tiffany & Co. box. Clearly not expecting a present, Michelle frantically looked around for a place to put the box — both a beautiful and painful sight.
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A year later, in her first television interview since leaving the White House, Michelle chatted with Ellen DeGeneres about the viral gift exchange, because the world is still dying to know what was in that damn box.
"It was a lovely frame," Michelle told Ellen, before explaining why she was overcome with a mild state of panic in the moment.
"Well, there’s all this protocol. I mean, this is like a state visit, so they tell you that you’re going to do this, they’re going to stand here. Never before do you get this gift, so I’m sort of like okay. What am I supposed to do with this gift?" Michelle asked herself.
"Everyone cleared out and no one would come and take the box. And I’m thinking do we take the picture with?" she said, according to People.
Luckily, Michelle's resourceful husband Barack stepped in to save the day. "I’ll take care of the protocol here," Barack can be heard saying in the footage.
Classic Barack.
"...He grabbed the box and took it back inside," Michelle explained. "But everybody cleared out. No staff, no one. I was like what do you do with the box?"
Rude. Help Michelle, people! She just got A BOX. You've prepared her for so many things but not what to do upon receiving a Tiffany's box??!
The former first lady's full interview with Ellen is set to air on Thursday. We only hope she used that frame to display a photo of this stunning moment.
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Nicole is a Senior Editor at Mashable. She primarily covers entertainment and digital culture trends, and in her free time she can be found watching TV, sending voice notes, or going viral on Twitter for admiring knitwear. You can follow her on Twitter @nicolemichele5.
