Last week, the highly anticipated Obama romance film, Southside with You
hit theaters. In the last months of the Obama White House, audiences
will be able to get a deeper look at how our outgoing POTUS and FLOTUS
met and fell in love.
And though their first date was pretty memorable, the rest of their love story is even more romantic – down to the fact that, in the White House, he still tucks her into bed every night. (We'll get to that!)
For starters: Barack Obama and Michelle Robinson met while working at the Chicago law firm Sidley Austin, when Barack was working as a summer associate and Michelle was his adviser.
At first, Michelle said she expected her advisee, then a Harvard Law student, to be "nerdy, strange, off-putting."
But he surprised her.
"I was charmed," she told Chicago Magazine. "I was pleasantly surprised by who he turned out to be."
And his looks didn't hurt.
"He was cuter than I thought he'd be," she told CNN.
Their first date, back in 1989, – the subject of Southside with You – was a long one. "We spent the whole day together," Michelle said. They went to the Art Institute of Chicago, had lunch in the museum's courtyard, had a drink on the 99th floor of the John Hancock building, saw Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing and took a long walk down Michigan Avenue.
"He showed all the sides," she said in a video. "He was hip. Cultural. Sensitive. The fountain, nice touch. The walk, sensitive."
"Take tips, gentlemen," he added.
He impressed her family, too. When Michelle brought Barack home to meet her mother, Marian Robinson, she got a good vibe from the future president.
"He was very tall and strong, because she's strong," Robinson told PEOPLE in 2007. "And, you know, it just seemed like a good match. I just think he's a nice person and I just think she felt like he was a nice intelligent young man and she said he had a good sense of humor."
Michelle's brother, Craig Robinson, agreed.
"It wasn't easy to pass the approval test in the Robinson household," he wrote in his 2010 book, A Game of Character. "Although I have to admit that the first time we met Barack, he couldn't have made a better impression."
Clearly, Barack charmed the object of his affections, too: He took her to church basements where she saw him speak, and got a glimpse of the politician he'd grow to be.
"He was able to articulate a vision that resonated with people, that was real," she said. "And right then and there, I decided this guy was special. The authenticity you see is real, and that's why I fell in love with him."
They were together through four years of ups and downs (including the 1991 death of Michelle's father) before he proposed in 1991, at the now-closed Gordon's restaurant in Chicago, placing a ring next to the dessert – just after Michelle was telling him to get serious about their relationship.
"I don't think I even ate it," she said. "I was so shocked and sort of a little embarrassed because he did sort of shut me up."
Two years after they wed, andtwo decades before Barack announced his candidacy for president, the couple was profiled in the New Yorker in the story "A Couple in Chicago," part of a series on various couples across the United States (talk about foresight).
Four years into their marriage, Barack was still smitten with Michelle, and the sides of her not everyone else got to see.
"Michelle is a tremendously strong person, and has a very strong sense of herself and who she is and where she comes from," he said. "But I also think in her eyes you can see a trace of vulnerability that most people don't know, because when she's walking through the world she is this tall, beautiful, confident woman."
And even in 1996, Michelle knew a political career could be on the horizon for her husband, but was worried about how he'd handle it.
And though their first date was pretty memorable, the rest of their love story is even more romantic – down to the fact that, in the White House, he still tucks her into bed every night. (We'll get to that!)
For starters: Barack Obama and Michelle Robinson met while working at the Chicago law firm Sidley Austin, when Barack was working as a summer associate and Michelle was his adviser.
At first, Michelle said she expected her advisee, then a Harvard Law student, to be "nerdy, strange, off-putting."
But he surprised her.
"I was charmed," she told Chicago Magazine. "I was pleasantly surprised by who he turned out to be."
And his looks didn't hurt.
"He was cuter than I thought he'd be," she told CNN.
Their first date, back in 1989, – the subject of Southside with You – was a long one. "We spent the whole day together," Michelle said. They went to the Art Institute of Chicago, had lunch in the museum's courtyard, had a drink on the 99th floor of the John Hancock building, saw Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing and took a long walk down Michigan Avenue.
"He showed all the sides," she said in a video. "He was hip. Cultural. Sensitive. The fountain, nice touch. The walk, sensitive."
"Take tips, gentlemen," he added.
He impressed her family, too. When Michelle brought Barack home to meet her mother, Marian Robinson, she got a good vibe from the future president.
"He was very tall and strong, because she's strong," Robinson told PEOPLE in 2007. "And, you know, it just seemed like a good match. I just think he's a nice person and I just think she felt like he was a nice intelligent young man and she said he had a good sense of humor."
Michelle's brother, Craig Robinson, agreed.
"It wasn't easy to pass the approval test in the Robinson household," he wrote in his 2010 book, A Game of Character. "Although I have to admit that the first time we met Barack, he couldn't have made a better impression."
Clearly, Barack charmed the object of his affections, too: He took her to church basements where she saw him speak, and got a glimpse of the politician he'd grow to be.
"He was able to articulate a vision that resonated with people, that was real," she said. "And right then and there, I decided this guy was special. The authenticity you see is real, and that's why I fell in love with him."
They were together through four years of ups and downs (including the 1991 death of Michelle's father) before he proposed in 1991, at the now-closed Gordon's restaurant in Chicago, placing a ring next to the dessert – just after Michelle was telling him to get serious about their relationship.
"I don't think I even ate it," she said. "I was so shocked and sort of a little embarrassed because he did sort of shut me up."
Two years after they wed, andtwo decades before Barack announced his candidacy for president, the couple was profiled in the New Yorker in the story "A Couple in Chicago," part of a series on various couples across the United States (talk about foresight).
Four years into their marriage, Barack was still smitten with Michelle, and the sides of her not everyone else got to see.
"Michelle is a tremendously strong person, and has a very strong sense of herself and who she is and where she comes from," he said. "But I also think in her eyes you can see a trace of vulnerability that most people don't know, because when she's walking through the world she is this tall, beautiful, confident woman."
And even in 1996, Michelle knew a political career could be on the horizon for her husband, but was worried about how he'd handle it.
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