"She completely underestimates her role in who I am. She always says, 'You came here that way, I just stayed out of your way.' That’s not how I saw it. My mom is an incredibly intelligent and insightful person about life in general,” the former FLOTUS told Essence in 2009. "From the time we could talk, she talked to us endlessly about any and everything with a level of openness and fearlessness that made us believe that we were bright enough to engage with an adult, that we were worthy enough to ask questions and to get really serious answers — and she did it with a level of humor."