Michelle Obama has opened up about a bold new personal style choice, revealing that she recently had ten new ear piercings done at once and that the decision was inspired in part by the younger people around her.

The former U.S. First Lady shared the story during a conversation with her brother, Craig Robinson, on their IMO Podcast. She explained that she had long been intrigued by the idea of multiple piercings but had never fully committed.

“I have always thought about getting extra piercings in my ear and just never got around to it,” she told her brother, recalling that she once had a second set of piercings before becoming a mother. Over time, she said, life got busy, and she stopped wearing earrings in those additional holes, letting them close up.

What finally pushed her to act, she explained, was watching how younger generations experiment with jewelry and self-expression. “Nowadays, the young people in my life are doing more piercings, there’s just more beautiful adornments,” she said, noting how much she admired the creativity and playfulness of their looks.

On the podcast, Obama showed off her new ear constellation: small earrings arranged like tiny stars climbing up each ear. “You see there’s more of a cluster, the constellation sort of look, twinkles that goes…” she said, describing the effect.

Robinson, examining her ears, initially guessed she had added five new piercings. Obama then clarified that she had gone much further. She admitted she had five new piercings in each ear, for a total of ten in a single appointment.

She said the original plan was modest. She intended to “go in for a few,” but once she started, she found herself asking the piercer to keep going, embracing the spontaneous transformation. “So, in one sitting, I got ten piercings,” she said.

When her brother suggested the experience must have been painful, Obama downplayed the discomfort. “It actually was not that… it wasn’t bad at all,” she replied, framing the decision as both a fun style update and a small act of personal reinvention.