What The Obama Family Has Been Up To Since The Pandemic 》

The COVID-19 global pandemic has had a major effect on all of us. We cannot travel or visit friends and family like we once did. Therefore, everyone has had to find different hobbies and projects to stay busy.

And few people have stayed quite as busy as the Obama family. What they have done during the pandemic is nothing short of inspirational. From launching podcasts to releasing memoirs to planning TV series, the Obamas have been more productive than most. Here is what the Obama family has been up to since the pandemic.

Barack Obama

Barack Obama’s pandemic schedule is a bit surprising. Basically, he has tried to strike a balance between spending time with his family and lending his political influence to the 2020 election.

Barack at home sounds much like your typical dad. According to Michelle Obama (via The Guardian), “Barack has taught the girls spades, so now there’s this vicious competition.” While this is a cute mental image, Barack has also dealt with “vicious competition” on the national stage.

Earlier this year, Barack helped Joe Biden clinch the Democratic primary and lent him further support on the campaign trail. During campaign rallies, Barack said (via NPR), “It will be up to not just Joe and Kamala, but each of us, to do our part – to reach out beyond our comfort zone, to listen to others, to lower the temperature and find some common ground from which to move forward, all of us remembering that we are one nation, under God.”

Ultimately, Barack’s influence worked wonders, and Joe Biden won the 2020 election.

Michelle Obama

What has Michelle been doing during the pandemic? Honestly, a little bit of everything!

Michelle has helped keep the family happy and playful during their time at home. She organized games and activities in the evening to help her family reconnect. This was important after everybody spent the rest of the day in their own little worlds.

“We would have these activities. We would have cocktails, and then we would work puzzles, and play games,” she told Conan O’Brien in a remote appearance on his show. “We actually had some organized things. Like we had an art exhibit day, where we all went off and did water color paintings, and then we showed it.”

However, Michelle admitted that, like many Americans, the pandemic has taken a toll on her mental health. On her podcast, which she launched this summer, she described (via The Guardian) “dealing with some form of low-grade depression.” This was due to a combination of the pandemic, national “racial strife,” and what she saw as “the hypocrisy” of Donald Trump’s administration.

And by simply being honest about her own mental health struggles during the pandemic, Michelle has been a positive influence. The American Association of People with Disabilities praised her on Twitter for “for talking openly about how you are managing your depression” and said that her honesty “reduces stigma and creates a more inclusive society.”

Podcast success

During the pandemic, Barack and Michelle have both been managing family affairs and national affairs. But they still found time for major projects. And for Michelle, the biggest project has been the launch of her podcast in July.

Fittingly, it is called “The Michelle Obama Podcast.” And the podcast is fascinating because her guests include a range of famous faces (like Barack Obama and Conan O’Brien) and experts in various fields. This allows her to blend humor with occasional bits of raw, emotional honesty.

For example, she said on her podcast (via The Guardian), “I’ve gone through those emotional highs and lows that I think everybody feels, where you just don’t feel yourself, and sometimes…. There has been a week or so where I had to surrender to that, and not be so hard on myself.”

By normalizing both these emotional struggles and the strength to overcome them, Michelle continues to inspire fans all across the world.

Historic memoir

As for Barack Obama, he doesn’t have his own podcast (at least, not yet). But he did release a historic memoir in November called A Promised Land that took the world by storm.

The book sold a staggering 1.7 million copies across the United States and Canada in its first week of sales. This beat out presidential memoirs by both George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, showcasing how influential Barack Obama remains.

Of course, Michelle had her own best-selling memoir in 2018 called Becoming. That book sold 10 million copies, and Barack joked to Stephen Colbert (via Deadline) that he’s “already waved the white flag” when it comes to trying to beat her sales figures.

Malia Obama

Before the pandemic, Malia Obama made many headlines due to everything from her love of partying to her not-so-secret love life. The pandemic has made her life much quieter, but she still found ways to keep busy.

During spring, both Malia and Sasha were attending college classes. Now, like many college students, Malia attends her classes via Zoom. And while they still participate in evening activities like playing spades with their dad, Michelle is convinced that that the pandemic is getting to her girls.

As Michelle put it (via Elle), “They’re no longer thrilled about being with us.” It turns out living with your parents will always be a bit frustrating, even when your parents are Barack and Michelle Obama.

Sasha Obama

Compared to her sister, Sasha didn’t make too many headlines while they were in the White House. She was essentially the baby of the family, having only graduated high school in 2019.

Because of that, her life has experienced even more disruption than the rest of her family. Just last year, Sasha moved into a dorm at the University of Michigan to begin a more independent life. Now, she is living with her sister and her parents during the global pandemic.

While Sasha continues to keep a low profile, she still makes a major impression, particularly on her dad. Barack told Jimmy Kimmel (via Elle) that Sasha actually scares him. Why? It’s “because Sasha is a mini Michelle, and I’m afraid of Michelle, and Sasha, having seen that, has the same look and the same attitude.”

With anecdotes like that, they may want to get her back into a university dorm as soon as possible!

Living the American stream

Even during a pandemic, the Obamas are not content to conquer podcasts and bookstores. Now, they are set to conquer the world of TV streaming as well! In 2018, Barack and Michelle signed a deal with Netflix to produce projects through their production company Higher Ground.

“Touching on issues of race and class, democracy and civil rights, and much more, we believe each of these productions won’t just entertain, but will educate, connect, and inspire us all,” Barack told The Guardian.

Seven projects have been announced. Their foray into television began in May, when Netflix released a documentary based on Michelle Obama’s hit memoir Becoming.

But now, the Obamas are going to venture into the world of scripted television, with a show loosely based on the 2018 Michael Lewis non-fiction book The Fifth Risk, about the chaotic transition from the Obama to Trump presidency. The show will be called The G Word, and will contain satirical sketch comedy along with some documentary elements. It will be hosted by comedian Adam Conover. Production will begin in early 2021.

Other projects the Obamas will produce for Netflix include a biopic of Frederick Douglass, a drama series called Bloom, and a pre-school series called Listen to Your Vegetables and Eat Your Parents.

It’s clear that the Obamas are keeping busy, and we will be hearing even more from them in the coming years!