What disability did Michelle Obama's father have? Former First Lady discusses how their father was always "on time" despite his health concerns

Michelle Obama and her brother, Craig Robinson, recently started a weekly podcast called IMO with Michelle Obama & Craig Robinson. In the first episode, which was released on March 12, Michelle Obama talked about her family, particularly her father's illness.

While discussing their childhood and the values they grew up with, she commented about how her father was always "on time" despite his health concerns. She said:

“It was like.. I don't do late. Oh, not, not in the Robison household."

Further, Craig Robinson added:

"This is a guy who was, you know, for him to be on time, he had to prepare because it was hard for him to get around and get dressed. (Michelle replied) Our dad had a disability…”

He further continued:

“The fact that he had a disability didn't make him have an excuse for anything, particularly being late. So much so Mom used to be mad at him because he would get ready so early."

"(Michelle added) He'd keep pushing the time of departure for family outing…”

As per People Magazine’s June 3, 2024, report, Fraser Robinson, Michelle Obama’s father, was 30 years old when he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS).

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Michelle Obama’s father died of multiple sclerosis shortly before her wedding

According to a report published in the Mail's October 30, 2019, report, Mrs. Obama expressed her sorrow that her father, who passed away the year before she married Barack, was unable to accompany her down the aisle.

Mrs. Obama and her older brother, Craig Robinson, spoke at the Obama Foundation Summit in Chicago. The siblings called the death of their father "traumatic." The 55-year-old also described her October 3, 1992, marriage to Barack Obama as "bittersweet" to host Isabel Wilkerson.

While answering the question of whether it was a "beautiful day," Michelle Obama signed and stated:

“Yeah… it was a hard day.. My dad wasn't there to walk me down the aisle. He had just passed. It was bittersweet and I was marrying the man that I loved - you know that guy Barack Obama - but Dad had died…”

According to Life in Spite of MS, Fraser showed up for work at a water filtration facility almost every day despite having to fight the condition.

Additionally, in November 2022, Michelle Obama shared an Instagram post on her dad's journey with MS. She noted that although her father's health issues were difficult, she learnt how to persevere through them. She added:

“Watching my father struggle with his health was incredibly difficult for me, but I still carry the lessons that he taught me about perseverance to this day. He used to say, “You fall, you get back up, you carry on”.”

She continued in the post:

“He showed me that it was okay to lean on something or someone in order to make it through life…”

In her book, The Light We Carry, she also talked candidly about her father's illness. According to a CNBC article from November 16, 2022, at the age of four or five, Michelle Obama's father started using a cane to keep his balance when walking, which he later discovered was due to multiple sclerosis (MS). In her introduction, the former First Lady wrote:

“Slowly and silently and probably long before he received a formal diagnosis, MS was undermining his body, eating away at his central nervous system and weakening his legs as he went about his everyday business.”

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For context, as per Mayo Clinic, multiple sclerosis is a disorder that results in the degeneration of the nerves' protective sheath. Multiple sclerosis can include numbness, weakness, difficulty walking, and changes in eyesight, among other symptoms. Another name for it is MS.

MS is an erratic illness that has varying effects on individuals. Some MS patients may only have minor symptoms. MS affects the location of damage in the nervous system, the severity of the nerve fibre damage.