Michelle Obama and Barack Obama have been going strong since 1989, but that doesn't mean they don't irritate each other sometimes. The former First Lady has been sharing anecdotes on her podcast, and on Wednesday’s episode of the IMO podcast, she spilled the beans on one of Barack's table-side manners that drives her crazy.
Michelle hosts the podcast with her brother Craig Robinson, and they were joined by couples therapist Dr. Orna Guralnik, where they talked about the ups and downs of long-term relationships. For Michelle and Barack, one of the quirks of being empty-nesters is realizing how much of their dinner table conversation used to revolve around Sasha and Malia.
“We always have the kids to talk about, but not on a day-to-day basis,” Michelle explained. “We’ve noticed how much of our time we’ve spent talking about them, right? So now that we’re empty-nesters, it’s like, ‘Well, what are we going to talk about?’”
Dr. Guralnik went on to offer a perspective that was both grounding and romantic. “There’s a way to be next to another person, even in silence, that can be very alive,” she said. Sometimes, she argued, intimacy isn’t about filling the space with yappping, it’s about being present, even when no words are exchanged.
Then Michelle had a hilarious admission, saying that sometimes her thoughts aren’t exactly “romantic silence” material: “Because I don’t actually want to tell you what I was thinking about, which is like, ‘The way you’re chewing makes me want to smack you upside the head.’”
From there, she leaned all the way into the bit, joking about whether a dinner conversation could ever really begin with: “Why does your chewing annoy me so much? Let’s discuss.”
Dr. Guralnik countered with a surprising take - that hearing a person chew is, in its own way, a window into the “essence” of who they are.
That’s when Michelle revealed she’s not alone in her pet peeve: “The girls and I are very irritated with the way Barack chews,” she laughed, bringing Sasha and Malia into the fold.
It's not the only quirk about Barack that Michelle has shared. Earlier this month, she shared an adorable one explaining that when Barack was running for his first presidential campaign, supporters often gave him small gifts for good luck, like a rabbit's foot or a tiny Buddha.
"Over the course of his first campaign, people would give him something precious," Michelle recalled. Even now, he still uses their energy. "He kept all of those things. He still has a drawer full of them and even now takes a few every day and puts them in his pocket."