COUPLESMichelle Obama Admits She Felt 'Sparks' With Barack While Talking on the Phone Before They Ever Met in Person
Michelle and Barack Obama married in 1992.
Aug. 6 2025, Published 3:03 p.m. ET
Michelle Obama spilled some details on how her and husband Barack's romance began, admitting she was hesitant when he first asked her on a date.
The former first lady revealed on her "IMO" podcast that at the time, the couple were both working at the same law firm.
Michelle and Barack Obama's First Phone Call
Michelle Obama felt a spark the first time she talked to Barack on the phone.
Michelle, 61, admitted she had the "first sparky feeling" when they talked on the phone before meeting in person.
"He had his Barack Obama voice. The voice was sexier than the image I had," she confessed. "I was like, ‘Ooh, I didn’t expect this.’ And he was older and self-assured."
Her interest got stronger when they were in the office. "He stands up. He’s tall. And he’s much cuter than his picture," the mom-of-two recalled. "So I was pleasantly surprised that he was attractive. He was kind of cool in a way I didn’t expect."
The former first lady admitted she was attracted to Barack's voice.
She felt another "hint of a spark" when they had lunch together, but she "ruled out" the idea of dating him, as she thought it would be "inappropriate" since she was his adviser.
After becoming good friends, the former president eventually asked her out, telling her, "You’re cute, you’re cool. Why not? Who cares what the firm thinks? It’s just a firm. And this is our business."
It took a few weeks for Michelle to accept the invite.
"I could have missed my dream guy. He was right in front of me and I was convincing myself, even against his efforts, that we shouldn’t go out," she said. "Long story short, I gave in."
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Michelle thought it may be 'inappropriate' for the two to date since they worked at the same law firm.
Divorce rumors began swirling earlier this year after Barack attended a few events without his spouse, but she confirmed on another podcast that the gossip wasn't true.
“The fact that people don’t see me going out on a date with my husband sparks rumors of the end of our marriage,” she told Rachel Martin on the “Wild Card” podcast. “It’s like, ‘OK, so we don’t Instagram every minute of our lives.’ We are 60. We’re 60, y’all. You just are not gonna know what we’re doing every minute of the day.”
Michelle Shuts Down Divorce Rumors
Michelle denied divorce rumors after her husband went solo to Donald Trump's inauguration.
“One of the major decisions I made this year was to stay put and not attend funerals and inaugurations and all the things that I’m supposed to attend,” she explained of why she didn't accompany her husband on the outings. "That was a part of me using my ambition to say, ‘Let me define what I want to do, apart from what I’m supposed to do, what the world expects of me.’ And I have to own that."
