Michelle Obama might be long out of the White House, but that doesn’t mean she’s left politics behind.
The former first lady is living a second career in the entertainment world as head, with her husband, of a production company called Higher Ground.
But there doesn’t seem to be much high road in how she’s treating the wife of one of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet members.
According to the U.K.’s Daily Mail, a British publication with a large U.S. presence, Michelle Obama used her power to ban Cheryl Hines, the wife of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., from getting anywhere near a project that Higher Ground is producing with legendary TV comedy figure — and stereotypical leftist — Larry David.
And Hines’ having a working relationship with David that goes back decades didn’t change a thing, the newspaper reported.
The Larry David-Higher Ground project is “Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness: An Almost History of America” — a seven-part sketch series that debuted June 26. As might be expected from Larry David, the series is intended as a comedy — to celebrate the country’s 250th birthday — but Michelle Obama’s attitude was no laughing matter.
The former first lady made one condition clear. She “commanded that Kennedy’s wife be banned from the cast because she’s now all MAGA, all the time,” the Daily Mail reported, citing unnamed sources “close” to the show.
Hines, who played David’s wife on the hit show “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” hasn’t shied away from the political arena as her husband joined forces with Trump. Her performance on “The View” last year must have left marks on the ladies of the ABC show.
Nonetheless, she was “devastated” that she wouldn’t be part of the new project, the Daily Mail reported.
“Cheryl felt terribly hurt and emotionally injured because she had worked so closely with Larry for the entire 12 seasons of Curb Your Enthusiasm and they had become like bosom buddies,” the newspaper quoted an “insider” as recounting.
“Cheryl’s dream was to work with Larry again and be part of the cast of the new show. She firmly believed that the staunch anti-Trumper could put aside his negative political views about MAGA and Kennedy.
“But banning Cheryl was a command from Michelle that Larry could not go against, even if he had wanted to, for old time’s sake, and mend their past close ties.
“He always respected her as an actress. But Michelle’s the boss. And you don’t cross the boss, especially a powerful anti-MAGA force like Michelle.”
According to the Daily Mail’s report, Hines could well be about the only prominent face from David’s past who isn’t appearing in “Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness.”
Citing a report from the Hollywood trade publication Variety, it noted that numerous “Curb Your Enthusiasm” veterans will be part of the project, along with comic Jerry Seinfeld, who created the “Seinfeld” show with David.
Even former President Barack Obama has an on-camera role, according to the Daily Mail.
“But when Cheryl’s name was brought up to join the cast by some of the production people who knew and liked her from ‘Curb,’ Michelle went absolutely ballistic,” one insider said, according to the Daily Mail.
“‘We cannot and will not have that woman on this show. She’s not one of us,” Michelle Obama said, according to the insider.
(Considering that the very name of the Obamas’ production company harkens back to Michelle Obama’s famous 2016 Democratic National Convention claim that “When they go low, we go high,” it doesn’t take a political scientist to notice that vindictive behavior like this doesn’t exactly jibe.)
Another source stressed to the Daily Mail that Michelle Obama’s attitude was all about President Donald Trump and Hines’ husband, RFK Jr. — not about Hines herself.
“Michelle felt that Cheryl wasn’t any great shakes as an actress, but mainly she felt she was disgustingly all MAGA because she was married to Bobby Kennedy Jr., whom she described as a turncoat to the Democratic party and a verifiable whack job as Trump’s Secretary of Health and Human Services.”
“Clearly, Michelle’s a victim of what they call Trump Derangement Syndrome, because her true feelings surfaced in her clear-cut rejection of Cheryl.
“It had nothing to do with Cheryl as an award-winning actress, but rather her supposed politics because of her marriage to Kennedy and being part of Trump’s inner circle of supporters.”
However, how much Hines missed out on is open to question.
As it turns out, the show has had mixed reviews — at best. Possibly giving the Obamas some hometown boosterism, Chicago-based critic Richard Roeper “pretty, pretty, pretty funny.” (Which sounds pretty unconvincing.)
The Hollywood Reporter, meanwhile, essentially panned it, ending an unnecessarily long review with a conclusion that would have saved the writer and his readers a lot of time:
“Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness isn’t smooth or steady either, but in another 250 years, give or take, I should be ready for another season.”
The Daily Mail reported that it had reached out to Michelle Obama’s representatives for comment.
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