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Inside the marriage of Barack and Michelle Obama, who met at work and kissed outside an ice cream store on their first date

Áine Cain   

Inside the marriage of Barack and Michelle Obama, who met at work and kissed outside an ice cream store on their first date

Barack and Michelle Obama 5

Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

The Obamas' first date was immortalized in the movie "Southside with You."

• Barack Obama first met his future wife Michelle at work in 1989.

• The former First Couple went on a date that same year, and subsequently were married in 1991.

• The Obamas have spoken at length about how they made their marriage work, despite the pressures of the campaign trail and the White House.


Barack Obama reportedly knows how to sweep a girl off her feet.

The future president's first date with his wife Michelle began at the Art Institute of Chicago, where they grabbed lunch. It didn't start auspiciously.

Michelle was Obama's mentor at the law firm Sidley Austin LLP, and was therefore reluctant to go out with him. According to David Mendell's "Obama: From Promise to Power," the future First Lady also thought Obama sounded "too good to be true" at first. She was also unimpressed when he showed up to the date in a "bad sport jacket" with a "cigarette dangling from his mouth."

"I thought: 'Oh, here you go. Here's this good-looking, smooth-talking guy. I've been down this road before,'" she told Mendell, according to the Washington Post.

But ultimately, Barack won her over. They went out walking, and later caught a screening of Spike Lee's "Do The Right Thing," the Telegraph reported.

The date went well by all accounts, and couple reportedly had their first kiss outside a Baskin-Robbins at 53rd and South Dorchester in Chicago. The spot is now marked by a plaque commemorating the event, according to Atlas Obscura.

Here's a look inside the 25-year marriage of the former First Couple:

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