Michelle Obama gets warm Detroit welcome to talk 'Becoming'

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The Motor City gave Michelle Obama a roaring welcome Tuesday night.

The former first lady drew a packed house at Little Caesars Arena as she crisscrossed the country to promote her book, "Becoming."

It's already sold three million copies and is now the fastest selling non-fiction book in history.

"For folks to really understand me, they need to know my whole story," Obama said. "And they needed to know the context of my life and I think that's true for all of us, I mean one of the things that we get to do with each other is that we don't understand each other in our context. 

"We see the superficial, we see each other through stats, skin color, and race and party and that tells us nothing about each other."

Women from across the state descended on downtown Detroit to hear Michelle Obama dish on life in the white house and hard-won wisdom birthed on the Southside of Chicago and put on display in Washington DC.

"The most powerful part of my story is not the eight years I was first lady," Obama said. "That is not the thing that is resonating with people. It is the fifty-some odd years of all that growth and I want young kids to understand that's what makes them special. It's that struggle, it's that climb, it's the journey to become. 

"It's not when you arrive at something and that's the end.  It's that whole journey and you should own it with pride."

WATCH: Michelle Obama surprises students at Motown Museum in Detroit

Her words both written and spoken resonated with so many.

"It is a once in lifetime opportunity to listen to her speak," said Barb Seiler.

"I love everything about her, I have a lot of respect for that woman, for her background, for how she has conducted herself through all kinds of negative things that should not have happened to her," said Jeanne Grabner.

"She is such an inspiration as you know," said Kelly Williams. "She is an inspiration for all, for everyone."

This family represents four generations of Michelle Obama admirers.

"She makes me so proud I feel like she could be one of my daughters, one of my granddaughters," said Jean Montgomery. 

FOX 2: "What do you want your great-granddaughter to learn from Michelle Obama?"

"That she can be anybody she wants to be, she can do anything that she wants to do," Montgomery said. "She knows that because we've instilled that in her."