Former first lady Michelle Obama received a special tribute from one of her most famous admirers, Beyoncé, as part of Time magazine’s issue honoring the 100 most influential people of the year.
“Loving Michelle Obama wasn’t much of a choice,” the singer wrote in the profile published Wednesday. “It was something that came naturally, because of how she carried herself. Because she resembled us and was moving in spaces where, as black Americans, we weren’t exactly meant to be, she seemed so powerful.”
She then described meeting Obama for the first time when she performed at President Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2009.
“The way she looked, walked and spoke, in that warm but authoritative tone, we saw our mothers and sisters,” she wrote.
Beyoncé and husband Jay-Z have since become good friends with the Obamas, and were among the former president’s biggest celebrity supporters and fundraisers during his presidency.
Time often finds notable people who have personal connections to those on its annual “most influential” list and asks them to write tributes to the honorees.
Beyoncé hailed Michelle Obama as a “beacon of hope” for her three children, Blue Ivy, Rumi and Sir.
“I am so grateful that my daughters and my son live in a world where Michelle Obama shines as a beacon of hope who inspires all of us to do better and to be better,” she wrote.
The profile came out the same morning that Beyoncé released a surprise live album called “Homecoming.”