Iman: Michelle Obama is 'no beauty' but 'bright'

**Natee471** · May 15th, 2009, 03:52 PM

NEW YORK (AFP) – US First Lady Michelle Obama is not a "great beauty," but will "just get better with age," Iman, one of the first black supermodels, says in a magazine interview.

"Mrs Obama is not a great beauty," the Somali-born model and wife of rocker David Bowie tells Parade magazine's Sunday issue, reflecting on the first black US first lady, who is a lawyer by training and a former executive.

"But she is so interesting looking and so bright. That will always take you farther. When you?re a great beauty, it?s always downhill for you. If you?re someone like Mrs Obama, you just get better with age," she said.

Iman, 53, also told Parade that her rise to catwalk superstardom did not free her from racism.

"You suddenly represent a whole race, and that race goes, Well, that person does not represent our ideals of beauty. For lack of a better term, it becomes what it was like during slavery," she said.

"One had the field n...(expletive) and the house n...(expletive). There was this notion that I was chosen by white fashion editors to be better than the rest, which I am not. I did not like being thought of as the house n...(expletive)."

Michelle Obama no 'beauty' but 'bright': Iman

**SVZ** · May 15th, 2009, 04:00 PM

uhmmm...she sounds a bit cracked out

**rockNroll** · May 15th, 2009, 04:01 PM

I think Michele is fug, nothing beautiful about that face, to say something nice though she is smart.

**HWBL** · May 15th, 2009, 04:02 PM

Iman is right.

**gardenofeve** · May 15th, 2009, 04:10 PM

I personally don't find Michelle gorgeous or anything, but everything about her screams brains and power, which in itself is very attractive. Iman, I find gorgeous, she's also one of the smarter models, she's also very blunt, but I find most Somali women are. Which is something I actually like.

**rollo** · May 15th, 2009, 04:10 PM

How would she like it if Michelle Obama said that Iman looks OK considering her boob job and wig?

**crumpet** · May 15th, 2009, 04:17 PM

I agree with her. Michelle is very attractive because she has a combination of intelligence and strength along with an attractive outward appearance (tall, slender/athletic, nice complexion, nice clothes). However, I'm pretty over the hyperbolic reactions of many media outlets that insist on putting her on all these 'most beautiful' lists. It's as if just because she manages to be first lady without also being a dowdy troll with a double chin she gets exhalted to this Helen of Troy status she doesn't really deserve. She's a nice looking woman and that's about it. If she wasn't married to Barack Obama but was, say, a newscaster with the same education and work credentials, she would not be getting all this praise for her overrated looks and everybody knows it. If she was married to a president no one liked there would be caricatures of her everywhere with the bulldog underbite and metallic tennis shoes.

**celeb_2006** · May 15th, 2009, 04:26 PM

I think the first lady looks very nice and elegant, but I wish they'd stop with all the maxim nonsense and whatnot. WTF is that all about???

**WhateverLolaWants** · May 15th, 2009, 04:27 PM

Iman has always been this blunt. I don't always agree with her, but I like her anyway

**greysfang** · May 15th, 2009, 04:30 PM

Michelle's brains are what elevate a pretty woman into a beautiful woman. Iman is wrong.

**AgentOrange** · May 15th, 2009, 05:57 PM

Imam is also pretty bright - she's fluent in 5 languages and studied poli-sci at the Univeristy of Nairobi.

**BITTER** · May 15th, 2009, 06:00 PM

Well, no, Michelle isn't a great beauty, but neither was Jackie Kennedy. Both women are stylish though.

I love Iman though, always have.

**nana55** · May 15th, 2009, 06:01 PM

I hate to say it but I agree with her. Michelle has a different kind of beauty. She is beautiful because she is bright, funny, intelligent, and classy. She's the kind of woman you want to be around and want to be like. Iman is unreachable in looks and I would feel like a loser next to her. Michelle makes me want to be better. O.K. that was sickening..........sorry.

**Beeyotch** · May 15th, 2009, 06:33 PM

Originally Posted by nana55

I hate to say it but I agree with her. Michelle has a different kind of beauty. She is beautiful because she is bright, funny, intelligent, and classy. She's the kind of woman you want to be around and want to be like. Iman is unreachable in looks and I would feel like a loser next to her. Michelle makes me want to be better. O.K. that was sickening..........sorry.

Don't apologize, I thought that was a great way to put it. Someone who makes you want to be better is inspirational and beautiful for it.

Plus I think it's a bit out of context. She was talking about herself first, as someone who is known primarily for their looks, how it will always be downhill because beauty fades. Then she referred to Michelle Obama in contrast as someone who is known primarily for her professional/intellectual accomplishments and being a classy first lady.

I can see the implication that Michelle was "no great beauty," but I think Iman posed it in a much less insulting way. I still read it as praising Michelle's achievements, how those endure the passage of time much better than Iman's own beauty.