Michelle Obama playfully defends fans of The Real Housewives, likening the joy of watching Bravo shows to the excitement of tuning into ESPN.
According to Michelle Obama, the Housewives are true MVPs. The former First Lady offered her thoughts on Real Housewives fandom and why she believes it is a lot like how ESPN handles sports.
On her IMO podcast on July 30, Michelle stated, “There’s drama in sports,” “If I listen to ESPN for an hour, it’s like watching The Real Housewives of Atlanta.”
In an explanation to Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers, the 61-year-old, who co-hosts the podcast with her brother Craig Robinson, stated, “It’s the same drama and they’re yelling at each other, and they don’t get along.”
Register for Tekedia Mini-MBA edition 19 (Feb 9 – May 2, 2026): big discounts for early bird.
Tekedia AI in Business Masterclass opens registrations.
Join Tekedia Capital Syndicate and co-invest in great global startups.
Register for Tekedia AI Lab: From Technical Design to Deployment (next edition begins Jan 24 2026).
As Matt jokes, "He would be a great Real Housewife," Michelle views Stephen A. Smith of ESPN as "just like every other talk show host."
Michelle continued by outlining her reasoning. “That’s why I’m like, ‘What’s the difference?’” the author of Becoming pondered. “It’s just sociological drama. The fact that people over seasons of working together still can’t get along. They still have the same arguments. And it’s not just women, but this happens in sports, too.”
"I find it fascinating," she continued, especially because the Housewives on the show, like many athletes, continue to spend time together even though they know they do not get along.
“It’s just like, ‘Why do you keep going to dinner together?’” Michelle said. “It never ends well. And don’t ever vacation with her ever again.”
However, as Bowen pointed out, statistics are one aspect of sports that Bravo shows lack.
The Saturday Night Live star stated, “What I find fascinating about sports, in my unfamiliarity with it, is that it is really, really something and it’s really cool that you get to look at stats and you get to compare that way,” “That’s the storytelling. And I wish Housewives had that.”
As Matt said, when the reunions come around, it is like seeing which team ranked higher that season, even though the shows might not provide all the statistics you are looking for, like the amount of fights that season.
“You see people talking about it, like, ‘Oh she’s in the one spot. She’s in the two spots. Look at her all the way in no man’s land all the way at the end of the couch,’” "So it does kind of have that," the co-host of the Las Culturistas podcast stated.
