First Lady Michelle Obama & Her Brother Craig Robinson

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Sibling Revelry with Kate Hudson and Oliver Hudson" Episode: First Lady Michelle Obama & Her Brother Craig Robinson Release Date: June 2, 2025 Host: Kate Hudson and Oliver Hudson Guests: Michelle Obama & Craig Robinson

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1. Introduction and Guest Appearance

The episode kicks off with Kate and Oliver Hudson introducing their podcast, "Sibling Revelry," aimed at exploring sibling bonds and family dynamics through relaxed and engaging conversations. The hosts warmly welcome their esteemed guests, First Lady Michelle Obama and her brother, Craig Robinson, setting a casual and friendly tone for the discussion.

Notable Quote:

• Michelle Obama [00:49]: "This is casual on the bottom. Scott Jennings from CNN on top."

2. Light-Hearted Banter and First Impressions

The conversation begins with playful remarks about appearances and attire, highlighting the ease and comfort between the siblings. Michelle Obama compliments Oliver on his appearance, while Craig humorously comments on Kate's outfit choices, reinforcing the affectionate sibling rapport.

Notable Quotes:

• Michelle Obama [01:25]: "I look at you. You're so handsome."
• Craig Robinson [02:10]: "You look like a movie star."

3. The Genesis of "Sibling Revelry"

Oliver expresses excitement about having Michelle and Craig on their podcast, emphasizing the desire to delve into their childhood and sibling relationship. The hosts discuss how the podcast has deepened their own sibling bonds, illustrating the positive impact of such open conversations.

Notable Quotes:

• Oliver Hudson [02:19]: "I'm so happy to have you on. I'm so excited, Craig. Michelle. I can't wait to get into, like, yeah. Growing up and your childhood and how fun."
• Oliver Hudson [06:32]: "It just brought Ollie and I so much closer and feel like that."

4. Childhood and Upbringing

Michelle Obama shares heartfelt stories about their parents' dedication and the values instilled during their upbringing. She recounts how their mother advocated for better education by actively involving herself in their schooling, leading to significant academic advancements.

Notable Quotes:

• Michelle Obama [13:34]: "Our dad worked. He was a blue collar city worker. He worked for the Chicago water filtration plant."
• Michelle Obama [17:29]: "Having as the first person who was shaping us, somebody who really loved and cared for us and knew we were smart."

Craig Robinson echoes similar sentiments, reflecting on the importance of values over financial wealth and how their parents emphasized doing one's best without the pressure of achieving perfect grades.

Notable Quotes:

• Craig Robinson [17:31]: "They never put the pressure on us to get good grades, right? They always said, just do your best because your best is gonna be good."
• Craig Robinson [20:30]: "We were allowed to watch one hour of TV a day. That's strict."

5. Parenting Styles and Raising Children

The discussion transitions to parenting philosophies, with both Michelle and Craig highlighting the balance between guidance and allowing children autonomy. Michelle emphasizes the importance of children wanting to achieve for themselves rather than feeling pressured to meet parental expectations.

Notable Quotes:

• Michelle Obama [18:16]: "Don't get the A for me. You have to want to be excellent, your best, because this is who you are."
• Michelle Obama [22:09]: "You have to earn the next level of responsibility."

Craig shares his approach to parenting, balancing strictness with fostering independence, especially while managing coaching responsibilities and mentoring other children.

Notable Quotes:

• Craig Robinson [27:55]: "I'm not only raising my two kids, but I'm raising 15 other people's kids too."
• Craig Robinson [28:50]: "My dad always said, if you parent when your kids are young, you can be friends with them later when they're 30 years old."

6. Modern Parenting Challenges

Kate and Oliver bring up the challenges of modern parenting, such as technological advancements and increased safety concerns. The guests discuss the balance between protecting children and fostering resilience and independence.

Michelle articulates the dilemma parents face with the abundance of information and safety measures, advocating for allowing children to experience and learn from their own mistakes to build confidence and grit.

Notable Quotes:

• Michelle Obama [33:00]: "When we rob our kids of the ability to try and experience and make some mistakes, we rob them of the ability to build confidence and the grit that you talk about."
• Kate Hudson [33:26]: "Everything is given to them where the coddling of America or coddling of the world."

7. Sibling Dynamics and Conflict Resolution

Oliver inquires about the siblings' experiences with conflicts during their upbringing. Michelle and Craig share anecdotes about how disagreements were handled, emphasizing self-resolution and the role of parents in stepping back.

Notable Quotes:

• Craig Robinson [39:30]: "Mish always won the fight because she was the youngest. We would let her win."
• Michelle Obama [41:48]: "They expected us. Just like with life, you resolve it, figure it out."

8. Building Resilience Through Adversity

Michelle reflects on her experiences commuting alone as a child to promote independence and resilience, contrasting it with today's parenting methods. Craig adds that structured challenges during childhood prepared them for adulthood.

Notable Quotes:

• Michelle Obama [33:26]: "Sometimes they're gonna make a mistake, sometimes they're gonna light the match."
• Craig Robinson [38:46]: "We didn't have our lives curated for us. We were just thrown out there and had to figure it out."

9. Closing Remarks and Future Directions

As the conversation wraps up, the hosts express their gratitude towards Michelle and Craig for sharing their insights. They discuss the possibility of future collaborations and express excitement about continuing the dialogue on their platform.

Notable Quotes:

• Oliver Hudson [45:02]: "I loved every second of this. Thanks for being here."
• Michelle Obama [43:32]: "We can just continue the conversation."

The episode concludes with light-hearted banter about future interactions and attire, leaving listeners with a sense of camaraderie and anticipation for upcoming episodes.

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Key Takeaways:

• Sibling Bonds: The deepening of sibling relationships through open and honest conversations is a central theme.
• Upbringing and Values: Strong emphasis on the role of parents in instilling values, advocating for education, and fostering independence.
• Modern Parenting Challenges: Balancing protection with fostering resilience and autonomy in children.
• Conflict Resolution: Encouraging self-resolution among siblings and children to build problem-solving skills.
• Resilience and Independence: Childhood experiences that promote confidence and the ability to navigate adulthood effectively.

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Conclusion

This episode of "Sibling Revelry" offers an intimate glimpse into the lives of Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson, highlighting the significance of sibling relationships, effective parenting, and the cultivation of resilience. Through engaging conversations and shared experiences, the podcast provides valuable insights for listeners seeking to understand and strengthen their own family dynamics.

Transcript

[Michelle Obama]

This is an I Heart podcast.

[Kate Hudson]

Hi, I'm Kate Hudson, and my name is Oliver Hudson.

[Oliver Hudson]

We wanted to do something that highlighted.

[Kate Hudson]

Our relationship and what it's like to be siblings. We are a sibling revelry.

[Oliver Hudson]

No, no sibling revelry. Don't do that with your mout.

[Kate Hudson]

Sibling revelry.

[Oliver Hudson]

That's good, Ollie. Mrs. Obama said very clearly that she wanted casual vibes.

[Kate Hudson]

This is casual on the bottom. Scott Jennings from CNN on top.

[Oliver Hudson]

I'm so excited right now.

[Kate Hudson]

I know.

[Craig Robinson]

Wait, you guys got dressed up?

[Oliver Hudson]

No, I'm telling you right now.

[Craig Robinson]

Dressed up. And I'm wearing sweats. I feel terrible.

[Oliver Hudson]

I am not dressed up. I'm wearing my nightgown.

[Michelle Obama]

I am looking at who's got a suit on. Yeah, I mean, Oliver, dude, I was like, hold on. And you got your hair slicked back.

[Craig Robinson]

Your shirts on, at least underneath.

[Oliver Hudson]

I have never seen Oliver like this.

[Kate Hudson]

Listen, like, ever.

[Michelle Obama]

I look at you. You're so handsome.

[Craig Robinson]

My sister brings out best in everybody.

[Michelle Obama]

Your big boy suit on.

[Kate Hudson]

I'm repping both. So I got, you know. But then I, you know, look, I got Craig on the bottom.

[Craig Robinson]

Oh, you got shorts on the bottom.

[Kate Hudson]

Okay, Oliver.

[Craig Robinson]

All right, all right. So bad.

[Kate Hudson]

Look at those socks.

[Michelle Obama]

Oh, my gosh.

[Oliver Hudson]

God, I. I laughed so hard when I. When I turned on my screen, I was like, oliver, this was a clear directive.

[Kate Hudson]

No, I know. I. I just. I just worked out and I came home and I'm like, I gotta do something. And then I put this on and looked at myself, and I was like, oh, my God. I look like Scott Jennings from cnn.

[Craig Robinson]

You look like a movie star.

[Kate Hudson]

What are you doing?

[Michelle Obama]

I thought we were on the wrong zoom. I was like, oh, my God. And there's like, don't turn on here.

[Oliver Hudson]

I am so happy to have you on. I'm so excited. Craig. Michelle. I can't wait to get into, like, yeah. Growing up and your childhood and how fun. And thank you for coming on our podcast.

[Michelle Obama]

We're so having us. I'm excited. We're excited, too. Very excited.

[Kate Hudson]

Before we do get started, this suit is actually, you know, represents my. My litigious nature as well, because I know you've got your podcast, imo, Right?

[Michelle Obama]

Yeah.

[Kate Hudson]

You guys are brothers. We did this five years ago. So expect. Expect to hear from our law. You know what I'm saying? Like, obviously you're biting, and that's fine.

[Craig Robinson]

Yes, we are. We biting hard. But, you know, I. I really like the name of your sibling Revelry. That's a really cool place. Yeah, very well.

[Oliver Hudson]

Thanks, Craig. Craig, I got really excited going into your history. You've got quite the. Quite the stats. And now as a fake basketball owner, I got. I, I on running point. I got really excited because I. To go deep into, like, your history of basketball. I mean, you still hold, like, records and stuff.

[Craig Robinson]

I'm hoping that that's. That some young whippersnapper comes along and breaks those records so we can stop talking about it. This, like, prehistoric history. But I appreciate it, Kate.

[Oliver Hudson]

It was so cool. I loved it. It's amazing.

[Craig Robinson]

How are you enjoying playing a basketball maven?

[Oliver Hudson]

I love it. I love it. It's so much fun. There was one day where I was on set, and it was me and, like, 45 very handsome men, and I was like, Mindy Kaling just knew I was the right girl for this show.

[Michelle Obama]

It's not a bad situation, Kate. You know, that was my whole feeling about having a brother, a big brother that was in basketball, because I was like, that's where I met half the guys I dated when I was little. You know, you go to the game and you're like, ooh, who's scoring? And then I'd have my brother to be like, how's this dude? Is he. He's. He's new. Is he cute? Is he nice? He'd give me the thumbs up, you.

[Kate Hudson]

Know, I thought you were gonna say who's scoring more, like you or me?

[Craig Robinson]

That's what I thought you were gonna say. It sounded like she was going there.

[Michelle Obama]

Trying to keep it clean. Trying to keep it clean. But, Kate, I am a huge fan. Running point. It. That's.

[Oliver Hudson]

It's my.

[Michelle Obama]

It's. It's on my top list that, you know.

[Oliver Hudson]

Thanks.

[Michelle Obama]

You are killer in it. It is funny. The cast. I don't want girl out, but the cast is amazing storylines. Good, good, good. I'm ready for season two.

[Oliver Hudson]

Yeah. Thanks for saying that.

[Michelle Obama]

We are.

[Oliver Hudson]

We are, too. We're. They're in the writers room right now, and it's really. It's going to be such a fun season, so I'm really excited. So, you know what? I'm just happy to have a job.

[Michelle Obama]

You know, hey, you know, that's how we feel.

[Oliver Hudson]

What makes you want to do the podcast?

[Michelle Obama]

You know, I mean, first of all, our team asked and, you know, it starts there. We've got our audio hub, Higher Ground Audio, and it was. It's useful for the, For. For the, for the brand to have a always on, you know, good show. And I think everybody was scared to ask me to do it to spend this much time. So they thought a great hook, which is my. Has been my life as first lady. Nobody wants to ask me anything directly. So they. Craig, they were scared. They were scared. They were like, she's not going to want to do this, and she's not going to want to be out there this much. So they got the call saying, well, what if you did something with Craig? And they were ready to make the argument? And I was like, that sounds fun. I would love to spend more time with my big brother and chop it up. He's one of my favorite people. He has to do all the heavy lifting anyway, so just like, being a big brother, you know, he's doing all the work.

[Oliver Hudson]

So I wish. I wish it was that way for me and.

[Kate Hudson]

Oh, my God. Wait a minute. Hold on. Do you want to, like.

[Oliver Hudson]

No, I'm lying. Ollie's doing a lot of heavy lifting.

[Kate Hudson]

The podcast.

[Oliver Hudson]

Yeah, he's been doing most of the heavy lifting.

[Kate Hudson]

I'm. We're in the same sciatica because I've been so much. It's crazy.

[Oliver Hudson]

You know what's so wonderful is really getting to spend that time with your brother. And you don't even realize. Like, I didn't even realize when Oliver and I got into just sort of like a silly idea like, oh, let's start a podcast, you know, And. And. And when we. We didn't realize, like, how deep we were going to go into our relationship and how much more time we were spending together. And in adulthood, you've got your kids and you got your life, and you. I mean, look, you're. You're huge. Both have huge lives, and you don't realize that you don't really spend the time actually having these long, connective conversations. And it just brought Ollie and I so much closer and feel like that.

[Kate Hudson]

Do you feel like you guys have actually. It's an allocated time to actually be brother and sister podcast?

[Craig Robinson]

I do. Especially Oliver, because, you know, when Misha Barack were living in the White House, I was coaching at Oregon State for most of that time. And it was just hard logistically to be in the same place. Right. So we would. We would play a game once a year in Washington, D.C. and do service day with the team.

[Michelle Obama]

It was always around Thanksgiving, and it.

[Craig Robinson]

Was always around Thanksgiving. So we'd have Thanksgiving dinner, and that was really the only time during the year that we could get together and talk, and my mom would be there, and so that was really nice. And then we try and do something in the summer, so it was like two times a year we'd see each other, but now we get together at least once a month, sometimes twice a month. And we are talking, talking about some really fun things, some really serious things. And, and, and, and, and we're helping people out there who have sort of these everyday issues that we've gone through. And it's been so much fun.

[Michelle Obama]

We are really, interestingly enough, both people, People, you know, I always say I don't get tired of people. I think that's probably one of the reasons why I, we, our family survived, you know, eight years in, if you include running and you know, what life is post. I really do enjoy having conversations with people. It gives me energy and this. And Craig is the same way. You know, both really very curious. We both really have strong opinions. You know, this is the way we grew up, talking around the kitchen table. We do it with our own kids. When we do get together, a lot of it, we, you know, nobody's like, running out to play games. We're sitting around with all our kids of all these different ages, and everybody wants to know what everybody else is thinking, you know, so there are, there's just a lot of storytelling. And so it's. We were kind of like, we, we're getting to do what we like to do best and sharing it with the world and hopefully helping people. So it's been a really, really fun experience. And how much, how much do you.

[Kate Hudson]

Have to filter yourself? You know, just given sort of who you guys are, what you have, have to represent, you know what I mean? Like, I'm a pretty unfiltered person. You have to filter yourselves and sometimes not say the things that you want to say.

[Michelle Obama]

You know, Craig, probably I don't, I.

[Craig Robinson]

Don'T, I don't have to. And I think the best part about this podcast is the fact that the world's getting to see my sister as sort of a normal, regular person who's giving her normal, regular opinions that she would give if you were sitting at her kitchen table. So it doesn't feel like she's filtering it. But I will say that when they were in the White House and the sort of couple years before when they were running, I did feel like I had to be careful of what I said and did. So I don't. I feel freer. But I was more free than they were because when people asked me questions, they were. I could always, you know, it was always at a press conference on why my team was playing so badly. So I could, I Could be very frank then.

[Kate Hudson]

That's funny. It's funny you bring that up because that was actually going to be a question I had that the extended family beyond who's in the White House now has to button it up a little bit because you're representing something, you know, I mean, you got to sort of shut it down if you are wild. Crazy.

[Craig Robinson]

Yeah. Fortunately, I've never been that wild and crazy. Of the two of us, I probably would be the most. The more conservative. If they hadn't been in the White House, I would be. Nobody would know who I was other than, you know, a coach who, you know, probably got four technical files his whole career. Did it help recruiting, but half the kids and it hurts the other half. It helped from the standpoint that I had name recognition. And if you have name recognition, that is half the battle. Cause you're going up against guys who've won hundreds of games. Right. And the key is getting into the living room with those kids. And if I could use the fact that I was Michelle Obama's brother or Barack Obama's brother in law, that was. I used it good. But as you can imagine, you know, 48% of the people were probably like, ah, no, I'm not sending my kid to play for him. So.

[Kate Hudson]

Right. Yeah.

[Craig Robinson]

So you could feel, you could feel for the most part, I would say 90, I would say 80% of the time it was positive. It was really positive. And, and, and it got us in with some kids that we wouldn't. Probably wouldn't have gotten in. Odd. Mm.

[Oliver Hudson]

Just to switch gears a little bit, Michelle, you said once my parents didn't have a lot of money, but they gave us everything that matters. And Craig, you echoed that by saying your upbringing was rich in values. And I'm. You grew up in the south side of Chicago and is it just you too?

[Michelle Obama]

Yeah, yeah, just.

[Oliver Hudson]

And what did your parents do? I mean, I'm sure a lot of people know this already, but for those who don't.

[Michelle Obama]

Yeah. Well, our dad worked. He was a blue collar city worker. He worked for the Chicago water filtration plant. And he was a pump operator. You know, worked in the boiler room making sure that the water pressure was just so. And my mom was a stay at home mom until I went to eighth grade. I'm a year and a half younger than Craig. And so my parents made the decision early on that it was important for their values for my mom to stay home and spend time with us. So she was very involved, very, you know, a hands on mom. I've written about her a lot in my second book, the Light We Carry. Just really trying to share a lot of the wisdom that she had. You know, she wasn't a child psychologist. Her parents didn't get to, they didn't go to college. They were high school educated, very smart people. But they just, you know, they both just had some real common sense approaches to parenting. And part of that was, you know, she wanted to be the one feeding stuff into us because she didn't necessarily trust that, you know, a babysitter or a daycare center would, you know, give us the, the kind of leg up that she wanted us to have. So they made the financial sacrifice and so we didn't, you know, we, we lived off of one income until my mom went back to work when I was in high school. So she was, you know, up at the school involved in the pta, you know, a very engaged stay at home mom. And that, you know, that left a big imprint on us. You know, having as the first person who was shaping us, somebody who really loved and cared for us and knew we were smart. And being smart working class black kids, you would get a lot of people that would assume that you weren't as smart as you were. You know, she, she really needed to be the advocate to make sure that we had the right teachers and that if the school, which was, we went to the public school around the corner, you know, our parents didn't have money to send us to a private school. So it was important for her to make sure that the teachers were on point. I remember in second grade, I tell the story that I went into my second grade class and the teacher was just. It was a chaotic class. She wasn't focused, she didn't give out assignments, she wasn't good with kids. And I knew this in second grade and I would come home for lunch and say, you know, something's not right in this class. We don't have homework. We're not getting real clear assignments. I felt like I was missing something. And my mother went up to the school and before you know it, I was, I was taking a bunch of tests and then I passed out of the second grade within the first month of being there. I was a third grader. And I think that alone, that one act, you know, just at an early age of having a mother who was, who trusted my voice, who was smart enough and feisty enough to go up to the school, see what was wrong and advocate for some change, you know, I mean, those are stories I could, we could Both tell you millions of stories of that throughout our young years. That gave us, like, a good foundation to fight for ourselves, to know what we were worth. And that was something that, you know, I think played a huge role in us being the confident, competent individuals that we are today. But that came from two folks who didn't go to college.

[Oliver Hudson]

She sounds amazing.

[Craig Robinson]

You know, Kate, the thing that I remember most about my parents that I try and incorporate with our kids is that they never put the pressure on us to get good grades, right? They always said, just do your best because your best is gonna be good. Right? And it was so matter of fact that it just empowered you to be like, okay, if I work hard enough. It was process rather than results oriented. And to learn that at an early age. And now you see people are teaching that now, you know, 50 years later, 60 years later. It's just. It was so empowering, so.

[Michelle Obama]

Well, there was a little more than that, Craig. I mean, you know, mom used to say, look, I went to school, I got an education, so this is on you. You know, you better value it. You know, I mean, as early as kindergarten, when we started kindergarten, our mother gave us alarm clocks. And she was like, you have to work yourself up. You have to want this more than I do. And she was there. She'd be up in the morning. It wasn't like my mom ever slept in, but her whole notion was, if. If you were doing this for me, getting an education, playing basketball, achieving, it won't last, so you better do it for you. And that's something, you know, again, that I try to implement with my kids. It's like, don't get the A for me. You know, don't want this stuff for me. You have to want you. You have to want to be excellent, your best, because this is who you are. And like, I just. As a parent now, I just think, how did my parents. Because, you know, they didn't necessarily get that from their parents. You know, I think they spent a lot of time trying to do the opposite of what their parents did.

[Kate Hudson]

Yeah, we talk about. We talk about that a lot. You know, I think you can go a few different ways well, too. You know, you either are sort of not wanting to become your parents or you're wanting to emulate. And I think there's a little bit of each. You know, I think we are. Our kids are so smart. I think we don't give them enough credit at such a young age. They are. They are absorbing. They know what's going on. And, you know, Kate and I were the opposite. We didn't want to be. We didn't. We wanted to be with our kids. We didn't want to leave our children. We wanted to have a really solid unit. Were your parents strict?

[Michelle Obama]

No. No. I mean, because socially.

[Kate Hudson]

Socially, you were allowed to kind of do your thing and, you know, advocate for.

[Michelle Obama]

Well, I guess Craig's got a different. What you. I didn't feel like they were.

[Craig Robinson]

I was just gonna say, here's where you. Raised in the same household and have two separate experiences, because me being the oldest and. And a little of this is my own personality. I felt like my parents were strict. I mean, how.

[Michelle Obama]

So? Tell. Tell me more.

[Craig Robinson]

You know what I'm gonna say. You know what I'm gonna say. We. We were allowed to watch one hour of TV a day. That's strict. Just think about that. One hour of television. I mean, it wasn't like it was a bunch of channels either. So it was like one hour of tv. And then, you know, I had to be home at a certain time. I had to come home during the day. Like, if I went to the basketball court at 10 in the morning, I could not stay until dinner time. I had to come back every hour and a half to two hours or so. So.

[Michelle Obama]

Yeah, but that was because mom wanted to make sure you were alive. I mean, that was like a straight up kind of make sure that you weren't in a fight. I mean, we lived in the hood.

[Craig Robinson]

I'd play two games. I'd have to run home, say, mom, I'm okay. Yell up to her, I'm okay, and then run back and get back into the game.

[Kate Hudson]

Okay?

[Craig Robinson]

And I thought. I thought that seemed reasonable stuff was strict.

[Michelle Obama]

You had to go. He got to go back. It was just like.

[Craig Robinson]

My sister, who never came outside, thought that was pretty. Pretty fair. But it. It's just. It's. It's just our different perception. Right. Like, I. Yeah. Felt like I was. I. It was stricter for me. Now, I'm not saying it was, you know, it wasn't prison or anything, but I felt like my parents made me accountable for the time that I was spending during the day. Right.

[Oliver Hudson]

All the time.

[Craig Robinson]

Yeah.

[Kate Hudson]

Yeah.

[Oliver Hudson]

It's also, like a part of. It's. It's itchy, too, because it's also like, you know, the ages that. That probably was happening. I'm assuming that was like. Like middle school.

[Michelle Obama]

And even before middle school, you started going to the courts at 10. 10 years old.

[Craig Robinson]

I mean, I was young. I was. It was. It was Was really interesting because we had bikes and we couldn't ride them off the block. And then at a certain age, my mom felt comfortable, and we could ride them off the block. And then. And I. You know, it was just. They just doled out the. The.

[Michelle Obama]

You just had to earn. You had to earn the next level of responsibility, and I didn't.

[Oliver Hudson]

Sounds like my situation with my son right now. Who's there? Who's 13, going on 14. They have these electric bikes now. They're not, like, normal bikes that I just wish all the kids were on everybody. And they're basically like little motorcycles. And my son just wants to go. He just wants his independence. And I'm like, your mom. I'm like, you don't leave the neighborhood. Okay, you can go past this area. Okay, now you can go there. And I've got a little, like, track tracking device on him, but I'm so strict. And my brother, on the other hand, has his kids. They, like, are on motorcycles, and they're like, in West Hollywood. And I'm like, what are you doing? So I have the issue of having to deal with, like, oh, well, my cousin gets to go, you know, And. And I'm more like. I'm more like Mrs. Robinson, where I'm. I'm so. I can understand your mom's fear.

[Kate Hudson]

My.

[Craig Robinson]

My. My.

[Kate Hudson]

Real quick, my middle kitty. It's called a Siron. Basically, it's a.

[Michelle Obama]

It's a.

[Kate Hudson]

It's a dirt bike, but it's electric.

[Craig Robinson]

Okay. And.

[Kate Hudson]

And I. He's like, I'm gonna go on a bike ride. Then he shows me video. He's in a ride out.

[Michelle Obama]

That sounds.

[Kate Hudson]

It's where there's, like, a hundred different people on ATVs. Motorcycles, and they just command the streets.

[Michelle Obama]

Oh, my God.

[Kate Hudson]

Yeah, one of those. He's, like, wheelieing through, like, Sepulveda and Wilshire. I'm like, what the are you doing?

[Michelle Obama]

Oh, my.

[Oliver Hudson]

Dude.

[Michelle Obama]

I was like, you're 15.

[Kate Hudson]

He's like, it was. It was great. I was on a ride out. I'm like, oh, my Lord. Okay, maybe that's even too far for me. But here's the thing, though. It's interesting. I wanted to ask this, actually. Like, have you seen your children? Both of you guys sort of emulate you and at the same time do some things that. That they don't want to be. You know what I mean? Are they looking at mom and dad and being like, you know what? I love you guys, but I don't want to do it that way?

[Michelle Obama]

Oh, My God, where does. Where do we begin? I mean, yes.

[Kate Hudson]

I mean, obviously they grew up in a special situation. Craig, you know, you. You're a little bit. A little bit different. But, you know, I'm sure there's moments where they're like, damn, like, you guys gotta chill. I do not want to be like that as a parent.

[Michelle Obama]

Yeah, yeah. I mean, you know, I think as especially, you know, our daughters are 25 and 23. They are young adult women, but they definitely went through a period in their teen years where it was the push away. You know, we want to. You know, I mean, they're still doing that as. And you guys know, this is the children of parents who are known. You know, you're trying to distinguish yourself. I mean, it is very important for my kids to feel like they've earned what they are getting in the world. And they don't want people to assume that they don't work hard, that they're just naturally just handed things. They're very sensitive to that. They want to be their own people. You know, Malia, who started in film, I mean, her first project, she took off her last name and we were like, they're still going to know it's you, Malia, you know, but we respected the fact that, you know, she's trying to make her way. But now as they're older, I think they. They are embracing our parenting principles. They, you know, they. They have a clearer understanding of why we did a lot of what we did. They understand us as full human beings now. In the same way that I think I discovered that about my parents, you know, when I went away to college, you know, the issues that I had that I thought they should work on. My father should have been more aggressive in dealing with his ms, and he should have done this and he should have done that. You know, I was that know it all kid in high school, but by the time I got to college and saw more of life, I realized, you know, parents, our parents are flawed. They're our heroes. We love them. But you start seeing them as humans and start appreciating them. I think our kids are moving into that. But they definitely. Our daughters wanted. They didn't want to be little princesses in the White House. They wanted to push the envelope. They needed some rope, they wanted to try some things. They wanted to be out in the world. And I knew that under the circumstances, they needed to have more rope than I probably would have given them if I were my mother. Right.

[Craig Robinson]

And conversely, Oliver, my kids, when they. My two older Kids when they were teenagers, Misha Barack were in the White House, and I was coaching at Oregon State, which is in Corvallis, Oregon, which is a town of like 20,000, because I was the coach there. I was probably more strict because.

[Michelle Obama]

Oh, you were strict. Craig was crazy strict.

[Craig Robinson]

But it was, you know, I'm not only raising my two kids, but I'm raising 15 other people's kids too. So, you know, if my kid was out, if my kids were out doing something crazy, then not only do I have to adjudicate that, then I have to. I have to also answer to the 15 kids who I'm coaching, who I don't, Who I was strict on too. Right. So, so it was a little bit different for me. And, and, and, and like I said earlier, you guys, when they were in the White House, I was always very careful of the image that we portrayed because I didn't want to be that brother or brother in law who was in the paper for doing something stupid all the time.

[Kate Hudson]

Right.

[Craig Robinson]

So, so I was definitely a stricter parent. But I will tell you, my dad always said, you know, if you just parent, if you parent when your kids are young, you can be friends with them later when they're, when they're 30 years old.

[Oliver Hudson]

It's so true.

[Craig Robinson]

And he said, if you try and be friends with them, if I try and be friends with you young, then I gotta parent you for a longer period of time. And it is really true, Kate, because our two older kids, it's like now, they still come to us for advice, but it's more like, I won't say colleagues, but it doesn't feel like parents because they're 33 and 29 and they're off and on their own doing their own thing. And it's so nice to sort of not have to worry about them, you know.

[Oliver Hudson]

Isn't that such an amazing thing when your kids grow up and you're like, wait, I think I did a good job. Wait a minute, they're doing really wonderful. And, and, and my biggest thing, because Ryder is now 21, and my biggest thing, when I see him be able to be his own, at his own advocate and, and able to resolve conflict for himself in any other situation, whether it be with his girlfriend, whether it be with a friendship, whether it be with a professor, I'm like, oh, he, I gave him, you know, there's nature, obviously, you know, which is, I think, huge. But, but, but you do. I do feel like a little bit like, like I gave him some tools to be Able to.

[Michelle Obama]

Yeah.

[Oliver Hudson]

Handle himself and, and, and, and, and, and he's happy and like that. I don't know. I, I, I, it's, it's a wonderful thing just to see because, you know, I feel like when they get older, it's that hard moment of like, is their life, like, how, how are they going to take on their life as an adult?

[Kate Hudson]

Right. Well, that's why I think that, I think that we have lost so much grit in our world. You know, I just, I read a book on Lewis and Clark, Undaunted courage. And just these, these, these men, these people who went and did these things. I mean, it was incredible what they had to get go through. Our kids don't have that anymore. Everything is sort of given to them where the coddling of America or coddling of the world, you know, so, and it's hard to give them that now. You kind of have to just let them go and say, okay, you got to go figure it out. Yes, we have tracking devices on our kids, which sort of like, I'm kind of go in between that because I'm like, is this cool that we're like, tracking our children? Yeah, we had, we had none of that. It was like, just go figure it out. We had to just figure it out. Now everything is sort of right at your fingertips.

[Michelle Obama]

You know, it's, Well, I, I, Oliver, I agree. I mean, I think that that's, and I think having these conversations are important because I think parents are confused and afraid because we have so much information. And I think that that does us in in terms of feeling comfortable letting our kids experience the world because we hear all the bad things about the world and then we think the world is really a bad place. And so we have to shield our kids and protect our. And we have to advocate for them. And it comes from a good place. It comes from a place of real love and concern. But I'm a proponent of, you know, when we rob our kids of the ability to try and experience and make some mistakes, we rob them of the ability to build confidence and the grit that you talk about. And we do it out of love, but we do it for our own sake sometimes as parents, because we don't want to feel the pain of seeing them go through hard things. Because it's hard on us.

[Kate Hudson]

Yeah, exactly. And we've got to make sure we're not moving into fear. You know, there's love, but then there's that there's a fine line between sort of love and fear. We cross into that fear. Oh, I'm just scared something's going to happen to you. Do not go out or do this because I'm afraid. I'm afraid when the reality is, you know, look, should happen. Yeah, life, sometimes we can't control it, but statistically, we live in a safer world than we did 30 years ago.

[Michelle Obama]

And no one wants to believe that statistic. You know, I mean, my husband talks about that all the time. I mean, if, you know, he makes the point that if you wanted to pick any time in human history to be born, you'd pick now. You know, the amount of war out there, famine, hunger, medicine, you know, I mean, you just go down the list of all the things. The crime rates are lower than they have been, but because we hear more about everything, no one wants to believe it. You know, I mean, people have the Watch app, so, you know, on your phone you get a ding every time somebody reports a crime. Right. You know, that that's just too much information. So people think that are in very safe neighborhoods because they have crime Watch, that their. Their communities aren't safe and they want to keep their kids in the backyard and have organized play dates and make everything sanitized. But you know what? Kids aren't. They aren't even getting into arguments with each other. Kids aren't even, you know, they're not allowed to just play in the streets and have their own arguments. That's why when Craig says that, you know, we grew up strict. I mean, no, we, you know, we went outside in the morning, especially in the summer. You went. Your parents didn't know. They knew you were across the street or around the block, but you weren't in front of the house. You were off with other kids, playing and having adventures. And we both did that now. Yeah, you had to check in, you know, because we had parents who were at home. But the truth was, is that what. How we structured our day as early as 10 years old was totally on us and all the other kids in the neighborhood. We had to organize ourselves. We had to resolve battles, we had fights, we had to, you know, we had to break things up. The whole goal was don't get the parents involved, you know, because that meant the fund got shut down and everybody would have to go home. And now you were just stuck in the house. Our mom was home, but at a point she went to work and you'd. We'd be at home by ourselves very early on, you know, and there. There was a stove, cigarettes, matches. There were, you know, I mean, you know, it's all gonna be there. But kids, we have to give our kids the chance to work through and problem solve on their own, which. But that means that sometimes they're gonna make a mistake, sometimes they're, they're gonna light the match. And sometimes it's better to let them light the match and then have the conversation or have them see what happens when the match is lit because they're gonna learn more from that. CR. I grew up like that. Yeah, there were, there were some expectations because Craig was older and you know, he was a boy. But we are of the generation where our parents required us to own our lives earlier than we are doing for our kids. And I think that made me a more competent, confident, capable young woman. You know, I was on the bus going to the. I chose a high school that was on the other side of the city because it was a magnet high school. Public school is one of the best schools in the country. I knew I wanted to go to college. I didn't want to go to the neighborhood school. And in order for me to go to the school, I had to take two city buses. I had to leave the house at 5:30 in the morning. I was commuting with adults. But it was like a wonderful experience. And if my parents had been today's parents, which would have, well, I'll drive you or you won't go and you'll go to the school. That's safer for me. There's a whole lot of learning and confidence building that I got taking Chicago public transportation every day to get to school. I would wake up at dark and get home at dark because that's how long it took to get to and from school. I think about whether or not I would let my kid do that now. I mean, today's parents would be worried about that, right? We're carpooling and picking up. And so now parents are tired and exhausted because they're, they're, they're doing a lot of extra parenting, extra physical work because we're afraid to let our kids do some of this stuff on their own, especially if they live in a big city. And we need to talk about what our kids are missing by us parenting from our own fears.

[Craig Robinson]

And you know, I talk about how, in my opinion, hence the name of the show, I feel like parents are trying to curate this unbelievable experience for their kids. Like we didn't have our lives curated for us. And I'm sure you didn't when you were growing up. You just like, just thrown out there and you figure it out. And I think These days, parents are trying to overcompensate for their kids by sort of making this experience for them be the. Be the best and only experience possible.

[Kate Hudson]

Such a great point. Such a great point. I mean, I'm dealing with my kid and getting into college now, and I can't even believe what has to happen with, you know, hiring this person and bringing on this person. I'm like, just write an essay and do the applications. Why is this so nutty? I mean, I understand that you have to have extracurriculars and you have to. I'm like, just, what is all this? It's come. Highly competitive. I get it. But, you know, it just seems like a lot.

[Oliver Hudson]

It's wild. Before we could. We have limited time. So I. I have a couple. I have a couple questions, like, in conflict, like, did you guys ever fight?

[Michelle Obama]

Oh, yeah.

[Craig Robinson]

Yeah.

[Oliver Hudson]

And when you did, did your parents leave it up to you guys to resolve, or did they get involved?

[Craig Robinson]

No. Mish. Mish always won the fight because she was the youngest. She always won, and I let her win, and we all let her win, and that's how she got to be so bossy.

[Kate Hudson]

She's still bossy with you?

[Craig Robinson]

Oh, yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. That's why I. Imo is the perfect name for our podcast, because it's in her opinion. Yeah, no, she. She will tell you. She. We would. We would get into an argument, and she would throw things at me. She would punch me in the back for no reason. She would. And I never fought back, and I rarely raised my voice, and I never told on her.

[Oliver Hudson]

And you were both very athletic.

[Craig Robinson]

She was. She was with me all the. I mean, the reason why I was a good athlete was because I had her to practice with. And when my dad would come home from work and Meesh talked a little bit about him working for the city, so he was a shift worker, so there were only, like, certain parts of the month where he worked days where he could come home and play with us, and she would be right out there with us and could do anything I could do. She could do everything I could do. And. But. But we didn't fight that much. We. We got into fights, but we didn't fight that much. And. And what we. What we fight about now as adults is, like, my lack of communication. Right. Like, I'm a guy. She'll ask me, hey, how's. How are the kids doing? I'm like, fine. Yeah, they're doing fine. What are they doing? They have a game tonight. That's it. And I don't, I don't elaborate unless she asks open ended questions.

[Kate Hudson]

Right.

[Craig Robinson]

So I, she, she. That may. That frustrates her. That frustrates my wife. That frustrates all. It frustrates my daughter. All the women in my family are frustrated by that, but that's it. That's really the only thing that, that we, we fight.

[Michelle Obama]

I, I mean, but our parents did believe in staying out of it. I don't know about, about you, you, you guys, Oliver and Kate, but, you know, they, they, they expected us. Just like with life, you resolve it, figure it out.

[Kate Hudson]

Yeah, yeah.

[Oliver Hudson]

They didn't want to hear it. If we ever, if there was any ever thing going on and someone was telling on, if, if anyone told on anyone, we were all in trouble.

[Michelle Obama]

That's, that's how I do it. That's how Malia and Sasha will tell you the same thing. You know, there are many times we heard them in their rooms in the White House because their rooms faced each other. And then there was an outer door and you, you'd hear the outer door slam and then you'd hear a lot of angry whispering. I said, if you don't. And mom, if she hears this. And I would say, I would just think, exactly. That's. Exactly.

[Ryan Seacrest]

This is the White House.

[Michelle Obama]

This is the White House.

[Oliver Hudson]

Oh, you guys, we have to wrap. Thank you for coming on our podcast. I can't wait to your podcast.

[Michelle Obama]

All right, that's. That, that's next up.

[Oliver Hudson]

That's because I feel like we have more. We have more to unpack.

[Michelle Obama]

We can just continue the conversation.

[Kate Hudson]

You got to dig into exactly a little bit.

[Oliver Hudson]

And where are you? In the same place. Where are you all. Are you all in different now?

[Michelle Obama]

I'm in D.C. and I live in.

[Craig Robinson]

Wisconsin, if you can believe that.

[Oliver Hudson]

Oh, yeah, I just played a woman from Wisconsin. I just did a full Wisconsin accent. I feel like I killed it. But you'll be the judge of that.

[Craig Robinson]

I can't wait. Is it out yet?

[Oliver Hudson]

No. Christmas Day.

[Craig Robinson]

Okay.

[Oliver Hudson]

Yeah, yeah. Chris, you have to wait for Christmas.

[Michelle Obama]

And Oliver, next time I want to see you in a T shirt.

[Kate Hudson]

That's normally what I wear. I mean, I honestly, like, I look like a slob, but I shave.

[Michelle Obama]

Did your hair slick back usually like that? I mean, did you put gel in it, too? You're very cute and I'm very, I'm very honored that you put on your little silk tie and your.

[Kate Hudson]

Well, if, if we see each other again, you're gonna see me in my, my just real garb. Which is pretty much just a T.

[Oliver Hudson]

Shirt, which is getting worse as he gets older. It's embarrassing.

[Kate Hudson]

I'm changing my style. This is kind of funky.

[Oliver Hudson]

It's like Italian. He's leaning into our Italian heritage. It's. It's very extreme. A lot of gold chains.

[Craig Robinson]

Tracksuit. You got to get the sad track.

[Kate Hudson]

Like that Sergio Takini tracksuit stuff, like. Yeah, of course. Of course.

[Michelle Obama]

Thank you guys for having the bar for us. Thanks for letting us bite off of your show.

[Kate Hudson]

Yes.

[Craig Robinson]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Kate Hudson]

Well, you know, you're welcome.

[Oliver Hudson]

So nice to know you and to get to know you, Michelle. You're so inspiring, and we just. We just love you, Michelle. And. And also I have a Robinson in my family, so, you know, we could be related. Yeah.

[Kate Hudson]

Have you played ball with Sandler? Craig, by the way? Have you played ball with Sandler? Sandler's a great friend of ours, and I know he just played with Barack. He just played ball with him.

[Michelle Obama]

Yeah. Barack.

[Kate Hudson]

They golf, but, yeah, he just golf. He just golf.

[Michelle Obama]

Yeah. Because Brock is retired. He's a. You know, he doesn't want to pop his Achilles.

[Oliver Hudson]

Well, listen, I loved every second of this. Thanks for being here. We'll see you.

[Kate Hudson]

Thank you, guys.

[Michelle Obama]

You guys, thank you so much. We'll talk soon. We'll set it up. See you again soon.

[Oliver Hudson]

Absolutely.

[Kate Hudson]

I've never been ready, more ready in my life, and I can't wait to see you guys to see what I'm gonna wear. So.

[Michelle Obama]

Yeah. Yeah, it's gonna be good. All right, be well.

[Unknown]

Bye.

[Kate Hudson]

Later, guys.

[Craig Robinson]

Bye.

[Kate Hudson]

Oh, geez.

[Oliver Hudson]

She's the best. They're. They're awesome.

[Kate Hudson]

That was not long enough.

[Oliver Hudson]

I know. We needed, like, another hour.

[Kate Hudson]

Oh, my God.

[Oliver Hudson]

I have so many questions. I have so many things, but it's.

[Kate Hudson]

Nice to have just a candid, fun conversation that's flowy and you know what I mean? It's. It's. I don't think we have enough time to sort of hit all the things that we want to talk about, because there is so much, you know, they want to get into politics at all. You know what I mean? Like, boring. But I did want to talk about the hypocrisy in politics. Politics, a little bit, but they're just cool.

[Oliver Hudson]

I know. So nice. It was so nice to actually, like. It's also, like, one of the things that I do love about this podcast. I love that they're. She's doing it with. With Craig, with her sibling, and. But it's like, you actually get to talk about. About the Things that actually formed you that are the found foundation of who you become. I mean, so many people know so much about, about Michelle and President Obama and you know, she's written her memoir. She's written memoir, she written books. There's so much about her that people do know. But when you get her and her brother together and you start talking about how they grew up together or what that experience like together, it's just a completely different feeling. It doesn't, it doesn't, it doesn't matter what the politics are. I know, you know, and, and I.

[Kate Hudson]

Just wanted to get into, I just wanted to get into, you know, the decision making behind, in her opinion, like, my God, my life is about to change. I know it's exciting. But here's here, we're here now. She's such a cool, grounded, you know, worldly, personable human. It's like, now I got to live in this White House, now I got to raise our girls like this is holy. There's stress that might have been involved with all that. I wanted to sort of get into that stuff.

[Oliver Hudson]

Yeah, but she, but she fell in love with a politician, a career politician.

[Craig Robinson]

Yeah, for sure.

[Oliver Hudson]

So, I mean, you'd kind of know, you know, going into that, what that is. And I think what I, what I love about both of them and we've, we, we've had, I've had the opportunity of meeting them a couple times, but I, I, they are very grounded people. Their kids are great. And you, you, it's like, it's like when you, it's like removing the politics from the person is very hard when people are in politics because they're in the position of making decisions for your well being, the country's well being, you know, and so it can be, you know, you, you, you kind of are entering this very polarizing existence. You're going to be loved and you're going to be hated. Right. And your kids know it and your wife is going to know it, or vice versa, your husband, if you choose to be in politics. So like when you meet certain politicians that are just very grounded and like, cool and have a very, really interesting, are very open with, you know, where they come from, what their life is like, what their life experience has been, you, you know, you can't help but be like that huge part of trusting who you have, like kind of really running things. Michelle, also, I really believe that no matter what anybody thinks about husband and wife, it's like any husband and wife in the world when you clump couples together as if they're one. It's like, not everyone in the world. It's like, just put yourself in that position. Like, am I my partner? Am I my husband? No, I'm very different. We're very different people. And just because you're with someone and love someone doesn't mean you have differences of opinion, doesn't mean that you agree with everything, doesn't mean that you would lead in the same way. It does mean that you have, like, a mutual found respect and love and attraction and all these things that are good. But it's like there's this weird thing that happens in politics where it's like you are one, when in fact, it's. It's. It's. It's. We know behind the scenes that it's very opposite. And Michelle would probably be a very different leader than even president, you know, Obama would be. And I always wonder, like, I really do think she would be an incredible politician.

[Kate Hudson]

Yeah.

[Oliver Hudson]

But I don't think. I'm not. I don't think she ever would. That would be ever anything that she would do. I don't know.

[Kate Hudson]

The real headline of the interview was that twice she talked about how good looking I was. That's the true headline life. You know what I mean?

[Oliver Hudson]

I knew you were gonna say that.

[Kate Hudson]

Yeah. It was just. I think I. I think there was a moment where she was just stunned about, you know, it's like, oh, my God, this guy is handsome. You know what I'm saying? Because I think I resemble Barack, like, a little bit. Right.

[Oliver Hudson]

I think it was more like, you've never worn a suit ever. And she was probably just kind of giving you some validation as to, like, you really should clean up those.

[Kate Hudson]

Charity, is it. It was a charity. Yeah. Okay.

[Oliver Hudson]

Yeah, it was more like. It was more like, you should maybe lean into this more because it's nice.

[Kate Hudson]

Yeah.

[Oliver Hudson]

Okay. That was awesome.

[Craig Robinson]

That was.

[Oliver Hudson]

I hope we get to talk to them again.

[Kate Hudson]

Me, too. Yeah, me too.

[Oliver Hudson]

And, well, I invited. I invited us on their podcast, so maybe.

[Kate Hudson]

Yeah, I know. Maybe. Maybe we'll get lucky.

[Oliver Hudson]

All right, well, I got a show to go.

[Kate Hudson]

Do Have a great set, man. Great set.

[Oliver Hudson]

Thanks. Thanks. What a great episode. I hope everybody loves it.

[Kate Hudson]

I know. I don't know if we made any headlines, but it's okay.

[Oliver Hudson]

All right. I love you.

[Kate Hudson]

Love you.

[Craig Robinson]

Bye.

[Ryan Seacrest]

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[Craig Robinson]

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[Unknown]

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[Kate Hudson]

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[Craig Robinson]

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[Michelle Obama]

This is an iHeart podcast.