WATCH | Ellen DeGeneres' Emotional Video Tribute to Barack and Michelle Oabama

Ellen DeGeneres paid a heartwarming tribute to now former President of the United States, Barack Obama in a 5- minute long video she published on YouTube on Obama's last day of holding office.

In the video, Ellen can be seen thanking Mr. Obama for standing up for the LGBT rights when in power, saying, "“I am a happily married woman because of him. And so is my wife!”

During his time in office, Mr. Obama had visited The Ellen Show twice, besides appearing in several live link- ups with the show. 

The video also shows Ellen engaged in various hilarious moments with Michelle Obama including the time when Mrs. Obama went shopping with the talk show host and the latter took a megaphone to ask an entire store if they had a cream for the First Lady's rash.

Earlier, Mr. Obama had called Ellen a "role model" for coming out openly as a lesbian in the late '90's. During the Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony, the former president also said that Ellen "reminds us that we have more in common than we realise”.

He then continued to say, “It’s easy to forget now, when we’ve come so far, where now marriage is equal under the law, just how much courage was required for Ellen to come out on the most public of stages almost 20 years ago. Just how important it was, not just to the LGBT community, but for all of us to see somebody so full of kindness and light, somebody we liked so much, somebody who could be our neighbor, or our colleague, or our sister, challenge our own assumptions. Remind us that we have more in common than we realize. Push our country in the direction of justice. 

“What an incredible burden that was to bear, to risk your career like that.”

Barack Obama ended his term as President of the United States on 20th January, 2017 at 12 PM, Washington D.C time.

Obama Surprises Joe Biden With Presidential Medal of Freedom

In a surprise ceremony in the East Room of the White House, President Obama surprised Vice President Joe Biden by bestowing upon him America's highest civilian honour- The Presidential Medal of Freedom. 

Having invited Biden and his wife, Jill, to the White House for a private farewell, Obama instead brought him to a room where his friends, family and colleagues had gathered to witness the honouring ceremony. 

Moreover, for the first time, the outgoing president awarded the medal to Biden with distinction, an added level of veneration which had been reserved for recipients like Pope John Paul II and Colin L. Powell, the former secretary of state by previous presidents.

The ceremony saw Mr. Biden seemingly breaking down, turning his back to the audience to console himself, and pulling out a handkerchief, as the president called up a military aide to read the proclamation. However, once Mr. Obama hung the medal around the his neck, he cried openly. 

President Obama bestows the Presidential Medal of Honour upon Vice President Joe Biden
Credit: CNN

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden wipes his eyes as Preident Barack Obama presents him with Medal of Freedom
Credit: Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images

In the address that followed, Vice President Biden hurled a joke towards Steve Ricchetti, his chief of staff, saying, "Ricchetti, you’re fired! I had no inkling." Later, speaking of Mr. Obama, he said that he had never met anyone who had "the integrity and the decency and the sense of other people’s needs like you do." He also added, "Mr. President, you got right the part about my leaning on Jill,” referring to the president’s remarks about the couple’s love. "But I’ve also leaned on you and a lot of people in this room."

The ceremony is being seen as an emotional conclusion of a partnership, the success of which was deemed to be improbable and unlikely when in 2008 Barack Obama asked his former presidential rival to be his running mate. In the eight years that followed, the two men became not just the best of friends, but "brothers", as president Obama would like to put it.

Also read: Barrack Obama Bids Farewell With Emotional Speech