As the wise Pussycat Dolls once said: 'I don't need a ring around my finger to make me feel complete.'

And it looks like Michelle Obama was wise beyond her years because she already knew that you don't need a husband to make you happy – at the age of 10.

According to an interview with Variety, the First Lady revealed she learned from The Mary Tyler Moor Show (a television series in the Seventies about a 30-year-old woman who moves to Minneapolis after being dumped by her boyfriend) that a woman's life isn't fulfilled by a man.

'She wasn't married. She wasn't looking to get married. At no point did the series end in a happy ending with her finding a husband — which seemed to be the course you had to take as a woman. But she sort of bucked that,' she said.

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'She worked in a newsroom, she had a tough boss, and she stood up to him. She had close friends, never bemoaning the fact that she was a single. She was very proud and comfortable in that role,' she added.

The mother-of-two also revealed how she initially didn't want to get to know her future husband when he started working in the same  law film, convinced he was just another one of those 'smooth brothers who could talk straight and impress people'.

'So we had lunch, and he had this bad sport jacket and a cigarette dangling from his mouth, and I thought, 'Oh, here you go. Here's this good-looking, smooth-talking guy. I've been down this road before.'' she continued. 

However, it seemed to have worked out for the Princeton law graduate who has now been married to the current President for 24 years. 

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The First Lady also took the opportunity to explain why she chooses to get involved with popular culture, such as competing in a potato-sack race in the East Wing with talk-show host Jimmy Fallon and rapping to Missy Elliott in presenter James Corden's Carpool Karaoke. 

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'What I have never been afraid of is to be a little silly, and you can engage people that way.'

'My view is, first you get them to laugh, then you get them to listen. So I'm always game for a good joke, and I'm not so formal in this role. There's very little that we can't do that people wouldn't appreciate,' she concluded.

Bill Clinton and Melania Trump, one of is going to have some big shoes to fill. 

Watch Michelle's Carpool Karaoke below: 

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Katie O'Malley
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Katie O'Malley is the Site Director on ELLE UK. On a daily basis you’ll find Katie managing all digital workflow, editing site, video and newsletter content, liaising with commercial and sales teams on new partnerships and deals (eg Nike, Tiffany & Co., Cartier etc), implementing new digital strategies and compiling in-depth data traffic, SEO and ecomm reports. In addition to appearing on the radio and on TV, as well as interviewing everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Rishi Sunak PM, Katie enjoys writing about lifestyle, culture, wellness, fitness, fashion, and more.