Michelle Obama Opens Up About Her Pet Peeves About Her Husband: ‘Is He Trifling?’

Baila Eve ZismanMarch 14, 2025, 11:47 pmNews >

In the premiere of Michelle Obama’s podcast IMO with Michelle Obama & Craig Robinson, the former first lady shared a pet peeve about her husband Barack Obama.

Obama told her brother and co-host Craig Robinson, “Barack, you know, he had to adjust to what ‘on time’ was for me.”

“Because he was on that island time,” Robinson remarked.

The two had spoken about their family’s emphasis on punctuality growing up, and the essential importance of time management; “To this day, I don’t do late,” Obama said.

“Not in the Robinson household,” her brother quipped. “On time is late. Early is on time.”

Obama recounted how Barack always started to get ready for events when they were supposed to be walking out the door.

“You know, I’ve got this husband who’s like, when it’s time to leave, it’s three, he’s getting up and going to the bathroom. And I was like, dude, dude, a three o’clock departure means you’ve done all that, you know? It’s like, don’t start looking for your glasses, you know, at the three o’clock departure.”

She acknowledged, “He’s improved over 30 years of marriage, but that was a ‘You must adjust.’”

She also noted that her daughters have learned to be early to any engagement with their mother. “And Malia and Sasha, if they’re doing anything with me, they are early,” she said. “They’ve learned how to snap to it.”

Obama previously shared she had reservations about Barack due to his poor time management; in a 2018 interview, she remembered how he was late when they first met at a Chicago law firm in 1989. She recounted, “I was like, is he trifling? The black man’s going to be late on the first day? I was like, ‘Um.’”

Obama and Robinson’s new weekly podcast is set to cover topics ranging from entertainment, politics, health, sports and business, featuring guests related to the segments. According to a press release, the podcast will focus on “everyday questions shaping our lives, relationships and the world around us.”

Promoting the podcast on Instagram, Obama shared, “There’s a lot going on in the world right now. We’re living through some really complicated and confusing times and on top of that, folks are trying to juggle family life, work dynamics, relationships, aging parents, and more. That’s why my brother @CraigMalRob and I are launching our new podcast — @IMOPodcasts with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson.”