Michelle Obama, 62, had never performed the Heimlich maneuver. That night, at a dinner with her daughter Malia and two friends, she had to learn it in seconds.
Her friend had finished eating, stood up, and started choking. Michelle already knew she had an esophageal problem, so she acted immediately: she grabbed her, applied pressure, and within moments the problem was resolved. “I had never done it before, and it worked”, she said on her podcast IMO alongside Kevin Hart.
What lingered most was what happened at the rest of the table: Malia and her friends stayed seated, without moving. When Michelle asked them what they had done, they admitted it themselves: “We were useless”. 🫢