By Megan Riedlinger
9:00am PST, Jan 19, 2024
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Happy birthday, Michelle Obama!
As the former first lady turns 60 on Jan. 17, 2024, Wonderwall.com is taking a trip down memory lane to see her and all the other living former first ladies then and now…
This glamorous snap shows Michelle Obama looking radiant in the White House — Those pearls! That LBD! — back in 2009, the year her husband, Barack Obama, took office. One of her biggest projects during her tenure as first lady was taking on the organic movement started by predecessor Laura Bush, pushing the White House kitchens to buy organic and taking it one step further by launching the White House Kitchen Garden — the first organic garden at the iconic home. She also added beehive installations on the White House property!
Keep reading to see Michelle today, plus more former first ladies then and now…
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These days, Michelle Obama still takes center stage (she's seen here stopping by "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" in 2023).
In 2018, she released her bestselling memoir, "Becoming," which was followed by a Netflix documentary with the same name in 2020. The feat resulted in the former first lady receiving a very prestigious honor — a Grammy! — for best audio book, narration and storytelling recording in 2020.
If you're curious about her ties to Netflix, the Obamas both signed a production deal with the streaming giant in 2018, which resulted in Michelle serving as executive producer on the children's show "Waffles and Mochi" and both Michelle and Barack working as executive producers on the 2023 release "Leave the World Behind."
Michelle released her second book in 2022, "The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times," which was followed up by a Netflix documentary based on the book, which earned her a Primetime Emmy for outstanding hosted nonfiction series or special.
MORE: See presidents' children then and now
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Melania Trump, former President Donald Trump's wife, is seen here at her husband's 2017 inauguration. The former model and glamorous first lady's big initiative while in the White House was a campaign against online harassment and internet safety, particularly regarding children.
MORE: See Melania Trump's journey from model to first lady
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Melania Trump (seen here shaking hands with new U.S. citizens during a naturalization ceremony in Washington, D.C., in 2023) largely stepped out of the limelight following her husband's presidency. Despite preferring to lay low, the former model and mother of one has recently started attending campaign events for Donald Trump's 2024 campaign. A source close to the couple shared with Page Six, "Melania realizes it's her time to join the ranks of historic first ladies and leave her mark on history… She feels better prepared for her potential role the second time around."
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Laura Bush, a former school teacher, naturally made education a big part of her platform during husband George W. Bush's presidency from 2000 until 2008. The Texas native launched the "Ready to Read, Ready to Learn" initiative in schools to help promote reading during her time as first lady. She was also active in women's health issues, particularly heart disease, and established the Women's Health and Wellness Initiative during her time in the White House.
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Former first lady Laura Bush (seen here alongside husband George W. Bush at a Houston Astros and Texas Rangers baseball game in 2023) has continued to step into the spotlight since leaving the White House. The mother of twins released a memoir, "Spoken from the Heart," in 2010. She also published two children's books with daughter Jenna Bush Hager — the first in 2008, "Read All About it!," and the second in 2016, "Our Great Big Backyard."
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Hillary Clinton (seen here at a campaign event for husband Bill Clinton in Little Rock, Arkansas, a few months ahead of his big White House win) was a dutiful politician's wife for decades ahead of her husband's 1992 election. During his two terms in office, the Yale Law School graduate's main objectives were working on national health care reform, which became known as the Clinton health care plan, and two initiatives related to foster children — the Adoption and Safe Families Act geared toward helping foster care families, which passed in 1997, and the Foster Care Independence Act, which was passed in 1999 and helped teenagers aging out of foster care receive more support.
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Hillary Clinton remained in politics after her time as first lady. She went right from the White House into a position as a U.S. Senator after being elected in 2000 and served until 2009. She was a Democratic contender for the presidency in 2008, though she ultimately lost her party's nomination to Barack Obama — though that didn't end her ambitions. She served as secretary of state during the Obama administration until 2013 then rolled into another presidential campaign in 2016, ultimately losing to Donald Trump. Following the defeat, Hillary wrote her third memoir, "What Happened," in 2017 to chronicle the election. She's also authored eight other books over the years including "It Takes a Village: And Other Lessons Children Teach Us" in 1996, which earned her a Grammy Award for best spoken word album, and a kids book with daughter Chelsea Clinton, "The Book of Gutsy Women: Favorite Stories of Courage and Resilience."
Like former first lady Michelle Obama, Hilary has also been busy in Hollywood: A Hulu documentary film, "Hilary," was released in 2020, the same year she had an interview podcast with iHeartRadio, "You and Me Both." She also produces the AppleTV+ series "Gutsy."
