People Are Once Again Reexamining Ellen DeGeneres’s Past Dynamic With Her Talk Show Guests After Michelle Obama Recalled The Time She Was Made To Do Push-Ups On Air

Of course, Michelle was the First Lady of the United States at the time, with her husband, Barack Obama, having been elected president in 2008.

While discussing Michelle’s public health campaign “Let’s Move,” which had been launched in the US a couple of years prior, Ellen wound up asking the First Lady about her own workout routine.

After Michelle noted that she tended to focus on cardio, lifting weights, and plyometric training, Ellen interjected and asked if she did push-ups. Seemingly caught off-guard, Michelle replied that she did in fact do push-ups — prompting Ellen to challenge her to a friendly contest then and there.

Michelle ended up winning by doing 25 push-ups, while Ellen gave up after 20. “How amazing is that, come on?!” Ellen asked the audience afterwards.

Fast forward to today, and Michelle has reflected on the push-up competition during a new appearance on Amy Poehler’s Good Hang podcast.

The topic was brought up after Michelle noted that she’s “at the age” where she wakes up with random aches and pains, prompting a discussion about what kinds of workouts she and Amy do.

When Amy asked if she’s able to do push-ups, Michelle replied, “Yeah…Well, now I do them on my knees. This is another thing — I don’t need to do regular push-ups. I have nothing to prove,” before noting that she finds “regular” push-ups “hard” because her “arm length doesn’t go all the way down.”

Michelle then recalled, “In fact, you know who pointed that out was Ellen because my first term, she challenged me to a push-up competition. I’m the First Lady!” Amy quipped, “Sounds like Ellen.”

Michelle continued, “She heard that I worked out, so I’m on her show doing push-ups. And I did more push-ups than her but she still says I didn’t go down all the way. Anatomically, I don’t think I can. My arms are very long and she’s a much smaller person than me.”

Michelle’s remarks have since sparked a heap of discourse online, with several people suggesting that it was pretty bizarre for the First Lady to randomly be challenged to a push-up contest live on air.

For context, before Ellen’s talk show went off air in 2022 — roughly two years after BuzzFeed News published an investigative piece about the alleged toxic environment on set — the host was repeatedly accused of pushing her guests’ boundaries and making them uncomfortable. This scrutiny has only increased since the show came to an end, with several people reexamining the dynamic between Ellen and her guests.

“The entire premise of this is wild and I cannot believe it actually happened. Ellen was something else,” one person said in response to Michelle’s latest quotes. “This is genuinely so wild to me,” someone agreed.

“The number of times I’ve seen Ellen ask a guest to do something, guest says no, Ellen keeps asking until they do it,” one user wrote. “Ellen was always doing questionable things on her show. It wasn’t until she actually got pushback that it stopped then her show ended,” another added.

Let me know what you think in the comments, and check out Michelle’s full appearance on the Good Hang podcast here.