The Tragic Truth About Barack Obama's Brothers

Former President Barack Obama seems to have the perfect family. He's got an independent wife who loves him, sisters who publicly support him, and two well-adjusted and supportive children. Unfortunately, it's not all sunshine and rainbows in the Obama clan. Barack's first book, "Dreams of My Father," captured a bit of their family's extensive dysfunctionality, including his heartbreaking relationship with his dad. But a closer look (and other books from the former president's siblings) showcases that the reality is even more tragic.

Barack's father, Barack Obama Sr., was a well-traveled Kenyan who had multiple wives. Apart from Barack, Obama Sr. had five other sons, but due to the distance and the kids having different mothers, they were not raised like brothers. By the time Obama Sr. passed in 1982, Barack had never met his brothers. Sadly, he would never have the chance to meet one of them, David Obama, who died after a fatal motorbike accident. Barack eventually took the steps to meet his brothers years later, but this decision did not pan out as he'd hoped.

Three years after Barack Obama Sr. passed away, Barack Obama met his older brother, Malik Obama, who was also living in the U.S. at the time. This began a relationship that endured into Barack's political career and presidency. However, by the end of his first tenure, Barack's relationship with his brother, Malik, wasn't exactly on good terms, and the fallout might have started because of Malik's own political ambitions. In 2013, he decided to contest for a Kenyan governorship post and lost, embarrassingly securing only 1% of the ballots. Naturally, people accused him of trying to take advantage of Barack's popularity. When one reporter asked Malik if this was the case, he responded furiously: "It's also my name and my birthright. Let's not forget that I was born before him," (via Brics magazine). 

Malik soon began publicly criticizing his brother. He called Barack stingy for not sending $20,000 for a family member's funeral and accused him of being inaccessible to them more generally too (via YouTube). These personal digs then turned political when Malik, who once lauded Barack as a good leader, began publicly supporting Donald Trump. He called Barack "a traitor" on X, formerly known as Twitter, accused him of having an inflated ego, and also on X, even called him a "fake a** snake." Malik also attended the 2020 presidential debate at Trump's request. That same year, he authored the tell-all book "Big Bad Brother From Kenya."

During another trip to the States in the 1960s, Barack Obama Sr. met Ruth Beatrice Baker. The couple moved back to Kenya together, got married, and had two sons, Mark and David Obama. Sadly, their marriage was short-lived and, as Mark's memoir would later recount, full of abuse. Mark wrote that he grew up watching his alcoholic father beating his mother. In one instance, Obama Sr. reportedly put a weapon to Ruth's neck after she got a restraining order against him. 

Years later, in 1988, Barack and Mark eventually met, but it was not a heartwarming affair. "Barack thought I was too white, and I thought he was too black," Mark confessed. Their relationship further fell apart when Mark released his autobiography, which claimed that Barack's book contained incorrect information. "I wanted to bring it up because, first of all, I wanted the record to be straight. I wanted to tell my own story, not let people tell it for me," Mark told Politico.

Samson Obama is Malik Obama's younger brother, born to Barack Obama Sr. and his first wife. Not much is known about Samson's upbringing, but it's common knowledge that he has had at least two run-ins with the law. In 2009, the Daily Mail reported that the then 41-year-old was accused of attempted sexual assault on an underage girl in the United Kingdom. The alleged incident occurred during the Obamas' tenure, consequently painting Barack in a bad light. 

According to the outlet, Samson decried the allegations as false and painted a different picture of what really happened. "I was involved in a pub fight which had nothing to do with any young girls," he asserted. However, they further reported that a "police source" confirmed the incident. Eventually, an investigation into the alleged assault revealed that Samson had entered the country using another person's identity. Consequently, he is no longer allowed in the U.K.

Although Bernard, aka Ben, Obama is less open to interviews than his siblings, the little information available about his upbringing is quite tragic. In "Dreams from My Father," Barack Obama disclosed that he met the then-teenager while visiting his father's home country for the first time. Bernard, another child of Barack Obama Sr. and his first wife, was the typical sports-loving young man who enjoyed playing basketball and soccer. But unlike other youths, he couldn't afford to attend trade school. Bernard reportedly divulged to Barack that he wanted to study auto mechanics but couldn't come up with fees for the training. 

Thankfully, the future president and Auma Obama (one of Barack's sisters) stepped in to help and promised to jointly cover the fees. Luckily, Bernard took control of his life, and in 2009, New York magazine outlined that he was actually managing an auto parts business in Nairobi. Eventually, Bernard moved to the UK and married a social worker, Lily Achoch. In 2018, Bernard and Lily began a care business, Shasidme Limited Company Ltd, in Oxfordshire.

George Obama was born only months after Barack Obama Sr. passed away. His mother, Jael Otieno, was never even married to his father. Consequently, he knew very little about Obama Sr. and grew up in abject poverty. During a 2008 interview with Vanity Fair (via The Telegraph), George, who was living in the slums at the time, offered some insights into being related to then-presidential candidate Barack Obama, reasoning, "If anyone says something about my surname, I say we are not related. I am ashamed." He also informed CNN that he'd read "Dreams From My Father" to learn about Obama Sr., arguing, "I think I wanted to learn about my father the same way he did. He came here searching for his roots, and I was also trying to find my roots." 

In 2010, George teamed up with writer Damien Lewis to pen his first book, "Homeland: An Extraordinary Story of Hope and Survival." Two years later, he was featured in a documentary, "2016: Obama's America," that claimed to detail what many never knew about Barack. It attacked the beloved politician's personality, George's poverty, and Barack's refusal to change his siblings' dire financial situations. Although George didn't blame his half-brother, the short film focused less on his words and more on his living situation. Understandably, the youngest Obama child has stayed firmly out of the spotlight ever since.