US First Lady Michelle Obama and US President Barack Obama have opened up about their experiences with racial prejudice. Source: AFP

First Lady Michelle Obama laughed as she explained that most people assume she and her husband have been insulated from racial prejudice because of the “protective bubble that comes with the presidency”.

“I think people forget that we’ve lived in the White House for six years,” the first lady told PEOPLE.

“Before that, Barack Obama was a black man that lived on the South Side of Chicago, who had his share of troubles catching cabs.”

First lady Michelle Obama says she has endured racial prejudice during her life. Source: AP

“I tell this story — I mean, even as the first lady — during that wonderfully publicised trip I took to Target, not highly disguised, the only person who came up to me in the store was a woman who asked me to help her take something off a shelf. Because she didn’t see me as the first lady, she saw me as someone who could help her. Those kinds of things happen in life. So it isn’t anything new.”

President Obama also added that he too had had similar experiences.

“There’s no black male my age, who’s a professional, who hasn’t come out of a restaurant and is waiting for their car and somebody didn’t hand them their car keys,” said the president, adding that, yes, it had happened to him.

President Barack Obama says he has been mistaken for a waiter in the past. Source: AFP

Mrs. Obama recalled another incident: “He was wearing a tuxedo at a black-tie dinner, and somebody asked him to get coffee.”

Both agreed that there is more progress to be made.

“The small irritations or indignities that we experience are nothing compared to what a previous generation experienced,” President Obama said. “It’s one thing for me to be mistaken for a waiter at a gala. It’s another thing for my son to be mistaken for a robber and to be handcuffed, or worse, if he happens to be walking down the street and is dressed the way teenagers dress.”