- Michelle Obama says her husband Barack Obama’s punctuality used to get on her nerves.
- “Barack, you know, he had to adjust to what ‘on time’ was for me,” Obama said on her “IMO” podcast.
- The former first lady previously said she had a bad impression of him when he was late for their first meeting.
Marriage isn’t easy — even Michelle Obama used to have a major pet peeve with her husband Barack Obama.
During Wednesday’s premiere episode of her podcast “IMO,” which she cohosts with her brother Craig Robinson, the former first lady spoke about one of her husband’s habits that used to get on her nerves.
“Barack, you know, he had to adjust to what ‘on time’ was for me,” Obama told Robinson.
“Because he was on that island time,” Robinson interjected, referring to the former president’s Hawaiian roots.
Obama said it bothered her that her husband would often only start getting ready when it was time to leave for their appointments.
“You know, I’ve got this husband who’s like, when it’s time to leave, it’s 3, he’s getting up and going to the bathroom. And I was like, dude, dude, a 3 o’clock departure means you’ve done all that, you know? It’s like, don’t start looking for your glasses, you know, at the 3 o’clock departure,” she said.
However, he tries to keep himself in check these days, she said.
“But he’s improved over 30 years of marriage,” she said. She added that her daughters, Malia and Sasha, know to be early if they are doing anything with her.
In 2014, using public data posted on the White House website, The Washington Post reported that the former president was over 35 hours late to his scheduled engagements that year.
In a 2018 interview, Obama shared that she had a bad impression of Barack Obama when they met at a Chicago law firm in 1989 because he was late for their first meeting.
“I was like, is he trifling? The black man’s going to be late on the first day? I was like, ‘Um,'” Obama told ABC News’ Robin Roberts.
Punctuality is often touted as a key to success.
One such business leader who believes in punctuality is Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin Group.
“If you want to be more productive, then start at the start: get there on time,” Branson wrote on LinkedIn in 2015. Not only is it a show of respect to others, it is also a way to effectively manage his day, he said.
“Of course, everything doesn’t always go to plan. It isn’t always possible to be on time, but it is always possible to try. When I find myself running late, I will often quite literally resort to running,” Branson wrote.
Representatives for the Obamas did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside regular hours.
