Michelle Obama is launching a new weekly podcast with her brother.
The podcast, titled IMO with Michelle Obama & Craig Robinson, will premiere on March 12.
“My brother @CraigMalRob and I are launching a podcast — @IMOpodcasts with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson! Along with experts and special guests, we’ll be discussing some of your questions. We hope you’ll check it out wherever you get your podcasts,” Obama wrote on X.
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“With everything going on in the world, we’re all looking for answers and people to turn to,” Obama said. “My brother Craig and I launched the IMOpodcast to create a space for people to come as they are, ask honest questions, give their opinions, and have thoughtful conversations about life. There is no single way to deal with the challenges we may be facing — whether it’s family, faith, or our personal relationships — but taking the time to open up and talk about these issues can provide hope.”
“We grew up talking through life’s big and small questions together,” Robinson, who is the executive director of the National Association of Basketball Coaches, added. “And now, we’re inviting listeners into that conversation, with the hope that it sparks new ideas, new perspectives, and creates the connection we could all use right now.”
Michelle Obama — whose husband, former President Barack Obama, said in a 2018 speech, “There’s only so much you can eat. There’s only so big a house you can have. There’s only so many nice trips you can take. I mean, it’s enough” — got paid more than $700,000 for a one-hour speech in Germany.
Michelle Obama spoke at a start-up event held near the annual Oktoberfest beer festival in September 2023; the event’s webpage said roughly 5,000 people would hear her speak about how to “push past self-doubt while discussing the importance of inclusivity and diversity.” The event organizers said Michelle Obama “topped the list” of prospective speakers for the event.
Screenshot from X
“They really pulled out all the stops to get her,” one source told The Daily Mail. “It’s one of the highest fees that they have ever paid.”
The Obamas have raked in the cash since Barack Obama left office; they agreed to a $65 million deal with Penguin for their memoirs and signed a multi-year contract with Netflix in 2018. Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos supported Obama, and his wife was Obama’s Ambassador to the Bahamas from 2009 to 2011.
Craig Robinson is the former head basketball coach at Oregon State University and Brown University.
