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Michelle Obama said she didn't receive the same fashionable 'grace' that other first ladies did because her family faced a different kind of pressure in the White House. The former first lady, who's been on the cover of Vogue three times, sat down with Robin Roberts on ABC News' 20/20 on Sunday discussing her new book 'The Look.' Obama, 61, is set to release the book on Tuesday that will delve into her 'style evolution' during her husband Barack Obama's two presidential terms. But in it, Obama said she was 'under a particularly white hot glare' as the first black First Lady. 'You can't afford to get anything wrong because - at least until the country got a chance to know us - we didn't get the grace that I think some other families have gotten,' she told Roberts, who asked what she meant by her statement. 'Now, don't get me wrong, every First Lady faces the kind of scrutiny, every woman in the public eye faces a certain level of scrutiny because of her physical appearance. 'I mean, we live in a culture sadly where if somebody wants to go after a woman, the first thing they do is go after our looks, our size, our physical being, as a way to make us feel small, to keep us in place.' Despite bemoaning about her treatment, Michelle holds the title for the first lady with the most US Vogue covers - the highest fashion honor in the competitive business. She landed the cover shortly after husband was inaugurated in 2009, again in April 2013 and for the third time in December 2016. The most recent issue she was in, which was published after Trump's 2016 victory, dubbed her 'the first lady the world fell in love with.' Other former first ladies, including Pat Nixon, Nancy Reagan, Hillary Clinton, and Jill Biden were featured on the cover - but only one or two times. Melania Trump was put on the cover after she wed Donald in 2005 - but despite her obvious accolades as a former model, the publisher has notably left her off of any covers in both of her husband's White Office terms. Meanwhile, Jacqueline Kennedy, who was considered a fashion icon, never made the cover. She was however featured in many photographs within the pages of the magazine. Similarly, Lou Henry Hoover, was also photographed in the 1929 issue and was the first first lady to have done so. Lady Bird Johnson appeared in the magazine in 1964 and 1967. Therefore, Michelle Obama holds the triumphant title of most Vogue covers for any first lady in the 20th and 21st centuries - a gleaming endorsement from the fashion world. During her time in the White House, Obama 'didn't want to show up just any kind of way,' she told Roberts. 'I wanted to show up with thought and consideration, and energy and light,' she added. Some of Obama's most iconic fashion moments, which are highlighted in her book, include her deep purple pants suit that she wore for former President Biden's inauguration and her in a dazzling rose gold gown at her and her husband's last state dinner. But now that she is no longer first lady and can live somewhat of a normal life again, Obama said she had reached a point in time where her 'freedom' has come into play. 'I feel that stage in life where I can say, "Yeah, maybe I know a few things",' she added. Her comments come after she responded to backlash she used to receive for her outfit choices she made while her husband was commander-in-chief. During that time, Michelle caused a stir for wearing sleeveless dresses and tops that flaunted her famously toned arms. And last week, she finally addressed the furor over her fashion choices and how she handled it. 'I took it for what it was, pure hypocrisy. I could pull up pictures of Jackie O in a second and see this fashion icon in sleeveless dresses as first lady,' Obama told People. 'So, at a point you're like, "Oh, this is politics. If you can't beat them, make everybody scared of them."' She continued: 'That was the motto. If it wasn't the clothes, it was "that terrorist fist bump." It was every word that we said. It was my husband's tan suit.' Michelle's style picks were written about and dissected while her husband was in office. In 2009, for example, while Barack gave a speech to Congress, she sat in the audience in a purple sleeveless dress. 'Oh my god. The First Lady has bare arms in Congress, in February, at night!' Cindi Leive, then the editor of Glamour magazine, told the New York Times at the time. Shortly after, Chicago Tribune style reporter Wendy Donahue predicted that Michelle would make bare arms her 'signature statement.' 'In many ways it's the perfect accessory for the times. They cost nothing except maybe a gym membership or a couple of 15-pound [weights] that you can use in your home,' she said. 'Those toned arms that are the envy of every woman, not just 45-year-old women, but 25-year-old women don't have arms that toned.
