Michelle Obama’s latest entry into the podcast lane is off to a rocky start and has done little to put the kibosh on the rumors about her marriage.
The former first lady dropped the first two episodes of the IMO (a.k.a. in my opinion) podcast with her co-host and older brother Craig Robinson last week, and the show appears to be off to a slow start in the ratings department. Those who have listened, however, were treated to some very candid revelations about how Michelle viewed Barack Obama’s presidential ambitions and their dynamic at home.
On Monday’s show, Megyn was joined by Glenn Greenwald, host of Rumble’s System Update, to discuss Obama’s latest venture and why it is stumbling out of the gate.
Initial Ratings
Most podcasts are not overnight sensations, but most podcasts are also not hosted by popular former first ladies who are currently in the headlines for their notable absence from the public stage in recent months.
That is what makes the early ratings – or lack thereof – of IMO with Michelle Obama & Craig Robinson all the more surprising. In the initial 24 hours after premiering last Wednesday, the podcast’s first episode received just under 44,000 views and the second, which featured an interview with Issa Rae, had racked up a mere 14,000.
For comparison, Obama’s eponymous podcast, The Michelle Obama Podcast, was reportedly the most successful original program in Spotify history – bringing in more female listeners over 40 than any other podcast – when it debuted in 2020.
On Being First Lady
Not hindered by the ratings? The headlines, which came fast and furious after Obama shed some new light on how she viewed her time in the White House and what life is like now.
In episode one, Obama and Robinson discussed how he had to step in on behalf of the future president to get her onboard with his run for office. Here’s a bit the exchange:
OBAMA: …And I wouldn’t have gotten through eight years in the White House without my big brother. And that’s another sort of unusual aspect to our lives, our relationship was this whole, you know, being married to the president of the United States thing that none of us kind of banked on. I mean, we, we knew Barack was smart and, you know, ambitious, but, you know, I think– but you, you talked me into supporting his run
ROBINSON: I did. I did.
OBAMA: And he was smart enough to know that he needed to come to you and sell you on the idea…
ROBINSON: Barack came to me and he’s like, you know, ‘I can’t convince your sister to go along with this.’ And I’m like, ‘Whoa, whoa. Go along with what?’ He’s like, ‘I think I’m gonna run for president.’ I was like, ‘What?’… I convinced you to not penalize him for being really good at what he does…
“It is very clear she hated being first lady; she hated being in Washington; she doesn’t like the fact that Barack was president,” Megyn noted. “She just has nothing but negative things to say… She doesn’t openly get caustic, but she makes it pretty clear that this has never been a good idea in her mind.”
While Greenwald was sympathetic to why Obama may not have been thrilled with the idea of the public scrutiny, loss of privacy, and all that comes with being the First Family, he said she also didn’t seem to mind the “immense benefits” it afforded her.
“She seemed, at times, to enjoy it. She was kind of very regal and, one might say, queen-like in her behavior,” he explained. “Both of them got extremely rich. They spend most of their time on Richard Branson’s yacht, or in Martha’s Vineyard at their sprawling estate, or in their multi million dollar D.C. townhouse. So this kind of like, ‘I wasn’t sure,’ ‘I wouldn’t want this’ seems unconvincing to me in a lot of ways.”
And then there is what Obama had to say about her husband. “That does not sound like somebody who is in favor of his run for president or, frankly, in favor of him,” Megyn added. “He was smart and ambitious? That is why you thought that your spouse was going to run for and possibly become president… She wasn’t buying it, and it doesn’t sound like she buys it to this day.”
On Being Married
That wasn’t all. There was an anecdote about the former president golfing that didn’t paint him in the best light, and Megyn said her team pulled “10 other clips” from the first two episodes that had a similar feel. “None of them sound to me like a person who looks at the husband with any sort of stars in the eyes still,” she said. “And it is possible decades into marriage – I can attest to that – to still have stars in your eyes for your loved one.”
Given all that has transpired in recent months with Obama missing Jimmy Carter’s funeral, and skipping Donald Trump’s inauguration, and not being spotted with her husband and daughters at a dinner in Los Angeles earlier this month, Megyn is surprised the former first lady didn’t dial back the talk about her husband. “She still sounds bitter even knowing that there are divorce rumors and she is not showing up for him,” Megyn explained. “If it were me, I would say something nice about him.”
When you look at the martial rumors that have swirled around the Clintons and Trumps over the years, Greenwald said he has learned better than to speculate about political unions. Even so, he would have handled the podcast differently. “I can’t imagine going on a podcast publicly and talking about… these kind of complaints about your husband and not in a light, humorous way,” he said. “That is pretty intimate and pretty deep about what she seems to find unsatisfying about her marriage to Barack Obama in a way that just makes me uncomfortable.”
“That is the sort of thing that you work on with a marriage counselor or in therapy,” Greenwald concluded. “Why is she saying so much that is so very negative?”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Greenwald by tuning in to episode 1,028 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.