Washington, June 27: US First Lady Michelle Obama said her meeting with former South African president Nelson Mandela was a "surreal experience".

During an interview, Michelle described her meeting with 92-year-old Mandela and his family as “surreal,” “powerful” and “sort of like Thanksgiving dinner,” Politico reports.

“I told him you cannot imagine how important your legacy is to who I am, to who my husband is, I just said thank you, thank you, thank you,” Michelle said when asked what she said to Mandela, who led South Africa from the yoke of racial apartheid to become its first black president.

During her tour of South Africa and Botswana, Obama spoke of empowering youth, women and community leaders, and told large audiences of America’s own civil rights struggle.

She also talked of the US role in the fight against AIDS, hunger and poverty across Africa. (ANI)