Michelle Obama and Eric Holder's wife bonded over being 'reluctant spouses' to famous men
As former first lady Michelle Obama tells it, it's not easy being married to a famous man, describing people "spilling water" on her while trying to reach her husband.
Both Obama and her guest, OB-GYN Dr. Sharon Malone, who joined the podcast that Obama co-hosts with her brother, "IMO with Michelle Obama & Craig Robinson," discussed the challenges of being married to famous men on Wednesday.
Malone's husband is former Attorney General Eric Holder, who was the 82nd attorney general of the United States from 2009 to 2015 under former President Barack Obama.
Michelle Obama recounted the first time she met Malone during an event.
"They put us together because we were both reluctant spouses attending one of these huge dinners," Obama said. "And what, where were they… was Barack a U.S. senator?"
"Yes, he was a senator because you, you were still living in Chicago and Eric was in private practice," Malone said. "So it was just it was very early days."
Michelle Obama said the experience was overwhelming.
"There was a line of people waiting to shake hands with our respective husbands," she said. "You know, people, like, reaching over our heads and spilling water on us, trying to get to these two, you know, illustrious men."
Obama said that she saw Malone across the table and felt a kindred spirit, saying, "She had the same look on her face as I did, like, 'Here we go.'"
She added that they exchanged a look that said, "You see this? Like, this is crazy, isn't it, girl?" They soon became friends.
Obama also spoke about "the fight to protect women's reproductive health" beyond abortion.
"Sadly, it has been reduced to 'choice,'" Obama said. "The question of 'choice.' And it's as if that's all of what women's health is. That's the only thing. And as I attempted to make the argument on the campaign trail, this past election, was that there's just so much more at stake."
She also called out men for not knowing enough about women's reproductive health.
"So many men have no idea about what women go through, right," Obama said. "We haven't been researched. We haven't been considered. And it still affects the way a lot of male lawmakers, a lot of male politicians, a lot of male religious leaders, think about the issue of choice, as if it's just about the fetus, the baby, but women's reproductive health is about our life."
"This whole complicated reproductive system that does - the least of what it does is produce life," Obama said. "It's a very important thing that it does. But you only produce life if the machine that's producing it … is functioning in a healthy, streamlined kind of way. But there is no discussion or apparent connection between the two."
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