Michelle Obama Defends Spanking Her 2 Kids in Jaw-Dropping Confession: 'They Should Know What It Is'

Michelle Obama is getting candid about how she approached discipline while raising her two daughters.

During the Tuesday, July 7, episode of the “IMO” podcast, which she cohosts with her brother, Craig Robinson, the siblings welcomed comedian Wanda Sykes for a conversation that eventually turned to parenting.

“Did you go through the spanking, no spanking thing?" Obama asked the Emmy-winning comedian.

Sykes shared that she and her family have a "no spanking" policy at home, though she admitted one of her children occasionally tested that rule.

“Sometimes you need more than words,” she quipped.

Obama agreed that every child responds differently to discipline, saying there isn't a one-size-fits-all approach to parenting.

"I always thought kids should know what a spanking is, because you can't threaten something they don't know, right? I had two girls, and girls are pretty bright. One little pop, and it's just like, 'Oh, that wasn't pleasant.' It wasn't pleasant for me either. It hurt me as much as it hurt them. But then it just became a good threat. 'Don't make me...' And they were like, 'Yeah, probably that's not necessary.' But I do believe that every now and then..." the former first lady explained.

Her brother then asked whether she had experienced corporal punishment growing up.

“Oh yeah, I didn’t get many. Neither of us got many. The belt, jump rope with the handles,” she replied.

Obama and her husband, former President Barack Obama, share two daughters, Malia, 28, and Sasha, 25.

Although she believed spanking had a place early on, Michelle previously revealed that she eventually decided to stop using it altogether.

“I felt silly,” she said in 2025 on her podcast. “It took a couple of spankings for me to be like, yeah, you know what, this is a little kid and the fact that I can’t think of any better way to get my point across than to smack somebody on the b---, I felt embarrassed.”

“I want to be a proponent for reinstating some of the stuff that we had,” Michelle continued. “When kids say ‘I hate my mom,' it's like, you better say that in your head, in your room. You don’t say that out loud. You know, parents are too afraid to set those kinds of boundaries. And I think that’s also part of the challenge that we’re facing in this generation.”

The author also spoke about the importance of allowing children to experience failure.

“I think nowadays a lot of parents are trying to live their kids’ lives for them so that they don’t make any mistakes and don’t feel any sense of failure which keeps them from learning,” she said. “I raised you to have some sense, to have judgment. And at some point, you’ve got to practice that, which means that I've got to let go.”