Is the photo that shows Michelle Obama as "a man" authentic? No, that's not true: The image of Obama is doctored, making her features appear more masculine. She posted the picture with then-President Barack Obama on her official Instagram page in 2014 and it does not show her looking male.
The claim appeared in a video on Instagram on December 10, 2023. It began with the person in the video saying:
What do you guys think of this picture? Is Michelle Obama a man?
This is how the post looked on Instagram at the time of writing:
(Source: Instagram screenshot taken on Tues Dec 12 17:06:17 2023 UTC)
The caption of the post reads:
Is obamas wife his husband
The image in the video has been altered from the original photo. This is a screenshot of the image of Michelle and Barack Obama posted in the video:
(Source: Instagram screenshot taken on Tues Dec 12 17:10:33 2023 UTC)
Here is the original photo, posted by Michelle Obama on her official Instagram account (archived here) on December 25, 2014. The features of her face are clearly different than the one used in the Instagram video:
(Source: Instagram screenshot taken on Tues Dec 12 17:12:43 2023 UTC)
Lead Stories has previously debunked other claims about Michelle Obama's gender, including bogus assertions that her doctor went on record to claim she is male and that she registered to vote as a man.
