Michelle Obama Reveals the One Thing That Made Her Fall in Love With Barack Obama

Former President and First Lady Barack and Michelle Obama talk about the beginning of their relationship and their vision for their daughters' future

By Cydney Contreras Jul 29, 2020 8:28 PMTags
Michelle Obama, Barack ObamaKevin Dietsch/CNP via ZUMA Wire

Michelle Obama launched her eponymous podcast this week and her first guest is none other than former President Barack Obama.

They've previously talked about the beginning of their relationship, which inspired the movie Southside With You, but for the inaugural episode of The Michelle Obama Podcast they discussed what made them fall in love with one another. 

As Michelle explains it, it was Barack's sense of community that had her head over heels for the young lawyer, as she felt that she could relate to him. "One of the reasons I fell in love with you is because you are guided by the principle that we are each other's brothers' and sisters' keepers. And that's how I was raised," she says. "I can say that my family, my neighborhood, my notions of community growing up shaped that view, and shaped the choices that I made in life as I felt your experiences shape yours."

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Malia Obama and Sasha Obama Over the Years

Barack, who was known to tell a joke or two in his presidential speeches, quips, "It wasn't just my looks. But that's okay."

Witty remarks like these are a dime a dozen in their 49-minute talk. When the former First Lady says they've been "spending a lot of time together in quarantine," her husband replies, "You don't seem too happy about that."

However, let the record show Michelle was stating a "fact." She laughs, "There wasn't a judgement."

The Becoming author adds that it's because of their time together they've been able to talk about their shared vision of the future. "We've had a great time. We've had some interesting conversations because these are some crazy times... We've spent a lot of time talking about how our views of community shape who we are, shape our choices and shape our reactions," she shares.

Pete Souza/White House via Getty Images

From those talks Barack says they've come to realize, "When you and I think about what's the inheritance we'd like to leave Malia and Sasha [Obama], more than anything what it would be is that they're living in a country that respects everybody and looks after everybody. Celebrates and sees everybody. Because we know that if we're not around, that those girls are in a society like that. They'll be fine."