The Tragic Truth About Michelle Obama's Brother Craig
Craig Robinson is Michelle Obama's older brother by approximately two years. The siblings have always been close, but since Craig was slightly older and super-talented at basketball, he was originally the one with more fame. However, after Barack Obama was elected president in 2008, Michelle's fame eclipsed Craig's. "Now I can't walk down the street without people like, 'Are you Michelle's brother? Can I take a picture?'" he quipped on "Michelle Obama: The Light Podcast." While Craig appears to take this situation lightheartedly, there have been more serious difficulties he's faced.
Craig's athletic prowess helped him get into Princeton with a partial scholarship. He had a blockbuster career playing college basketball and was honored with the prestigious Ivy League Player of the Year award twice. However, his academic career at Princeton got off to a rough start — so much so, he questioned if he even belonged there. Craig was used to being a top-level student, and he was shocked to find himself tanking his midterms, with his highest grade being a C. He reached out to his dad, Fraser Robinson, for guidance. Fraser helped ease Craig's anxiety.
Re-energized, Craig sought out the support he needed to be successful and bring his grades up. He also discovered a crucial life lesson about putting in effort. "Beyond the grades ... you end up learning something," Craig mused in his book "A Game of Character." "That is really what college and this character lesson of stepping out of your comfort zone is all about." Based on the following difficult details about his life, Craig stepped out of his comfort zone quite a bit.
Police believed Craig stole his bike
When Craig Robinson was a tween, he had an unsettling encounter with local law enforcement when a police officer asserted that Craig stole a bike. In actuality, his parents recently bought the bike at a local store. Regrettably, Craig's new vehicle matched the description of a bike reported stolen: yellow with checker-patterned twist-ties adorning the cables. The situation escalated as Craig professed his innocence and the officer insisted he was guilty.
"It was terrifying," Craig recalled on "Michelle Obama: The Light Podcast." "I was always taught that the police are your friends ... they'll believe the truth and I was telling them the truth." At an impasse, the two went to the Robinsons' home, where the officer had a tête-à-tête with his mom, Marian Robinson. Marian was understandably angry about the situation. She not only defended her kid — she was adamant that the officer and the family who had made the initial report apologize to Craig.
Unfortunately, the troubling experience also contained an important life lesson for Craig and his sister. As Michelle Obama wrote in "Becoming," "What had happened, my parents told us, was unjust but also unfortunately common. The color of our skin made us vulnerable." As an adult, Craig looked back on the incident and informed "In Depth with Graham Bensinger:" "When I hear about people getting profiled, I always think of that story."
Craig kept his marital turmoil to himself
Craig Robinson experienced turmoil when he and his first wife, Janis Robinson, divorced. Looking back, Craig acknowledged he and Janis dealt with difficulties early in their relationship. "I didn't know what made her tick, what she was most passionate about, how she dealt with some of the challenges she had faced," he wrote in his memoir "A Game of Character." One early conflict involved Craig getting an offer to coach at Cornell University. He ended up turning it down after Janis raised objections about the salary and relocating away from family.
The couple had two children together, Avery and Leslie, but as the years went by, their inability to discuss their problems created an insurmountable rift. The resulting divorce took an emotional toll on the whole family. Afterward, Craig moved into his childhood apartment while his mom, Marian Robinson, lived in the portion of the house that belonged to his late great-aunt.
Since Craig had been so reticent about his marital problems, his sister, Michelle Obama, was particularly upset when he announced his divorce. However, Craig had long taken an optimistic view, even as he and Janis struggled. In addition, Craig wanted to protect his family by not venting. "If I was sharing all of the bad stuff with the rest of my family, they would never get over it," he explained on "In Depth with Graham Bensinger." Expanding on this idea of avoiding over-sharing with family, Craig added, "They'll never forgive your significant other."
Craig was ousted from Oregon State's coaching staff
Craig Robinson had a lifelong passion for basketball. As an adult, he did a few coaching gigs, both at the high school and collegiate level. However, he mainly worked in finance. Then, in 2000, Craig made a major career change when he became an assistant basketball coach at Northwestern University. Six years later, he was promoted to head coach at Brown University. In 2008, Craig moved across the country and became head coach at Oregon State University.
Unfortunately, by 2014, Craig's coaching career abruptly ended. Purportedly, Oregon State's basketball program had fallen on difficult times before he joined their coaching staff. "If it wasn't so bad," Craig informed Sports Illustrated, "I wouldn't have had a shot at job in the Pac-10." However, Craig apparently wasn't able to sufficiently improve the team's stats during his time at the university. The school let him go, even though they reportedly had to pay him over $4 million due to a breach of contract.
While Craig hasn't coached anywhere since, it didn't dampen his enthusiasm for working in sports. He's taken on various roles for the New York Knicks and Milwaukee Bucks teams. During his time with the Knicks, Craig's duties included mentoring players both in athletics as well as their personal lives. In 2020, in recognition for his diverse skill set, Craig became Executive Director of the National Association of Basketball Coaches.
Craig took legal action against one of his kids' schools
Although Craig Robinson's first marriage ended in divorce, he tied the knot again in 2006 with Kelly Robinson. The couple has two sons together: Austin and Aaron. Back in 2020, their kids were virtual students at the University School of Milwaukee. Unfortunately, while they had initially believed the school was a great option, particularly when they were attending classes in person, their perceptions changed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"What we saw was a repeated use of racial and ethnic stereotypes in actual school assignments," Craig claimed to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The deeper they delved, the more they discovered other people experienced similar issues with the school. The couple attempted to engage the institution in a discussion regarding bias. However, while the situation started off positively, in an abrupt twist, it ended with the Robinsons being informed their children couldn't attend the school.
The couple was stunned and upset about how the incident impacted their children. As a result, Craig and Kelly sued the University School of Milwaukee in April 2022. While the couple asserted the school wronged their children by dismissing them, the school pushed back. "You repeatedly engaged in disrespectful and demanding communications with and about our teachers and administrators," University School of Milwaukee alleged of the Robinsons in June 2021, according to CNN. In total, the lawsuit contained six distinct counts, half of which were eliminated by a judge in December 2022. However, it's unclear how things proceeded, since the case no longer garnered any media updates.
Craig struggled with his father's death
Craig Robinson and Michelle Obama had a tight bond with their parents. Since they were young children, Craig and Michelle watched their father, Fraser Robinson, deal with mobility concerns resulting from a multiple sclerosis diagnosis. Sadly, Fraser died in 1991, leaving his family shocked and grieving. "There had been no clues, no change in the momentum of joy and enthusiasm with which he embraced life," Craig later wrote in "A Game of Character." Due to the closeness of their relationship, Craig was devastated.
Although he contended that he was doing all right in his 2010 memoir, years later, Craig observed that there was a lot he wasn't able to process about the traumatic experience. "I realized I have blocked out everything regarding dad's death," Craig informed Michelle in a text after he listened to her memoir "Becoming." "'I was here crying and laughing at the sadness of the story and the comfort of your voice," he added.
"Becoming" is a lot more specific than "A Game of Character" in its recounting of Fraser's final days. Michelle observed more indications that their father's health was worsening. She also mentioned bedside conversations the family had with her dad about happy childhood memories. In addition, she shared a poignant depiction of how she, Craig, and their mother went from crying to laughing after Fraser's funeral. In his own memoir, Craig described these same see-sawing emotions at their dad's burial. While Craig hasn't had the easiest life path, he's managed to persevere again and again.