Michelle Obama discusses friends who have ‘hurt’ her in new podcast IMO

Michelle Obama has spoken about friends who have “hurt” her in her new podcast IMO, which she hosts with her older brother Craig Robinson.

The former US First Lady made the comments during the second episode of the show during a discussion of adult friendship with actor, producer and writer Issa Rae.

Michelle, 61, spoke about the difficulties she faced maintaining adult friendships.

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“The biggest hurts that I’ve had in friendships, and hurts is strong, when I didn’t feel like there was enough emotional reciprocity,” she said, explaining this “imbalance” impacted her friendships in the past.

“Someone in every relationship is giving a little more, giving a little less … some people have more or less at a given time.

“I mean, people are complicated and flawed and all of us are.

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“When I felt most almost betrayed is when I felt like we’re all at the table giving, sharing, and you weren’t.

“I don’t have the time or the energy to have to second guess what I say to you or how I feel. I want to be at the table with my friends completely myself. But that means, I’m assuming you are too.”

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Maintaining friendships was particularly challenging during her time in Washington while husband Barack Obama was serving as president from 2009 until 2017.

She said she was the one asking her friends to travel to visit her.

“And that was because of eight years also … it was hard to reach me for eight years without a whole lot of goings on,” she shared.

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“In order for me to maintain my friendships, I had to be more deliberate.”

Still, she felt hurt when friends wouldn’t come to her with their problems during this time because they “didn’t want to bother” her.

Let’s hear it for the girls

To rectify this, she began checking in more.

The first two episodes of IMO are now available. In episode one Michelle and Robinson spoke about their decision to host a podcast together.

They explained their closeness is a result of having shared a bedroom for much of their childhood.

They felt further compelled to launch the project together following the death of their mother Marian Robinson in May 2024.

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