Michelle Obama usually says that Barack Obama is her greatest pal — however relating to the actual MVP in her life, it isn’t her husband. That title goes to Michelle’s large brother, Craig Robinson. Simply two years her senior (and her solely sibling), Robinson is not simply household — he is the lifelong confidant and partner-in-crime she’s all the time had by her aspect.

Michelle’s adoration for her brother is crystal clear. Within the dedication of her memoir “Changing into,” she wrote: “You will have been my protector because the day I used to be born. You will have made me chuckle greater than every other individual on this earth. You’re the greatest brother a sister may ask for, a loving and caring son, husband, and father.” And the love goes each methods. Robinson as soon as instructed Time that regardless of Michelle’s flip as first woman, their bond has all the time stayed grounded. “The conversations are what you suppose they’d be amongst shut members of a household,” he stated. “We speak in regards to the youngsters, we speak in regards to the education, we speak about how one another is doing and that is just about it.”

Their sibling bond continues to be rock-solid, as confirmed by the launch of their joint podcast “IMO” in March 2025. They’re healthful, supportive, and surprisingly regular for a duo who’ve shared the world stage. However even the closest siblings have their quirks — and this pair isn’t any exception. Listed here are a few of the extra surprising and downright bizarre issues about their relationship.

Siblings like to bicker over who the favourite baby is — however within the case of Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson, there is not any debate. The golden baby title does not go to the previous first woman. Nope, it goes to Robinson. Even dwelling within the White Home for eight years wasn’t sufficient to shift the chances in Obama’s favor. “I’m the First Woman however my mom is like, ‘When is Craig coming?’ I am like, ‘I stay within the White Home. What extra do I’ve to do?'” Obama quipped on “Good Morning America,” and with out lacking a beat, Robinson confirmed it: “I’m the favourite.”

And he is likely to be proper. He is so deep in his favorite-child standing that he managed to persuade their mother, Marian Robinson, to maneuver into the White Home — one thing Obama could not even pull off herself. Based on Craig, Marian wasn’t eager on the concept at first. “My mother, she shouldn’t be the kind of intrusive in-law. She would by no means wish to even keep over and babysit our youngsters. She’d go residence. She actually did not wish to be a part of them within the White Home for that purpose,” he shared, however he knew methods to work it. “I simply kind of positioned it like, you’ll serving to your granddaughters out, primary, and if you happen to transfer into the White Home, then I will come to go to you extra.” Apparently, that did the trick. Overlook being a former first woman — when your brother is the favourite, even it’s important to get in line for mother’s consideration.

Sibling fights are par for the course — whether or not it is battling over who will get the final slice of pizza or squabbling about who owes what on the household Netflix account. However for Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson? They’ve solely actually fought as soon as. Ever. Which is borderline suspicious if you happen to ask us.

In her memoir “Changing into,” Obama revealed that their one large blow-up occurred below heartbreaking circumstances: whereas selecting a casket for his or her father, Fraser Robinson III, who handed away in 1991. Naturally, grief introduced out their polar opposites. “I wished to purchase the fanciest, most costly casket within the place, full with each additional deal with and cushion a casket may probably have. … Craig, in the meantime, insisted that Dad would need one thing fundamental — modest and sensible and nothing extra,” Obama wrote. “We had been yelling for causes that had nothing to do with the precise argument.”

Ultimately, cooler heads (and shared grief) prevailed. They realized they weren’t mad at one another — they had been simply too heartbroken to suppose and act rationally. And in response to Obama, that was just about the primary and final time they argued.

Older brothers might be protecting, however Craig Robinson did not simply regulate Michelle Obama — he virtually ran background checks on her behalf. From promenade dates to severe boyfriends, Robinson vetted each man who got here close to his sister. And sure, that features a sure lanky legislation pupil named Barack Obama.

A Princeton alum who performed ahead for the college’s basketball crew and was drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers (although he by no means joined the league), Robinson had sufficient campus clout that the majority guys did not even attempt. “When she [Michelle] first bought to Princeton, I used to be nonetheless there, and I believe guys would not date her simply because they knew I used to be her brother,” he instructed Esquire. “Barack is the one man she requested me to play towards.”

That is proper — Michelle had Barack play a sport of basketball along with her brother as a type of character check. And Robinson took it significantly. “My sister did not have many long-term boyfriends. So I used to be considering, This man looks like a fairly good man; I hope he makes it. I used to be rooting for him. However right here I’m with this duty: if he seems to be a, er, jerk, I’ve bought to be the one to inform her,” he shared with Time. And by chance, Barack held his personal on the court docket. “He dealt with every little thing completely,” Robinson recalled. “The perfect half about it was that once we had been on the identical crew, he didn’t move me the ball each single time. He wasn’t making an attempt to suck as much as my sister via me. … I used to be relieved to offer my sister the excellent news: ‘Your boy is straight, and he can ball.'”

It is no secret that Michelle Obama was by no means precisely thrilled in regards to the concept of her husband working for president. The truth is, in “Changing into,” she admitted that she doubted the entire thing. Certain, she backed him publicly, however privately? She was bracing for heartbreak.

“I stated sure, although I used to be on the similar time harboring a painful thought, one I wasn’t able to share: I supported him in campaigning, however I additionally felt sure he would not make all of it the way in which,” she wrote. “He spoke so usually and so passionately of therapeutic our nation’s divisions, interesting to a set of upper beliefs he believed had been innate in most individuals. However I might seen sufficient of the divisions to mood my very own hopes.”

As everyone knows, she finally got here round. However her change of coronary heart did not simply occur in a single day — and it undoubtedly wasn’t all Barack’s doing. He had assist from somebody who knew her higher than most: her large brother. When Barack realized Michelle wasn’t absolutely bought on his presidential desires, he referred to as in reinforcement within the type of Craig Robinson. “I stated, ‘Let me speak to Meech,’ and that is once I got here and talked to you and simply gave you your recommendation that you just had given me again, just about, about following your ardour and doing the stuff you love,” Robinson stated to his sister in an episode of the “IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson” podcast. “The factor that pushed it excessive was I satisfied you to not penalize him for being actually good at what he does.”

For a brother-sister duo who declare to be thick as thieves, Craig Robinson and Michelle Obama did not all the time share every little thing — particularly when issues bought messy. Throughout an episode of their joint podcast, Robinson admitted he stored his first marriage troubles below wraps, selecting to not open up to Obama when issues began to disintegrate. Apparently, he was frightened she’d by no means take a look at his ex the identical means once more.

“I do know my sister, and I stated, if I inform her about this, she’s by no means going to recover from it,” he admitted. “And if we ever bought again collectively, it wasn’t going to be good for my first spouse.” Michelle, for her half, wasn’t precisely fooled. “I assumed I noticed some issues that had been pink flags, however I’d all the time be like, ‘The way you doing?’ and your reply can be, ‘We’re nice, we’re good,’ ” she stated, including that trying again, she believed she may have dealt with the reality — messy, difficult, or not. “Though you suppose I would not have been capable of deal with it, I’d have gotten myself collectively to offer you sound recommendation and be capable to keep impartial,” she instructed him, and went on to notice that what stung was feeling shut out by the one individual she thought would all the time open up to her. “However I felt just like the dude I trusted probably the most, who I may inform something, did not really feel like he may come to me when he was coping with one thing actually arduous in his life, which is his marriage falling aside.”

And to his credit score, Robinson owned as much as it: “That was a mistake.” At the very least they bought previous it!