NEWSMichelle Obama 'Reprimands' Barack for This One Habit: 'My Husband Is a Bully'

Michelle and Barack Obama married in 1992.
May 29 2026, Updated 3:58 p.m. ET
Michelle Obama put husband Barack on blast as she and brother Craig Robinson interviewed Steven Spielberg on the latest episode of their "IMO" podcast.
While discussing the legendary director's upcoming film Disclosure Day, the former first lady noted the highly anticipated flick is one of the only ones Spielberg wouldn't let her spouse see before it debuts on June 12.
'He's Very Mad About That'

Michelle Obama admits she scolds her husband when he requests to be the first to see his pal Steven Spielberg's films.
"My husband is a bully to you when it comes to your movies. I always reprimand him," the Becoming author, 62, confessed. "Because you haven't let him see this one and he's very mad about that."
"He said if he wasn’t among the first to see it, he was gonna watch it only on an iPhone. And he said he wouldn’t watch it horizontally — he’d only watch it vertically," the director, 79, spilled with a chuckle of the 64-year-old's threat.
"That's not nice," Craig quipped.
"Which he knows would irritate you," the mother-of-two replied, noting that despite being snubbed, Barack did go to the movie's set.
Barack Obama Swung by the Film's Set
Barack Obama visited the 'Disclosure Day' set.
"This is the first set Barack ever visited, even though your daughter's a filmmaker, Malia! So I feel bad," Steven admitted.
Michelle told him not to worry since "she doesn't care. She will never invite us to anything she does."
"She doesn't want us around her stuff," Michelle insisted. "But he had a ball."
The Cast Was in Shock Over Barack Obama's Set Visit
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Steven Spielberg admitted his cast 'didn't know what to say' when the ex-POTUS stopped by the set.
"It was great. For my cast, it was a bit of a religious experience because in walks this iconic president. To me, he's a good friend, we know each other so well. But on the set the kids didn’t know Barack, except from what he’s done for the world and who he represents. And I have a very extroverted cast. You could hear a pin drop when he walked in," Steven recalled. "They didn't know what to say."
The director admitted he only told a few people the ex-president was stopping by.
The upcoming sci-fi flick stars Emily Blunt, Colin Firth, Eve Hewson, Josh O'Connor and Colman Domingo.
Inside the Obamas' Relationship

Michelle Obama admitted she and Barack had ten 'bad years' in their marriage.
Michelle's confession about scolding her husband comes amid her numerous confessions about enduring hardships in their marriage. Though she dismissed recent divorce rumors, she admitted they have been through a rough patch.
"We’ve been married 30 plus years. Something works. If you don’t let people know about the tough times, I think they quit too soon," she explained on a previous episode of her podcast.
"That’s why I say things like you can go through ten bad years in a 30-year marriage and that’s still great odds," she shared, referring to a previous confession in which she admitted she "couldn't stand" her spouse for a decade.

The couple has 'done the work,' Michelle Obama explained of fixing their issues.
"In any long relationship, there is going to be years, months, hours of time where things just don’t feel right," she said. "You don’t quit on it. You dig deeper. And if you don’t dig deeper, you miss all the stuff on the end."
"That's the point. It only gets better," Michelle declared. "We’ve done the work."


