Barack and Michelle Obama to Discuss Love, Community, and COVID on the Series Premiere of ‘The Michelle Obama Podcast’

Michelle Obama is kicking off her new podcast with an intimate conversation with former President Barak Obama.

Spotify and the Obamas’ production company Higher Ground Productions announced Friday that the first Black Commander-in-Chief will be the first featured guest on The Michelle Obama Podcast. According to a press release, the couple will give listeners an inside look into their lives since leaving the White House. They will also discuss community, the power of love in relationships, and how they’ve adjusted to the global COVID-19 pandemic.

“Like most Americans, we’ve been spending a lot of time together in quarantine,” Michelle says in the episode, according to Variety. “You don’t seem too happy about that,” Barack responds before admitting, “I’ve been loving it.”

Michelle replies, “Yeah, I’ve been having a great time. But we’ve had some interesting conversations… because these are some crazy times.”

Subsequent episodes will feature Washington Post columnist Michele Norris on “self in the time of COVID,” Conan O’Brien on marriage, and Dr. Sharon Malone, the wife of former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, discussing women’s health. Both Michelle’s older brother, Craig Robinson, and her mother, Marian Robinson, will also make appearances on The Michelle Obama Podcast in addition to her friends Malone, Kelly Dibble, and Denielle Pemberton-Heard. In an episode about mentorship, Michelle will speak with Valerie Jarrett, a former senior adviser to President Obama.

“For eight years my life was full of crazy schedules, juggling big initiatives, speeches, state dinners. Not to mention trying to raise two daughters and keeping my head above water,” Michelle says in the debut episode.

“But once Barack’s second term ended, the presidency was over and finally had some time to breathe. So for a few months — the first year really — I spent a lot of time thinking, talking with friends and family. Really just being if you know what I mean. I reflected back on my time in the White House of course, but I went even deeper. I looked back at the whole arc of my life and I uncovered all sorts of memories, all these tiny little moments and stories that the gift of hindsight had filled with new meaning.”

She added that her hope for the podcast is to create a space “to explore big topics together… to sort through the questions that we’re all trying to answer… to open up, and be a little vulnerable, and have some fun along the way.”