Michelle Obama on fear and the quiet life of a former first lady

With the White House in her rear view, Michelle Obama is ready to dish. In one of her first TV sit-downs, airing yesterday, Obama gabbed with talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, her favourite comic foil, about what life has been like outside of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

But before we get to the silly stuff like President Barack Obama's beef over his lack of closet space in their new house, and dogs Bo and Sunny figuring out the doorbell, something serious.

When DeGeneres, whose daily sign-off is "be kind to one another", asked the former first lady about the current state of divisiveness in the United States, Obama pulled no punches - and mentioned no names.

"I personally feel frightened," said DeGeneres. "What is your take on what's happening?"

"We are this mosh pit of a society, and sometimes there's a rub," said Obama. "But the thing I learned in the eight years I was in the White House, what we do every day in our lives, the good things that we do every day ... that's what it means to lead with hope and not fear, and that's all we have, is hope."

"We have to be an open-hearted nation," she continued, "and that's who we are, and that's the truth of who we are. We can't lose sight of that."

"So let's just keep living our lives like that every single day and forget what they're saying in Washington. That's not necessarily who we are," Obama said to applause from the studio audience.

Now on to the really important stuff.

"Are you bored?" asked DeGeneres.

Obama, dressed in an off-the-shoulder white blouse and black slacks, joked that she's been doing "nothing much" since exiting public life and that she got "all gussied up" for her appearance with DeGeneres.

But seriously, folks, the former first family are "doing great" and staying busy, although their return to civilian life hasn't been without its hiccups.

Apparently the former commander in chief feels "short-changed" on his square footage in their Washington rental.

"He doesn't have enough closet space - sorry," said Obama, who did all the house hunting and designing with her team because her husband was busy "being the President". "He's got the smallest room for his office," she added.

"And Sasha actually killed in this house - she has this two-room suite, it's all decked out. She's got a living room area and bedroom. She designed it. So he's really hating on her."

Malia, a freshman at Harvard University, has "a room in the attic somewhere".

Another funny bit about living like a normal person? The doorbell.

"Now I have a door and doorbell, and people actually trip out when I come to my door and open it," said Obama.

Bo and Sunny, the family's Portuguese water dogs, are unimpressed by the bell.

"They're like, 'Huh, I never heard that before'."

Obama also offered a play-by-play of one of her more viral moments, the very day that marked her return to private-ish life, President Donald Trump's inauguration. Remember that awkward moment between the Obamas and the Trumps when Michelle Obama seemed confused about what to do with a gift from Melania Trump?

"Well, there's all this protocol," she explained. "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? And everyone cleared out, and no one would come and take the box. And I'm thinking, 'do we take the picture with?'," she continued.

Barack Obama "saved the day", grabbing the blue Tiffany's box (it was a "lovely frame", by the way) and stashing it inside before the photo op.

In the year since Obama moved out of the White House and into a home less than 3km away, the former first lady has led a relatively low-key life in Washington. She's done no major interviews or official events in the city since the Trumps arrived, perhaps in an attempt to give the new first family some breathing room, the time and space to stretch into their roles without the popularity of their predecessors looming overhead.

Well, time's up. Michelle Obama is back.