Michelle Obama has revealed she and her family have been left “heartbroken” following a “devastating loss”.
The former First Lady released a statement alongside her husband, Barack Obama, her brother Craig and his wife, saying: “As a sister, aunt, cousin, neighbour, and friend to so many, she was beloved beyond words by countless others whose lives were improved by her presence.”
Michelle’s mother, Marian Robinson, died at the age of 86 in Chicago on Friday.
“She passed peacefully this morning, and right now, none of us are quite sure how exactly we’ll move on without her,” the message said.
She added that her mother was “her rock”, always “there for whatever I needed”.
She continued: “She was the same steady backstop for our entire family, and we are heartbroken to share [that] she passed away today.”
Reflecting on her childhood in an accompanying obituary, Michelle wrote: “Her father, because of the colour of his skin, wasn’t allowed to join a union or work for larger construction firms, and he grew mistrustful of a world that seemed to have little place for him.
“Yet many mornings, he would wake the kids up at sunrise by blasting jazz records as an alarm clock… She learned early that even in the face of hardship, there was music to be found.”
Marian was born the fourth of seven children. Her husband, Fraser Robinson III died from multiple sclerosis in 1991.
Marian and Fraser worked hard to ensure their children could attend some of the best schools in America, with both graduating from Ivy League universities.
“We just wanted our children to understand that a good education was their ticket to a better life, a chance to have more and be more,” Robinson once said.
Following Barack Obama’s victory, Marian moved into the White House with the couple and their daughters in 2009.
“She relished her role as a grandmother. … And although she enforced whatever household rules we’d set for bedtime, watching TV, or eating candy, she made clear that she sided with her ‘grandbabies’ in thinking that their parents were too darn strict.”
Barack also took to social media to express his sadness: “There was and will be only one Marian Robinson.
“In our sadness, we are lifted up by the extraordinary gift of her life.
“And we will spend the rest of ours trying to live up to her example.”