Michelle Obama’s older brother had reservations about Barack when they first started dating and didn’t think the relationship would last long, he’s revealed.
In Wednesday’s episode of the IMO podcast with Michelle and her brother Craig Robinson, he shared his first impression of the former president.
“So Mich starts to date Barack, and we don’t know who this guy is, we’re just like, ‘Barack? Who’s got a name like Barack?’” he said. “And I’m thinking it’s gonna last a month like most of your relationships.”
Michelle then chimed in to defend herself, telling her brother, “That’s not true. I’ve had many a long-term boyfriend.”
“I wouldn’t call those guys boyfriends,” Craig replied.
Eventually, Barack was introduced to the pair’s mother, Miriam Robinson, who had her own initial impression of him. “I remember mom’s first thing was, ‘Oh, at least he’s tall!’” Craig recalled.
“That was her first thing she said, because Mich was usually posting up her other boyfriends.”
However, Craig still didn’t think he would be seeing much more of Barack, as he recalled thinking to himself after his interaction with their mother, “Too bad it’s not going to last.”
Michelle and Barack went on to get married in 1992 and welcome two daughters — Malia, 26, and Sasha, 23.
Earlier this year, the couple sparked divorce rumors when Barack attended former President Jimmy Carter’s funeral without his wife in January, and then Michelle confirmed she wouldn’t attend Donald Trump’s second presidential inauguration days later.
Last week, Michelle spoke up about the rumors while appearing on an episode of Sophia Bush’s Work in Progress podcast.
“The interesting thing is that, when I say ‘no,’ for the most part people are like, ‘I get it, and I’m OK,’” Michelle said.
“That’s the thing that we as women, I think we struggle with disappointing people. I mean, so much so that this year people couldn’t even fathom that I was making a choice for myself that they had to assume that my husband and I are divorcing.”
“This couldn’t be a grown woman just making a set of decisions for herself, right?” she added. “But that’s what society does to us. We start actually, finally going, ‘What am I doing? Who am I doing this for?’ And if it doesn’t fit into the sort of stereotype of what people think we should do, then it gets labeled as something negative and horrible.”
Michelle’s remarks came days after Barack made a candid revelation about their relationship. During a talk at Hamilton College on April 3, he explained how his presidency affected his marriage of 32 years.
“I was in a deep deficit with my wife,” he said. “I’ve been trying to dig myself out of that hole by doing occasionally fun things.”
