Michelle Obama speaks out on Barack injury

Michelle Obama spoke out about an injury Barack Obama suffered during his presidency on a podcast she cohosts with her brother, Craig Robinson.

Why It Matters

During Wednesday’s episode of IMO With Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson, short for “in my opinion,” the siblings discussed dating and relationships with actress Tracee Ellis Ross.

The trio agreed that “there’s a lot you can learn about who a guy is or who a person is,” based on their behavior on a basketball court.

“They let their guard down,” Michelle Obama said, while Robinson added, “Their character comes out.”

The former first lady proceeded to tell listeners about an “I told you so” moment she had with her husband, who hurt himself during a basketball game while serving as president of the United States.

Newsweek reached out to Barack Obama’s representative via email for comment.

What To Know

Michelle Obama said: “I made Barack put his basketball shoes up once he got his lip busted when he was in the White House playing a pickup game. I don’t think many people realized this because he was definitely in shape, athletic. And I remember—because you were at that pickup game,” she added, pointing to her older brother.

“Oh, my goodness,” Ross said.

Barack Obama, a Democrat, was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. He was also the first African American president in the country’s history. He and Michelle Obama wed in 1992.

Michelle Obama recalled “getting an exam” at the doctor’s office in the White House when she got a call from Secret Service agents that there had “been an accident” at “one of the admin gyms” on the property.

“I’m like, ‘Ugh,’ because I’m always like, ‘Be careful playing basketball. You shouldn’t be playing now. You now have a real important job,'” the Becoming author said of the advice she previously gave her husband. “And literally, he’s coming in with a gauze thing on his lip.”

The mom-of-two, who shares daughters Malia Obama, 26, and Sasha Obama, 23, with Barack Obama, noted “he needed like 30-something stitches.”

“What?!” Ross reacted to her remark.

“I mean, his lip was—I saw it. He took the thing away and I was like, ‘Oh, your lip!’ And he had some major speech. This was probably Saturday. He had some major speech on Monday, and I was, like, ‘This is what I’m saying. You know, you’re playing like you’re 10 and now your lip is split.’

“So we digress,” Michelle Obama concluded.

What People Are Saying

In 2010, it was reported that Barack Obama received 12 stitches in his lip after an opponent’s elbow struck his mouth during a basketball game.

At the time, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said in a statement, per The New York Times: “After being inadvertently hit with an opposing player’s elbow in the lip while playing basketball with friends and family, the president received 12 stitches today administered by the White House medical unit. They were done in the doctor’s office located on the ground floor of the White House.”