Michelle Obama says she has 'low-grade depression'

Former US First Lady Michelle Obama has said that she was suffering from "low-grade depression" because of the COVID-19 pandemic, racial injustice and the "hypocrisy" of President Donald Trump's administration, it was reported on Thursday.

She made the comments on Wednesday during the second episode of her eponymous podcast, reports the BBC.

"I'm waking up in the middle of the night because I'm worrying about something or there's a heaviness.

"These are not, they are not fulfilling times, spiritually," Obama said.

"I know that I am dealing with some form of low-grade depression. Not just because of the quarantine, but because of the racial strife, and just seeing this administration, watching the hypocrisy of it, day in and day out, is dispiriting."

The former First Lady also said that it was "exhausting" to be "waking up to yet another story of a black man or a black person somehow being dehumanised, or hurt, or killed, or falsely accused of something".

However, she said "schedule is key" to managing these feelings - and that maintaining a routine has become even more important to her in the pandemic.

For the first episode of the podcast, she interviewed her husband and former President Barack Obama.