Michelle Obama and Ellen DeGeneres© The Ellen Show

Ellen DeGeneres will welcome Michelle Obama on her show for the last time, relive some of their cutest moments

Michelle and Ellen’s friendship is everything


Jovita Trujillo - Los Angeles
Senior WriterLos Angeles
MARCH 16, 2022 5:50 PM EDT

The final episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show will air on Thursday, May 26th, and after 19 seasons, it’s sure to get emotional. Deadline reported Wednesday that a few of the more than 4,000 guests on the show will return in the months leading to the finale for a walk down memory lane. Included in the list is Michelle Obama, who has been on the show several times since 2010, and the former first lady even co-hosted the show back in 2016. But Michelle was always more than a guest, she was a friend, respected and admired by Ellen, and the host made sure she always felt special and appreciated. In honor of the final episode, we are breaking down some of the cutest moments between the long-time friends.

2012: Michelle and Ellen have a push-up competition

Michelle made her first appearance on the show in 2010 with Jill Biden, but her most memorable moment came in 2012 when she did push-ups on stage. After sharing some tea about how Barack Obama doesn’t put away his clothes, they moved onto Michelle’s toned arms. “How many push-ups can you do?“ Ellen asked. They then got into competition mode, removing their jackets for a push-up competition. Ellen was able to keep up until 20, while Michelle kept cranking them out.

2015: Ellen and Michelle have a dance-off

Ellen and Michelle had an epic dance battle back in 2015 to Mark Ronson’s “Uptown Funk.”

2016: Michelle co-hosts The Ellen Show

While First Lady, Michelle made history on The Ellen Show as her first co-host in the show’s history. “Today something is happening, it has never happened before in the history of this show, today I am co-hosting with the First Lady of the United States she told her audience, before joking it was an honor for Michelle. But as good as friends as they are, Ellen couldn’t get Michelle a guest pass and her presidential ride got “towed.” Later in the episode, the co-hosts headed out into the public to the magical world of CVS. “You push the basket because nobody is going to push it for you” Ellen quipped. The host continued to “prepare” Michelle for her life out of the White House by showing her things like a Coinstar machine, and wine in a box.

2018: Michelle celebrates Ellen’s 60th birthday

Michelle stopped by The Ellen Show for her 60th birthday in February and brought a lot of gifts for the host from their favorite store, CVS.

Ellen looks back at Michelle’s impact on the world

Michelle stopped by the show again in November 2018 and Ellen wanted to show her friend just how amazing she is. “I hope you know what an amazing impact that you’ve had on this country and all over the world. As the first lady, as just a human being that we all look up to. You inspire all of us,” Ellen gushed before showing a montage of clips showing “just how amazing” Michelle is. The clip led to a standing ovation, with Michelle clearly touched. That same episode, they headed to Costco for a book signing for Michelle’s memoir “Becoming.” Ellen made sure to embarrass her friend, even handing out “free samples,” ripping out pages of the books.