Did Michelle Obama Use a Ghostwriter for Her Book?

It didn’t take long for former First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Becoming” to sell over a million copies in the first week of its release.

The memoir grabbed the “best opening week sales” title for 2018 and a good reason.

It took a measly fifteen days for the book to rack up two million sales, which says a lot about Obama’s ability to draw readers.

What It’s All About

“Becoming” tells the story of the First Lady’s modest beginnings on Chicago’s South Side – chronicling her life journey together with her parents, attending college at Princeton, and taking up law at Harvard.

Divided into three sections, the book is a narrative of Michelle’s life, highlighted by her stint in the White House.

Was The Memoir Ghostwritten?

The book’s acknowledgement section offers a clue, as Obama thanked her “team of collaborators.”

Be that as it may, there’s nothing wrong if she asked for help writing the memoir.

Regardless of whether she hired a ghostwriter or wrote the book on her own, there’s no credit given to anyone on the cover.

Interestingly, an interim dean of the University of Cincinnati’s College of Law talked about her contribution to the memoir but falling short of saying that she worked as a ghostwriter for Michelle Obama.

Verna Williams revealed that Obama asked for her assistance in documenting an oral history of the White House experience.

She more than willingly obliged. Williams said that Michelle used the information she obtained to write the memoir.

Suffice to say, Williams’ role was more of a researcher.

The former first lady may have wanted someone to get the facts right from another person’s perspective other than herself, the family, or the president.

Lifelong Friends

If there were anyone fit to pen Michelle Obama’s memoir, it would be Williams.

They’ve remained friends after bumping into each other over thirty years ago.

Williams lauds her friend’s down-to-earth attitude even after going through a lot over the years.

Having been in the public eye and the world of politics for almost two decades could have changed most people, but Obama is the same person today.

The Pressure of Writing History

These accomplished women met in law school, but Williams couldn’t have anticipated the path Michelle took from there.

When she was asked to be part of the memoir, she took the challenge in stride.

Nevertheless, the pressure was there – realizing that she wasn’t merely gathering information for an author or celebrity; everything is part of American history.

Collecting oral history is a Herculean task for most people, but Williams loved it.

She further revealed that the project started right after Barack Obama was sworn into office. She and Michelle took time to meet twice a year for almost a decade.

Williams wouldn’t call herself a ghostwriter – her job was to document the first lady’s daily life during the presidency.

The recording and transcription of her interviews with Michelle Obama were the most tedious, but no one could have done it better. Williams looks back and cherishes those times when her “side gig” meant building a lasting friendship with the former first lady.

What’s “Becoming” About?

“Becoming” is a memoir by former first lady Michelle Obama.

The autobiography is frank, to say the least.

It’s personal and exciting in places, but what makes this book important is that it shows us another side to Michelle Obama: a young African American who struggled with her self-image and confidence growing up in Chicago.

One can say that reading this book is like having an intimate conversation with Michelle Obama herself. She shares details that only someone very close to her can know about.

So, if there was any hint of her hiring a ghostwriter for the memoir, it should have been someone very close to her.

She talked about how her life changed when she met Barack Obama. She remembers visiting Kenya (Barack’s father was Kenyan) for the first time, and she thought: “I ought to do something bigger than sitting on a desk.”

The memoir bares Obama’s lack of inclination in politics, even saying that she was “reluctant” in Barack’s decision to run for president.

Like many other African American women before her, she thought that her husband wouldn’t get elected because of the colour of his skin. Nonetheless, she agreed because she knew what he was capable of.

The autobiography is made up of three sections: “Becoming Me,” “Becoming Us,” and “Becoming More.”

“Becoming Me” talks about her early years with her family in Chicago before moving to Princeton.

She’s proud of her parent’s involvement in the civil rights movement and their dedication to education and community service.

She also reveals the struggles she had as a young black girl growing up in a predominantly white neighbourhood on the South Side.

In “Becoming Us,” she writes about the road to her marriage and life with Barack.

She explains how her parents were very hard on their children, so she was hesitant to get married.

Michelle detailed her struggle with infertility and miscarriages before the presidency.

She had trouble getting pregnant with her first daughter, Malia, and she was hospitalized for a month due to complications during her second pregnancy with Sasha.

Michelle also discusses Barack’s political career in the context of the second section, including losing in Congress and eventually becoming a United States senator.

In “Becoming More,” Michelle describes her platform as a first lady and how she would use the pledge of service campaign in her work with military families.

Throughout “Becoming,” Michelle Obama didn’t hold back in telling her story, successfully bringing light to important issues that face children, women, and the minority.

As of December 2020, the book has sold over 14 million copies. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see another bestseller from Michelle Obama, ghostwritten or not.