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Mrs Obama: Tired of ‘angry black woman’ stereotype

President Barack and First Lady Michelle Obama

WASHINGTON (AP) — First lady Michelle Obama is challenging assertions she’s forcefully imposed her will on White House aides, saying she’s tired of people portraying her as “some kind of angry black woman.”

Mrs. Obama tells CBS News she hasn’t read New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor’s new book that characterizes her as a behind-the-scenes force in the Executive Mansion, whose strong views often draw her into conflict with President Barack Obama’s top advisers.

“I never read these books,” she told CBS’s Gayle King in an interview broadcast Wednesday. “So I’ve just gotten in the habit of not reading other people’s impressions of people.”

In the book, Mrs. Obama is said to have occasionally bristled at some of the demands and constraints of life in the White House.

In the interview, Mrs. Obama said, “I love this job. It has been a privilege from day one.”

“Now there are challenges,” she added. “If there’s any anxiety that I feel, it’s because I want to make sure that my girls (Malia and Sasha) come out of this on the other end whole.”

The Kantor book portrays a White House where tensions developed between Mrs. Obama and former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and former press secretary and presidential adviser Robert Gibbs.

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