Michelle Obama's body appreciation message to her daughters

Michelle Obama has talked about the importance of accepting your body when she appeared on Oprah Winfrey's tour; 2020 Vision: Your Life in Focus.

The former first lady of the United States of America openly talked about her own body image issues, especially being in the public eye and hearing people's criticism over her looks. She also stressed the importance of body acceptance, recognising it takes work to "love and accept your body".

Obama, 56, went on to say the pressure for women to hide their age is 'ridiculous'.

"We don't want to talk about our age, and then we want to act like we should look like we did when were 20, you know?" She told Winfrey, "When, I'm sorry, men you can look any kind of way. And it seems to be okay."

Obama then went on to say she can see how this societal pressure is impacting her daughters Malia, 21 and Sasha, 18, saying they're starting to criticise their bodies more.

She said when they start to criticise themselves she reminds them of what their body is doing. "You're now becoming a woman" she recalls telling them, "you don't have a child's body".

Obama, who won her first Grammy last month for her memoir Becoming said growing up and seeing her father pass away at 55 with multiple sclerosis reminds her how important it is to appreciate just having a healthy body and that "we are living things. We are not machines".

"My father would've given anything to have either one of my legs" she said. "For me to judge that, and not to just embrace that and be happy that I'm alive, moving, able to move. I have to tell myself, appreciate what God gave you and take care of that."