As rumors of divorce continue to swirl, Michelle Obama’s own brother, Craig Robinson, has revealed the doubts he’s had about his brother-in-law.
In an episode of their new podcast, “IMO,” Robinson recalled his first impression of Barack Obama, and it wasn’t good.
“And I’ve told this story many times about when you first started dating Barack,” Robinson said.
“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.”
“That’s not true,” Michelle Obama replied.
“I’ve had many a long-term boyfriend.”
The Obamas met at the Chicago law firm Sidley Austin.
They married in 1992 and had two daughters.
Michelle Obama has admitted to feeling conflicted about putting her personal ambitions on hold to raise a family.
“Something had to give, and it was my aspirations and dreams,” she confessed in her 2020 documentary “Becoming.”
“I made that concession, not because he said, ‘You have to quit your job.’
“It felt like, ‘I can’t do all of this. So I have to tone down my aspirations. I have to dial it back.'”
The former first lady has also revealed she’s been using marriage counseling to work through rough patches.
Her husband recently acknowledged that their marriage was in a “deficit” after years spent in public life.
Rumors of divorce began swirling in January after Michelle skipped two high-profile events, Jimmy Carter’s funeral and President Trump’s inauguration.
After weeks of dodging the speculation, Michelle Obama dismissed the chatter in a podcast appearance with actress Sophia Bush.
However, she stopped short of denying the rumors.
Instead, she only complained that people are talking about her marriage.
“And that’s the thing that we as women struggle with — disappointing people,” she said.
“So much so that people, 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.”
In the same interview, Obama said she felt liberated to put herself first and “make some big girl decisions.”
“Now is the time for me to start asking myself these hard questions of, ‘Who do I truly want to be every day?’ And that changes,” she said.
“So, who do I want to have a lunch with?
“How long do I want to stay in a place?
“Do I want to travel?
“If a girlfriend calls and says, ‘Let’s go here,’ I can say, ‘Yes, I can.’
“And I’m trying to do that more and more.”
READ MORE – Michelle Obama Responds to Divorce Rumors, Stops Short of Denying They’re True
