Michelle Obama has revealed that she is undergoing therapy to help her come to terms with being an empty nester.

The wife of Barack Obama and former first lady said she was preparing for the “next phase” of her life, with the sessions including work on dealing with feelings of guilt.

“At this phase of my life, I’m in therapy right now because I’m transitioning, you know?” the mother-of-two told Jay Shetty’s On Purpose podcast.

“I’ve finished a really hard thing in my life with my family intact, I’m an empty nester, my girls are in – you know, they’ve been launched.”

Her daughters Malia, 26, and Sasha, 23, were children when their father won the presidency and both now live in Los Angeles.

Malia, who graduated from Harvard, is a writer and director whose debut short film The Heart was selected for the Sundance Film Festival last year.

‘Every choice I’m making is completely mine’

Since leaving the White House, Mrs Obama, 61, has remained politically active, speaking at last year’s Democratic National Convention in support of Kamala Harris.

She has repeatedly turned down calls for her to run for president, pointing to the strain her husband’s eight years in office had on her family.

Instead, she said, she is more focused on life outside of public service and kicking “old habits”.

“For the first time, every choice that I’m making is completely mine,” she told the British mental health podcaster.

“I now don’t have the excuse of, ‘My kids need this, my husband needs that, or the country needs that.’ So how do I think about this next phase? Let me get some help, let me unwind some old habits, let me sort through some old guilt.

“So, I’m getting that tune-up for this next phase because I believe this is a whole other phase in life for me.”