‘He would've been a Barack' – Michelle Obama on why she is ‘glad' she didn't have a son

Irish Independent

21-06-2025

Speaking on her IMO podcast alongside her brother Craig Robinson and radio host Angie Martinez, Ms Obama was discussing the challenges of raising boys in today's society.
'I'm so glad I didn't have a boy,' she said.
When Ms Martinez asked why she and her husband, former president Barack Obama, did not try for a son after having her two daughters, Sasha and Malia, Ms Obama replied: 'Because he would've been a Barack Obama.'
Mr Robinson, the current executive director of the National Association of Basketball Coaches, said his sister and her husband 'just borrowed our boys', referring to the children he has had from his two marriages.
Mr Obama, who was the first black person to serve as America's president, was named after his father, Barack Hussein Obama.
Mr Obama Sr was a Kenyan economist and government official who met his wife, anthropologist Stanley Ann Dunham, while they were both studying at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in the 1960s.
Barack and Michelle Obama have been the subject of divorce rumours for several months following Michelle's absence from a handful of high-profile events at the start of the year, including former president Jimmy Carter's funeral and president Donald Trump's inauguration.
She spoke about her decision to skip the events in an episode of IMO last April.
They had to assume that my marriage was falling apart
'My decision to skip the inauguration, what people don't realize, or my decision to make choices at the beginning of this year that suited me were met with such ridicule and criticism,' she said.
'People couldn't believe that I was saying no for any other reason, that they had to assume that my marriage was falling apart, you know.'
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She reiterated that she did not go to Mr Trump's inauguration because it was the best decision for her.
'I'm here really trying to own my life and intentionally practice making the choice that was right for me,' she said.
'And it took everything in my power to not do the thing that was right, or that was perceived as right, but do the thing that was right for me. That was a hard thing for me to do.'
Ms Obama also spoke about the divorce rumours during an appearance on Sophia Bush's Work in Progress podcast earlier in April.
'The interesting thing is that, when I say 'no,' for the most part people are like, 'I get it, and I'm OK,'' she said.
'That's the thing that we as women, I think we struggle with disappointing people.
'I mean, so much so that this year people couldn't even fathom that I was making a choice for myself that they had to assume that my husband and I are divorcing.
'This couldn't be a grown woman just making a set of decisions for herself, right?' she added.
'But 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 labelled as something negative and horrible.'