Tracee Ellis Ross has opened up about her friendship with the former president, Barack Obama.
During an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Thursday, the black-ish alum revealed the former president foresaw one of her relationships not ending well but didn’t give her a heads up about it.
“I broke up with someone, and I remember running into the former president, and he was like, ‘I could have told you that,’” Ross told the talk show host. “And I was like, ‘Well, you failed as a friend!’”
She continued to joke about how the former president should have spoken up sooner.
“Like, it was your job to say that before, you know what I mean? Nip it in the bud,” Ross said.
At another point during the interview, the Girlfriends actor said that in terms of her current dating situation, she tries to rely on her friends to find potential partners for her. But out of all of her friends, she has never asked the Obamas for assistance.
“I’ve never asked Michelle to set me up, which I think perhaps is dumb, and I need to get on that,” Ross said.
This isn’t the first time the couple has been known to give relationship advice. Earlier this year, during an episode of Michelle’s IMO podcast with her brother, Craig Robinson, the two spoke with the CEO of Airbnb, Brian Chesky, in May, about how he built his business from the ground up, including the mentorship he received from the former president along the way.
Over the years, Chesky and Barack became close enough that they started discussing their personal lives, like the unsuccessful dates the CEO was going on.
“One time I was like — I met somebody and I was about to go on a date with — I went on a date with them and I remember telling him like, ‘Oh my God, she checks all the boxes and like this, this, this, this, this,’” he told Michelle and Robinson. “And I remember him saying something. He said, ‘it’s not a checklist.’”
Chesky explained that he never considered that he had adopted this mindset until after Barack pointed out what he should really be looking for in a long-term partner.
“He’s like, the right person is someone where they’ve got this weird laugh or snort and you find it really funny,” he continued. “And it’s like, in other words, it’s not necessarily what you think you’re looking for. And you’re not dating a checklist, you’re dating a real person. And the real person makes you feel a certain way.”
“I think it was like a really, really important piece of advice,” he added.
