Michelle Obama’s memoir, titled Becoming, hit bookshelves this week and is well on its way to international bestseller status. The NY Post reported that its inevitable runaway success is due to a combination of factors including multi-country release, the fact that it will be published in 25 different languages, and Oprah Winfrey’s selection of the book for her book club. Before the memoir was even published, Michelle received a $65 million advance for Becoming. This, however, is just the latest in a series of highly lucrative pursuits by the Obama power couple, pursuits that have them headed for billion-dollar status.
Another much-publicized and highly lucrative Obama project is a contract they signed with streaming service Netflix earlier this year that’s worth over $50 million. With this deal, the couple will produce scripted and unscripted series as well as documentaries, docuseries, and features. Their work will be available to 125 million Netflix subscribers and shown in 190 countries.
Not surprisingly, both Michelle and Barack Obama are in high demand for speaking engagements, and they are well paid for those appearances. Michelle receives $225,000 for each speaking engagement while Barack garners $400,000 per speech. He also receives $207,800 a year from a presidential pension.
Barack Obama surprises wife Michelle with flowers at her book tour show https://t.co/CFT6XYFOHQ pic.twitter.com/cRXOZnNxF5
— The Independent (@Independent) November 18, 2018
Barack Obama is also a successful author. His children’s book titled Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters and his non-fiction book The Audacity of Hope earned him a reported $8.8 million, and his Dreams from My Father earned him almost $7 million. He is said to have donated $392,000 from his children’s book royalties to the Fisher House, a non-profit that supports families of veterans.
The couple made an estimated $20.5 million between 2005 and 2016, the years Barack Obama spent in Washington, D.C. as a senator and then as president. Their current worth is estimated to be $135 million.
Michelle Obama’s latest book details her marriage including some previously undisclosed challenges she has faced with her husband. Obama shares that she suffered a miscarriage and that she became pregnant with their two daughters, Malia and Sasha, through in-vitro fertilization. She also shared that her marriage to Barack was not always the blissful one it appears to be currently and that they attended couples counseling together at one point. Besides income she will receive from sales of Becoming, Michelle Obama will also profit from the sale of related merchandise like T-shirts and hoodies, mugs, and candles. She will donate 10 percent of proceeds to the Global Girls Initiative that provides education to adolescent girls across the world.