Michelle Obama joked about Barack Obama being “not financially sound” when they first met, following months of rumors about their relationship.
The Obamas met in 1988 when the future president took a summer job at a law firm in Chicago where Michelle was already working.
In a recent episode of the podcast she hosts with her brother Craig, the former first lady spent much of the conversation discussing the importance of having a partner with financial stability.
During a conversation with Jay Shetty—a British author, life coach, and former monk who frequently interviews A-list celebrities on his podcast—Craig eventually asked his famous sister the question directly.
“Would you be attracted to a guy who’s not financially sound when you meet him?” Craig asked. “Uh, I married one,” Michelle responded, per the DailyMail.com.
Robinson, a former college basketball coach, laughed and confessed to his sister that he had set her up.
“Don’t you like that alley-oop I just threw you? In basketball, you just point, you don’t even have to say it,” he said.
She then turned more serious and acknowledged that her new love had empowered her to take a chance on herself.
“I left my corporate firm when I met Barack. I had somebody who was like, ‘I got your back. The risks you think you’re taking, they aren’t that crazy, and I’m here to help you,’” she said.
“That’s when I said, ‘I would rather have that in a partner than a higher income. I would rather have somebody who is ready to do some hard things with me.’ But that meant I had to be ready to do some hard things with him,” Michelle continued.
The couple, who met as young lawyers at the same Chicago firm in 1989, celebrated their 32nd wedding anniversary in October. They delighted their social media followers by sharing a photo of themselves embracing at a museum in New York.
Meanwhile, Barack Obama “lacked confidence” in Kamala Harris’s ability to defeat Donald Trump in the 2024 election and quietly “worked behind the scenes” to orchestrate a “mini-primary” following then-President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the race, according to a new book.
The book FIGHT: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House reveals the turmoil within the Democratic Party as it scrambled to find a replacement for Joe Biden, offering the surprising revelation that Obama did not want Harris to be the nominee.
The reporting reveals a deep sense of skepticism at the highest levels of the Democratic establishment, despite Obama ultimately endorsing Harris five days after Biden handed her the reins.
NBC political reporter Jonathan Allen, who co-wrote the book with The Hill’s senior correspondent Amie Parnes, said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe Tuesday that sources told them Obama “didn’t think that she was the best choice for Democrats” and instead pushed for an open convention.
“So President Obama absolutely did not think that Joe Biden should continue, according to our sources close to President Obama. And he also didn’t want Kamala Harris to be the replacement for Biden. He didn’t think that she was the best choice for Democrats,” Allen said. “And he worked really behind the scenes for a long time to try to have a mini primary or an open convention or mini primary leading to an open convention. He did not have faith in her ability to win the election.
“So, and as it turned out, she didn’t win, but he was really working against her,” Allen continued.
“In one moment, he had set up a phone call with Congressman [Jim] Clyburn from South Carolina on the day that Joe Biden handed off the baton to Kamala Harris, and Obama had set up a call with Clyburn for like 5:30 that afternoon,” the co-author continued.