This is how Barack Obama thanked Michelle in farewell speech; her response is equally touching

Michelle Obama, dressed all in black, was sitting in the front row along with her youngest daughter Malia and her mother. She received standing ovation as Barack Obama thanked her.

Illinois: An emotional Barack Obama on Tuesday used his farewell speech to thank his teenage daughters and wife Michelle for the sacrifices she made for his political dreams.

The US President wiped away tears as he described Michelle Obama as his "best friend” in front of thousands of his supporters.

Speaking at the emotional close of a farewell address in his adoptive city of Chicago, Obama said: "Michelle LaVaughn Robinson, girl of the south side, for the past 25 years, you have not only been my wife and mother of my children, you have been my best friend”.

The First Lady, dressed all in black, was sitting in the front row along with her youngest daughter Malia and her mother. She received standing ovation as Obama thanked her.

"You took on a role you didn't ask for and made it your own with grace and grit, and style and good humour. You made the White House a place that belongs to everybody,” Obama said.

"And a new generation sets its sights higher because it has you as a role model. You`ve made me proud. You've made the country proud," said the outgoing US President.

Responding to him, Michelle later took to Twitter to express her feelings.

“So proud of @POTUS and all that we've accomplished together. An incredible journey filled with remarkable people. I love you Barack. -mo,” she wrote.

In Chicago, Obama also thanked his daughters Sasha and Malia. While 18-year-old Malia was there to hear her father`s farewell speech, her 15-year-old sister Sasha was not.

"Malia and Sasha, under the strangest of circumstances, you have become two amazing young women, smart and beautiful, but more importantly, kind and thoughtful and full of passion," he said.

"You wore the burden of years in the spotlight so easily. Of all that I`ve done in my life, I'm most proud to be your dad," Obama said.

Malia, dressed in black-and-white, was seen frequently trying to stop tears flowing down her cheeks.

A White House official said Sasha stayed back in the capital Washington to prepare for a school exam in the morning.

This is what Michelle Obama tweeted:

It was in Chicago that the Obamas met, that their daughters were born, and as the president put it in a Facebook post ahead of the speech, "for Michelle and me, Chicago is where it all started."