Obama recalls unwanted attention as president: 'Old ladies' were 'grabbing my butt'
Former President Obama says that while some women "acted in somewhat inappropriate ways" toward him after he became commander in chief, he "was not trippin'" on any attention from female admirers.
"When I got drafted in the NFL, I got a little cuter," Channing Crowder, a former Miami Dolphins linebacker and co-host of "The Pivot" told Obama in an episode of the podcast released Tuesday.
Were "women hollering at you and stuff," Crowder asked, "because of the fact that you're a good-looking dude, but now you're President Good-Looking Dude?"
"First of all, I don't know if Michelle's gonna be watching this," Obama quipped.
Many athletes and musicians, he said, attain fame at an early age.
"Y'all get famous young, at a time when the attention that you're talking about may be flattering, fun," the former president said.
"By the time people really knew who I was, I was 43 years old. I was married, had two kids, had gone grocery shopping, had washed my car. I was a regular guy in that sense," Obama said. The Obamas married in 1992, before welcoming daughter Malia six years later and Sasha in 2001.
"And so that kind of attention, by the time I got it, I was not trippin' on it," Obama told Crowder and co-hosts Ryan Clark and Fred Taylor during the wide-ranging conversation, which also touched on the "urgency of the election for Black men," criticism of former President Trump and voter apathy, among other topics.
"There are times where women have acted in somewhat inappropriate ways. There are pictures on the internet of women grabbing my butt — and I was president at the time," Obama said with a grin.
Asked why Secret Service didn't respond to any unwanted advances, Obama cracked, "It's like old ladies and stuff. So I mean, they're not gonna wrestle them down on the ground."
"My wife is such an extraordinary woman, such an amazing partner, that you just try to stay focused, stay on the straight and narrow," the 63-year-old ex-president said of former first lady Michelle Obama.
"Kids change your life," he added.
"The idea of disappointing your kids is something that — I ain't going there," he said.
"That's about as far as I'm going with your question," Obama said to laughs.