--- title: Rahm Emanuel, Zeke Emanuel Recall Their Childhood description: Zeke is a vice provost at the University of Pennsylvania; Rahm is the mayor of Chicago; Ari created William Morris Endeavor canonical: https://time.com/4464757/rahm-zeke-and-ari-emanuel-growing-up/ author: Charlotte Alter article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-26T01:01:16.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-07T06:44:20.968Z article:section: Politics og:title: Watch: How the Emanuel Brothers Became Super-Siblings og:description: "If there wasn't blood, it was a good night" og:url: https://time.com/4464757/rahm-zeke-and-ari-emanuel-growing-up/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt25200b43fe3eb8df/6988a39cf887dc558ae972ed/emanuel-facebook.jpg?branch=production&width=1120&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1120 og:image:height: 630 og:image:alt: emanuel-facebook og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch: How the Emanuel Brothers Became Super-Siblings twitter:description: "If there wasn't blood, it was a good night" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt25200b43fe3eb8df/6988a39cf887dc558ae972ed/emanuel-facebook.jpg?branch=production&width=1120&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # What Rahm, Zeke and Ari Emanuel Were Like Growing Up > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=57d02052-d192-46c0-834e-46a14f4c864d&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Secrets of Successful Siblings: Zeke, Rahm and Ari Emanuel [Watch (HLS stream): Secrets of Successful Siblings: Zeke, Rahm and Ari Emanuel](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/LW8tBSHg.m3u8) (2:25)  _Published 2016-08-24. In the Sept. 5 issue of TIME, we looked at what makes for successful siblings. It is a story about nine American families, including the Emanuel family, who all saw their children achieve distinction in disparate fields._ by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/) and [Diane Tsai](https://time.com/author/diane-tsai/) Aug 26, 2016 1:01 AM UTC In the Sept. 5 issue of TIME, we looked at what makes for successful siblings. It is a story about nine American families, including the Emanuel family, who all saw their children achieve distinction in disparate fields. by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/) and [Diane Tsai](https://time.com/author/diane-tsai/) Aug 26, 2016 1:01 AM UTC In the [Sept. 5 issue of TIME,](http://time.com/superfamilies/) we looked at what makes for [successful sibling](http://time.com/superfamilies/)s. It is a story about nine American families, including the Emanuel family, who all saw their children achieve distinction in [disparate fields.](http://time.com/superfamilies/) On most nights, [the three Emanuel boys](http://time.com/superfamilies/) would adjourn their ritual fistfight and flop on their mother’s bed to hear a story. But sometimes she didn’t come home; Marsha Emanuel was occasionally arrested as she demonstrated against segregation in 1960s Chicago. On those nights, the boys bickered over the top bunk while Marsha waited behind bars. The Emanuels would go on to become the stuff of legend and are often called the Jewish Kennedys: bioethicist Zeke is a vice provost at the University of Pennsylvania, a former Obama Administration official and one of the main architects of the Affordable Care Act; Rahm is the mayor of Chicago and a former chief of staff to President Obama; and Ari created William Morris Endeavor, one of the biggest talent agencies in Hollywood. Between their mother’s civil rights work, their pediatrician father’s campaign against lead paint and their grandfather’s union loyalties, the three rowdy youngsters couldn’t escape political awareness even if they tried. “If we did not go with her to a particular protest, that protest was brought home,” Rahm recalls, sitting in the briefing room of the Chicago mayor’s office. “Just eating dinner was a test of current events.” (The brothers also have a much younger, adopted sister, Shoshana.) Their home was a constant state of trial-by-combats. The boys fought but then they moved on. “We were called a lot of bad names, and we had to withstand that and continue to go on,” says Zeke Emanuel. “That breeds a certain kind of toughness.” “If there wasn’t blood,” Zeke adds, [“it was a good night.”](http://time.com/superfamilies/) ## Transcript [00:00] When I used to complain to my mother that you know, Zeke [00:02] obviously being the eldest and I [ UNKNOWN ] the [00:04] youngest you know, I was lost in the middle and she [00:07] doesn't know you're the meat of the sandwich and nobody [00:09] wants the bread. The other thing that I always say to my [00:12] mother, I used to say you love Ezekiel see, more than you [00:16] love me. She says no, I hate you all equally. If [00:20] you really want to know what motivates us, just, we can [00:23] end the interview right there. [ Music ] [00:28] My father is a very high energy. Guy [00:33] who is a very much of a get things done which I think [00:36] [ UNKNOWN ] inherited. We don't sit around thinking a lot. [00:39] I think we're relatively quick decision makers. That doesn't [00:43] mean we get it right every time. But we get it right enough [00:45] of the time and save a lot of time on the decision making. [00:50] My mom was very heavily politically involved. Good about [00:54] creating friendships and having our houses sort of a [00:58] [ UNKNOWN ] For a lot of people to come over feel [01:01] comfortable, argue we were from a very early age, ware [01:05] of political activities in the world, the class of political [01:09] activities affect that There were big justice and questions [01:14] at steak in your position at it mattered to the world and that [01:18] you yourself could make a difference. I think a very [01:21] important message but she was also one of these mothers [01:24] who was not a micromanager by any stretch of the [01:27] imagination. She was a supporter of us but she didn't tell us [01:30] what to do and she allowed us to play and to [01:35] develop our own ideas. She didn't even worry too much [01:38] about whether they were safe or not. That was messaging [01:42] that will say wow I didn't realize that steak [01:46] as a 30th protein is 20 cigarettes a day. So that one subject [01:50] I try to say as delicately as possible, it's not like my lifelong [01:54] friend Simone, she will come [ INAUDIBLE ] And that's why [01:57] I say it, and I think I say it pretty nicely and I even tried to [02:00] name my book The Happy Vegan although some of the [02:04] Facts in there, hard to digest. Okay. So I wanna go back to [02:07] the idea of [ UNKNOWN ] for a second. Cuz [02:11] [ UNKNOWN ] [02:13] how do you approach [02:19] [ UNKNOWN ]? 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