Michelle Obama is getting real — she’s deep in therapy as she navigates this next chapter of life … one where, for the first time, she comes first.

The former First Lady dished all on Jay Shetty‘s podcast, revealing that after wrapping up a huge chapter in the political spotlight — with her family intact and her grown daughters doing their own thing — she’s finally making choices just for her. And yep, she’s leaning on therapy to help figure it all out.

Michelle really drove home how crucial therapy is, comparing it to coaching — and said it was cool having an objective person to talk to, someone to help her untangle old habits and finally sort through years of built-up guilt.

So yeah, looks like Michelle’s all about putting herself first these days — which totally explains why she hasn’t been front and center with Barack at his official events lately.

In fact, she took such a back seat that divorce rumors started flying — but Michelle stayed solid in her relationship, and most importantly, grounded in herself.