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(NEW YORK) — Michelle Obama is honoring her mom in a special way.
Ahead of Mother’s Day, the former first lady announced that an exhibit in the highly anticipated Obama Presidential Center in Chicago will pay tribute to her mother, Marian Robinson.
In a video Friday shared first with ABC News’ Good Morning America, Obama reflected on the close relationship she has with her mother and the values that Robinson instilled in her at a young age.
“Growing up with my mom was always an adventure,” Obama said. “It was trips to the library as a toddler to learn about ABCs; it was the entire family piling into our car to go to the local drive-in; and my mom inviting family over for New Year’s Eve, passing around her special hors d’oeuvres and toasting in the new year.”
“But above all else,” she added, “my mother gave me that nonstop, unconditional love that was so important for me to grow up. In so many ways, she fostered in me a deep sense of confidence in who I was and who I could be by teaching me how to think for myself, how to use my own voice and how to understand my own worth. I simply wouldn’t be who I am today without my mom.”
The exhibit, called “Opening the White House,” will focus on community and family while also making sure everyone who visits the presidential center “feels at home,” Obama said.
The upcoming exhibit will also feature scale replicas of the White House’s East Room, where the Obamas once held dinners, as well as the Blue Room and the South Lawn, where the family hosted garden tours and the Easter Egg Roll.
“This is just one part of the story we’re telling at the Obama Presidential Center,” Obama said. “I am so excited to announce that we will be dedicating a space at the Obama Presidential Center in her honor.”
In her memoir, Becoming, Obama opened up about her mother, whom she called the “first grandmother” because she lived with them in the White House. During their eight years there, Robinson would help Obama balance the demands of raising a private family in a very public house.
Obama ended her Mother’s Day tribute to her mom by saying that she hopes everyone will be able to see the exhibit when the presidential center opens to the public in 2025.
“In the years ahead, we want to welcome you to Chicago to see it — maybe even with your mom,” she said. “So Happy Mother’s Day everyone. And especially to you, mommy. Love you.”
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