Michelle Obama Fought The 'First Sparky Kind of Feeling' When She Met 'Attractive' Barack Obama — Details

When the future first lady was assigned to mentor the confident law student at a Chicago firm, her plans to avoid romance quietly started to come undone.

On the August 6, 2025, episode of "IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson," Michelle Obama revealed how she first met Barack Obama in the summer of 1989. She described being skeptical of the buzz around him, puzzled by his background, and unmoved by his photo until his voice on the phone caught her off guard.

In the latest installment of their podcast, Michelle and her brother discussed modern dating, including how sparks can fade and why slow burn lasts longer. A few minutes into the hour-long video, Craig asked her what happened when she first met the person who would become her husband and the 44th President of the United States.

Michelle began by explaining that she was a first-year associate at a Chicago law firm. Although Barack was older than her, he had taken some time off and had just finished his first year of law school at Harvard at that point.

Law school students typically intern at important law firms during the summer, and Michelle was assigned to the Harvard recruiting team.

"I knew of him. This Barack Obama, and everybody was abuzz about him," the former first lady said. "All the partners on the Harvard recruiting team were talking about this hotshot first-year Harvard Law student who was brilliant."

However, Michelle was unimpressed by his profile, his name, and the fact that he grew up in Hawaii. She even thought he would be "weird" because he was "a nerd." Still, he became her advisee, so she needed to schedule a phone call. That's when the magic began.

"The first kind of sparky feeling I felt actually was when I talked to him on the phone," Michelle confessed. "He had his Barack Obama voice. He's like, 'Hello.' The voice was sexier than the image that I had about him. So I was sort of like, 'Ooh, I didn't expect this.' And he was older, so he was self-assured."

The former first lady admitted that their phone conversation was great, but she still didn't feel anything at that point since all she had seen was a profile picture, which she said wasn't "great."

Also, Barack was late on his first day at the law firm, and by then, any spark Michelle had felt had faded. However, that began to change when she walked into the reception hall, where he was waiting.

"He stands up. He is tall, right? And he's cute," she said. "He was much cuter than his picture. The picture didn't do him justice. I was pleasantly surprised that he was attractive. He stood up, and he was kind of cool in a way that I didn't expect."

Moreover, the future president wasn’t flustered by his lateness. He simply apologized because it had been raining that day, which delayed the buses. This only made him better in her eyes.

After getting past the initial introduction, Michelle helped him get settled on his first day and took him to lunch. Their conversation ran long, and the atmosphere was easy and engaging, with what she described as a “hint of a spark.” She realized then just how confident, mature, and funny he was.

The issue was that the future first lady had written him off already because of her position. "I told myself it would be completely inappropriate for me to date this dude that I'm advising," she continued. "It would be tacky and it would be expected. So I kind of talked myself out of it."

Back then, she had also told her mother that dating wasn’t part of her plans, explaining that she had always had a boyfriend and wanted time to be independent.

Still, Michelle found herself talking about him to her friends and offering compliments, eventually going so far as to introduce him to them. She and Barack became friends that summer, bonding over their shared interests and similar opinions.

During a firm outing to see "Les Misérables," he asked if they could leave because they were both bored. At that moment, she saw him as a “rule breaker,” and despite her hesitation, they went out for drinks. That was when she realized she liked him.

When her brother asked if she now felt several sparks, Michelle concluded that what was happening between them was a "slow burn."

With their friendship solidified, Barack began asking her out, but Michelle refused, still thinking it would be "tacky." But he didn't care what anyone, especially the law firm, thought about their possible romance.

Finally, he convinced her to go out on a real date. "He wanted it to be a date, which was also kind of sexy, y'all, because he wasn't trying to pretend. He was clear, he's like, 'I like you, you're funny, you are cute. We should go on a proper date,'" she said, and eventually, she agreed.

The rest is history. Their marriage began in 1992 when Michelle walked down the aisle at Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ, and soon, their daughters, Malia and Sasha Obama, joined the family.

This latest conversation isn't the first time Michelle Obama has talked about her husband on the podcast. Barack was invited as a guest for an episode back in mid-July. At the beginning of the show, the former first lady said that she never considered quitting her marriage, even during the hard times.

Additionally, she said that being with Barack made her a better person. A clip of that moment was uploaded on her personal Instagram with the caption, "I've said this before, but it's worth re-iterating today, my home is my family. My home is Barack."

She has also uploaded moments of them together. Just two days ago, on August 4, Michelle celebrated her husband's birthday by posting a picture of them hugging each other in front of a fireplace on Instagram.

The caption read, "Happy birthday to my love, my best friend, my everything! @BarackObama, even after all these years, you're still the coolest guy I know. 💕"

A few weeks earlier, she posted a family photo to commemorate Sasha's birthday. The family of four can be seen posing for the camera at a beach spot.