Michelle Obama‘s brother Craig Robinson said in a new episode of their IMO podcast that he didn’t think her relationship with Barack Obama would last more than a month.
Obama and Robinson put out an episode dealing with dating, alongside special guest Tracee Ellis Ross.
The episode comes as Obama has tried to calm divorce rumors that picked up steam after she made her husband go solo to President Jimmy Carter’s funeral and President Donald Trump‘s swearing-in.
‘I love talking about dating, because I haven’t done it in decades,’ the former first lady said at the top of the podcast.
Robinson explained that he learned from his father ‘you can really tell a person’s character by how they play pick-up basketball,’ and then recalled how his sister made him put the future president to the test.
‘And I’ve told this story many times about when you first started dating Barack. 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?” And I’m thinking it’s gonna last a month like most of your relationships,’ Robinson recalled.
Obama objected to her brother’s characterization of that: ‘That’s not true. I’ve had many a long-term boyfriend,’ she said.
‘I wouldn’t call those guys boyfriends,’ Robinson said with a laugh.
Michelle Obama’s (left) brother Craig Robinson (right) said in a new episode of their IMO podcast that he didn’t think her relationship with Barack Obama would last month than a month
‘I’m thinking it’s gonna last a month like most of your relationships,’ Craig Robinson told his sister, former first lady Michelle Obama, about the first time he met Barack
He then recounted his first meeting with Barack, recalling how his mother, the late Marian Robinson, gushed over the fact that he was tall.
‘And I said to myslef, “too bad it’s not going to last,”‘ Robinson said.
Craig Robinson (right) shared early memories of Barack on the podcast with his sister, former first lady Michelle Obama (left)
‘But the best part of it was, after we met him and she had been dating him for a little while she said, “Would you mind Craig, taking him to play?” And at first I said, “No way, I’m not going to do your ditry work for you. If he turns out to be a bad dude, I’m not going to be the one to say,”‘ Robinson recalled.
Luckily the future president could handle his own on the basketball court.
‘Obviously we had a great time playing,’ Robinson said.
‘This is what I learned,’ he continued. ‘Aside from the fact that he is tremendously left-handed so he couldn’t go right at all, most importantly, he was a team player, right? He fit in with the people.’
‘So I was able to report back to you that everything was fine and the rest was history,’ Robinson added.
Except, for months, the Obamas continue to be plagued by divorce rumors.
There have been divorce rumors tied to the fact that former President Barack Obama (pictured) went solo to the late President Jimmy Carter’s funeral and President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January
The former first lady decided to address those rumors, not on her own podcast, but on one hosted by actress Sophia Bush earlier this month.
Obama explained that her choice to skip Carter’s funeral and Trump’s inauguration were simply decisions she made for herself.
The two January events straddled her birthday and Obama remained in Hawaii while her husband traveled back to Washington.
‘That’s the thing that we as women, I think we struggle with disappointing people. I mean, so much so that this year people were, you know, they couldn’t even fathom that I was making a choice for myself that they had to assume that my husband and I are divorcing,’ Obama said.
‘That this couldn’t be a grown woman just making a set of decisions for herself, right?’ she continued.
Obama added: ‘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,’ she said.
