Michelle Obama reveals she used to ‘spank’ her children before coming to ‘embarrassing’ realization

Michelle Obama has revealed she used to 'spank' her children before coming to the ‘embarrassing’ realization it doesn't do anything for discipline.

Particularly when Michelle was the first lady, it was pretty difficult to garner an understanding on the family life of the Obamas.

But since the 44th POTUS left the White House in early 2017, Michelle, in particular, has spoken out about what life was like before, during and after the family's stint in Washington DC.

In a recent episode of her podcast IMO with brother Craig Robinson, Michelle revealed she sometimes spanked daughters Malia and Sasha when they were not behaving - something the former first lady now regrets.

Michelle Obama has revealed she used to 'spank' her children (Marcus Ingram/Getty Images)

"I felt silly. It took a couple of spankings for me to be like, 'yeah, you know what? I don't want to do this anymore,'" she said.

"I felt like, you know, this is a little kid. And the fact that I can't think of any better way to get my point across than to smack somebody on the butt - I felt embarrassed."

Michelle went on to say she feels as though many parents nowadays are 'trying to live their kids’ lives for them so that they don’t make any mistakes and don’t feel any sense of failure which keeps them from learning'.

She continued: "I want to be a proponent for reinstating some of the stuff that we had. You know, parents are too afraid to set those kinds of boundaries. And I think that’s also part of the challenge that we’re facing in this generation."

As Malia and Sasha were the daughter of the US president, it was difficult for the Obamas to keep them out of the news - something Michelle has touched on recently.

The Obamas pictured in 2016 (NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images)

Speaking on the Let’s Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa, the 61-year-old said: "That was a lot of work and it got harder as they got older.

"They had to drive and they had to go to prom and they were on teams and they traveled to other schools and they had to do college searches, and they went to parties and they had drinks, and they tried out smoking and they did all the things."

Michelle continued: "Every weekend was a nightmare. Because we had to work to make sure that them being regular teenagers didn't wind up on Page Six."

Malia was just ten at the time President Obama took office, while Sasha was seven.

The pair spent much of their childhood living in the White House.