IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
You Should Start a Podcast with Your Sibling with Michelle and Craig
Wed, 12 Mar 2025
In a small shared bedroom in a rented house on Euclid Avenue in Chicago, Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson built a special sibling bond. In their first episode, the former First Lady and her best friend and big brother share stories about being there for each other throughout their lives, from first-crushes and fraught college years to landing at the White House and losing their mom. For six decades they’ve been each others’ most trusted counsel—and now, they want to be that counsel for you. Are you struggling with a family dilemma? Stuck in a rut you don’t know how to move through? Michelle and Craig are ready, armed with the values they learned from Marian and Fraser Robinson in that little house on the South Side. Write to Michelle and Craig to get their advice in response to questions about career, love, parenting and beyond. From the every day to the existential, Miche and Craig want to hear from you at imopod.com.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Chapter 1: What is the purpose of Michelle and Craig's podcast?
A lot of people have questions they want to know, especially when they see somebody of note with a platform who, you know, by every measure looks successful. The first question is how? I think this podcast, first and foremost, gives us an opportunity to hear from folks.
You know, we're going to be taking, you know, questions from listeners who are going through some things and just need a little advice. They want to hear from people in conversations. And folks are looking for a place where they can just... They can hear stories, you know? I mean, what I realize is like by sharing some of these stories, you know, it always taps into something from somebody else.
People... You know, they want to hear some honest kind of conversation about how people are working it through. And we don't have all the answers, you know. I mean, this show isn't about us being experts at anything other than the lives that we've lived. But what we do have are a lot of opinions.
Hence the name, In My Opinion, IMO.
This episode is brought to you by Rivian and Pinesol.
Well, I'm Craig Robinson, and you all know my sister, Michelle Obama, and we're doing this podcast together. And it's really exciting to be working with you on this project.
Some people react like, you're doing a podcast with your brother?
Why would you do that?
I know, really. But our dynamic is so, in my view, unique. I think there are plenty of siblings who have great relationships. But I think when we think back to where that came from, I think about just the physical closeness that we had. I mean, we weren't wealthy. Right. And- Dad was working class. We lived in the same apartment our whole lives and had to grow into that.
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Chapter 2: Why did Michelle and Craig start a podcast together?
I was like, I, probably to this day, I don't do late expectations.
Oh, not in the Robinson household.
Not in the Robinson household. You know, we don't do... On time is late. On time is late. Early is on time. Early is on time. That's Frasier Robinson.
And this is a guy who was, you know, for him to be on time, he had to prepare because it was hard for him to get around and get dressed.
Because our dad had a disability, yeah.
The fact that... He had a disability, didn't make him have an excuse for anything, particularly being late. So much so mom used to be mad at him because he would get ready so early.
He'd keep pushing the time of departure for a family outing. It's like, well, we're going to leave at three. And he'd sit in there at two going, well, where is everybody? And it's like, you said three.
And I would get ready earlier just to keep him company.
Well, Barack, you know, he had to adjust to what on time was for me.
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Chapter 3: How did sharing a room shape Michelle and Craig's relationship?
Right.
And we weren't allowed to be. Right. Because you were a nurturer, you were a natural on your own, a worrier, a guardian, you took on just temperamentally extra worries and responsibilities.
That's right.
Mom understood that she couldn't in any way imply to you that you were responsible for me because you would have taken that on and gone off the deep end with it. Right.
Right. I would have been your caretaker rather than your brother.
In grammar school. And I think that's another thing sometimes parents do with siblings. Like you make one responsible for the other. Mm-hmm. Now you've got a kid trying to be a parent. Mm-hmm. And that leads to nothing but resentment on both parts. If you were trying to parent me, that would have replaced the special relationship that is my brother. Yeah. Which is something very different.
I didn't need a father. I didn't need a mother. I needed a big brother.
Mm-hmm.
And so you were fully free to be that for me. And I wasn't your burden.
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