Michelle Obama says when it comes to giving advice to her daughters about dating, her bottom line is all about getting out there — and often.
During a recent episode of the “IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson” podcast, the 61-year-old spoke with her brother about today’s dating scene and finding a perfect match. While covering a range of topics — from overcoming dating fears to the art of flirting and marriage — she didn’t hold back on the advice she gives her daughters, 27-year-old Malia and 24-year-old Sasha, in hopes it will help them navigate dating with confidence.
“I just try to get them to stay open to people,” she explained. “The thing that I did do was date a lot. And so when Barack showed up, I had experiences to compare him against. I knew a lot of (how) I didn’t like this. I didn’t like that.”
The former first lady added that she and her husband normalize dating by speaking with their daughters about their romantic history.
“We try to sort of educate the girls by sharing our experiences,” she continued. “So my whole thing is date. Date a lot, and if you run into a bad date or have a bad experience, move on quickly.”
Michelle Obama explained that her advice is largely shaped by her own path to finding love with the former president.
She met Barack Obama as a first-year associate at a Chicago law firm. At the time, Barack Obama was a Harvard law student working at there as an intern. Michelle Obama had been assigned to be his advisor and explained during the podcast that at the time, she was in the mindset of not dating at all. That decision was reinforced by the first impression Barack Obama left even before they’d met in person. According to Michelle Obama, Barack Obama had already made a big impression among the law firm’s partners, a detail she assumed meant he had to be a “nerd.”
“I had this image of, kind of this nerdy guy,” she explained, adding that she felt a spark of attraction while speaking to him on the phone. “The voice was sexier than the image that I had about him, so I was sort of like, ‘Ooh. I didn’t expect this.”
Barack Obama made an appearance on his wife Michelle’s podcast “IMO” and wasted no time cracking jokes about their rumored breakup.
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