Michelle Obama is remembering a less glamorous moment of living in the White House.
In an exclusive clip shared to Architectural Digest from Tuesday’s episode of Michelle Obama: The Light Podcast, the former first lady, 59, described how she and Barack Obama, 61, were once woken up by their younger daughter, Sasha, during a plumbing emergency.
“Barack and I are like, ‘What?’ [Sasha] said, ‘It’s raining in the dining room,'” Michelle told interviewer and “dear friend” Elizabeth Alexander, who she’s known for 30-plus years. “We said, ‘Okay, go to bed, get out of here, get out of here.’ ‘Cause we thought, she’s just trying to get us up. And then it got quiet, and I heard rain. So I get up, put on my robe, cross the hall and it is raining, literally: A pipe that was so old had burst and it was pouring down rain.”
Luckily, staff then scrambled to protect the “priceless art” hanging on the walls, she said, but the ceiling was destroyed.
Though overall, life in the White House on a day-to-day basis was “definitely fancy, by all standards” with perks such as butlers and florists on hand, Michelle said it definitely wasn’t perfect.
Continuing on the topic of the White House needing a little TLC, the Chicago native vented that even minor decisions by a president are scrutinized.
“Politically, it is hard for a sitting president to make the decision to spend the money to do repairs,” she noted. “Because the other party will criticize the president and say, ‘Oh look, he’s taking taxpayer money!’ So I will just say this to the people in here: The White House needs to be cared for.”
“So, if a president — regardless of party — decides to renovate, don’t get mad,” she concluded at the end of the segment. “Don’t get mad! It needs it.”
On the very first episode of her new podcast, Michelle discussed why being in her 50s is so enjoyable now, telling Today‘s Hoda Kotb that she’s “on the other side of parenting.”
“I’m moving from mom-in-chief to advisor-in-chief,” Michelle said of Sasha, 21, and her older sister Malia, 24. “That’s a lovely thing — to be able to watch my girls fly and have the relief that ‘Okay, I think I didn’t mess them up.’ “
As for Barack, Michelle told PEOPLE in November while promoting her book The Light We Carry, that he is often the most active on their family text chain.
“He’s still typical [Dad],” she said. “You have these weird panic thoughts that your girls are out living in this messy world.”
“And so, you think about crazy things you want to make sure you tell them. It’s like, ‘Remember, don’t walk alone at night!'” Obama added. “Barack sent them an email about earthquake preparedness because they’re living in California. He’s a big article sender, and we all just read ’em and laugh.”
“It won’t surprise you to hear me say that Barack is my best friend,” Michelle said in an intro to Tuesday’s podcast, adding that “it also happens to have the benefit of being true in our case.”
Less Glamorous at the White House, remember it you dont want to come back. We dont need you back.
The Obamas, it was great to have such a loving couple in the White House. No family drama that trumps family had.