Tracee Ellis Ross faces Barack Obama

Tracee Ellis Ross Before thinking President Barack Obama I owe her an apology.

“I broke up with someone and I remember meeting the former president, who was like, ‘I could have told you,'” Ross, 52, recalled during his appearance on Thursday, August 14 Jimmy Kimmel Live.

“And I was like, ‘Well, you failed as a friend!’ Like, you used to be your job, do you know what I mean?” she continued. “Like, bite it in the bud.”

Ross also revealed that despite their close friendship, she never asked Barack or his wife, First Lady Michelle Obamaset her date.

She joked: “I never asked Michelle to set me up, and I think it might be stupid and I need to keep going.”

Ross also discussed her romantic life when appearing on Michelle Obama’s “IMO” podcast in April 2025. Craig Robinson She usually dates young men for one key reason.

“Many men of my age are immersed in toxic masculinity and raised in a culture where a particular relationship looks like a special way of doing it,” Ross explained. “Anything that starts to smell for me – I do enough in a place where I control and feel like I have something to own or prize – I don’t know anything about it. I won’t do it again.”

Ross also said she was no longer interested in expecting a man of her age. “I’ve been through a long time and I feel it’s my job to teach others or grow them,” she concluded.

Despite her interest in having a romantic partner, Ross is no secret, either, as she lives a fulfilling, energetic life alone. She travels frequently (and Looks great when doing this), something highlighted in her 2025 series Traveling with Tracee Ellis Ross.

The series debuted on July 25, 2025 and is available for free on the Roku channel.

In an interview New York Times On the day of publicationRoss explained that she does not provide travel tips.

“I don’t believe in the advice. I offer experience and hope. This is my version. My transparency is about how I can give you a starting point,” she said. “I said this in the Mexican episode: Ms. Cat and Joan of Arc have to have something. Do you know what I mean?”

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She added: “Like, I really wish I had other images in culture and history on the walls that would show me what it means to violate cultural norms and choose what it means to yourself – revolutionary acts of joy, especially revolutionary acts for black women, and the freedom to have agencies and make choices that work for you, whether you have a partner or not.”