Former First Lady Michelle Obama was in the St. Louis area in recent days. And not only did she stop by one of our local Target stores, she also left a gift behind at it.
Obama uploaded a video to X that shows her looking totally like herself and yet totally incognito, shopping at a suburban St. Louis Target in a sweatshirt and ballcap. The video shows Obama signing six copies of the brand-new paperwork edition of her best-selling memoir The Light We Carry — and then leaving them tucked behind other books on the shelves for shoppers to find.
"We are going to go undercover," she says, slipping on her shades. "Because I have not actually seen my book in a Target before. So we're going to try to do this low-key." The video then shows her signing copies propped up on a display rack. "It's kind of surreal," she reports.
The disguise, while extremely minimal, apparently worked: No one bothers her for a selfie, at least on video. You can see customers just walking past without a second look.
Then, after she picks up some dog toys for Sunny and some shirts for her husband ("the girls, they can get their own stuff"), the video shows a young cashier calmly checking her out. "I love your hair," she says. "Oh, thanks," replies the former first lady modestly.
While in St. Louis, I stopped by @Target to run a few errands and check out the paperback of my book, #TheLightWeCarry. I left behind a few signed copies – if you find them, let me know! pic.twitter.com/4AhMU9zFPY
— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) April 19, 2024See AlsoRepeat COVID-19 vaccinations elicit antibodies that neutralize variants, other viruses | Washington University School of Medicine in St. LouisWorld waits with bated breath for surf great Kelly Slater to weigh in on controversial Harrison Butker commencement speechGet ‘Em Home: ‘BMF’ Season 3 Episode 7 RecapDemetrius "Big Meech" Flenory: Where is the BMF Kingpin Now?
The whole thing is frankly pretty cute, but this being St. Louis, we have to assume someone noticed Michelle Obama at their local Target store. (After all, it's Michelle Obama.) Why is this video the first we're hearing of it?
There's a lot of online discussion about whether she was at the south county Target or the Kirkwood one or (God have mercy on her soul!) the Brentwood one and the hellscape that would entail. Someone surely knows for certain!
That said, a little bird does tell us that reports of the Secret Service being in Kirkwood earlier this week made it to the Sunset Hills Community Board, and if it's that not a good St. Louis clue, we don't know what is. (And we should note our authoritative ranked list of all the Targets in towndid place that store in the top five, meaning it's a good enough location to host a former first lady, at least by our rigorous standards.) Can anyone out there confirm — and maybe even show us their newly signed copy of The Light We Carry? We'd love to hear that someone who purchased one of these paperbacks was lucky enough to realize what they got.
Update: Well, turns out Obama must have consulted our authoritative ranked list and decided No. 5 wasn't good enough — because KSDK now reports that they have confirmation and she was at No. 4, better known as 4250 Rusty Road in south county.
All praise to the St. Louis Twitter sleuth who treated this video like a much more pleasant Zapruder film — and actually solved the mystery.
At the 1:29 second mark she leaves the store, and just on the horizon over her left shoulder you see the utility poles. Ladies and gentleman, she went to South County. pic.twitter.com/NYA6F4dLhS
— Adam Cisroe Pearson OTD, OTR/L (@DrAPearson) April 19, 2024
However, it appears Obama must have made more than one stop. The mayor of Brentwood says she also somehow braved the notorious Promenade — and lived to tell about it. Now that's a St. Louis miracle!
Glad @MichelleObama visited Brentwood. We are the City of Warmth and we were happy to welcome her. BTW no complaints from her about the parking. 😂 https://t.co/auudxrJnAo
— DavidDimmitt (@DimmittDavid) April 19, 2024
Editor's note: An earlier version of this story erroneously said the book was Obama's 2018 Becoming, not The Light We Carry. We regret the error.
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