Tracee Ellis Ross Personally Asked Michelle Obama to Cameo in Black-ish Season 8 Premiere

Rob Latour/Shutterstock; NAACP via Getty Images

Tracee Ellis Ross has revealed how former First Lady Michelle Obama's appearance in the premiere episode of Black-ish's final season came to be.

Ross, 49, stars on the sitcom as Rainbow "Bow" Johnson, the matriarch of an upper-class Black family living in Los Angeles. The ABC series, which also features Anthony Anderson, Yara Shahidi, Marsai Martin, Marcus Scribner, Miles Brown, Jenifer Lewis and Laurence Fishburne, will air its season 8 premiere on Tuesday.

During a recent interview with WSJ. Magazine, Ross shared that she was the one who reached out to Obama, 57, to see if she would be a part of the upcoming episode.

For more on the final season of Black-ish, listen below to our daily podcast on PEOPLE Every Day.

"It was wonderful," Ross said of filming with Obama. "She and I are friends. It was a phone call I made. We got to do really important subject matter that's mixed in with fun, so it's receivable."

RELATED: Look Back at the Black-ish Cast's Cutest Moments Ahead of the Final Season

abc

RELATED: Tracee Ellis Ross Tells Today's Jill Martin She's 'Absolutely Going to Steal Stuff' from Black-ish Set

"We had a ball," she added. "It felt really fun to show off what a well-oiled machine our show is."

Ross also noted that the Kenya Barris-created series began around the time that Obama and her husband, former President Barack Obama, moved into the White House.

"It felt really fun to welcome someone so special who's been so important in our world, in our culture, in the kinds of stories we told on Black-ish," she said.

abc

Obama will appear in Tuesday's episode as an unexpected guest at a fundraising event that Bow convinces husband Dre (Anderson) to attend in hopes of making some new friends, even though he is "convinced there will be nothing but dud husbands there to befriend," according to the episode description.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

"Their expectations are far exceeded when the special guest for the evening is none other than Michelle Obama. To their surprise, the former first lady accepts an invitation for dinner at their house. But on the evening of the special meal, the rest of the Johnsons want to crash the occasion," the logline reads.

RELATED: Black-ish to End After Upcoming Season 8: 'Exciting and Bittersweet,' Creator Kenya Barris Says

The show first announced Obama's appearance back in October. At the time, Ross posted about the news on her Instagram Story: "We will have the glorious @michelleobama as our guest!!! THATS HOW YOU CLOSE OUT AN EPIC 8 years."

Obama also shared a note on her own Instagram page. "I've long been a fan of @blackishabc's wit and all-around brilliance, and it was such a thrill to join in for an episode. I can't wait for you all to see it!" she wrote.

Season 8 of black-ish premieres Tuesday (9:30 p.m. ET) on ABC.