Nearly a decade after leaving the White House, former first lady Michelle Obama is opening up about her personal life with her husband, former President Barack Obama.
In recent months, the Obamas have faced what seems to be a never-ending cycle of unsubstantiated rumors that their relationship was on the rocks.
Michelle, 61, discussed her current life as a mother and a wife after the White House on the April 8 episode of Sophia Bush’s “Work in Progress” podcast.
“Man, it is whatever I want, Sophia. It’s whatever I want,” the Princeton University graduate responded when asked about her current social life. “It’s the first time in my life that all of my choices are for me.”
Michelle continued, “But it’s also a little scary because as a mom and a busy person, it was somebody else’s excuse: ‘Why didn’t I do this? Why haven’t I gone there? Well, I have to make sure the girls are OK, or my husband’s president, so I can’t. I can’t do that.’”
Later in the interview, Michelle addressed the speculation about the state of her marriage with the Hawaii-born politician. The “Becoming” author also pushed back on reports that avoiding certain public appearances was a sign that the Obamas were splitting up.
“That’s the thing that we as women struggle with, disappointing people. So much so that this year, people couldn’t even fathom that I was making a choice for myself. That they had to assume that my husband and I are divorcing,” Michelle stated.
The mother of two also continued, “This couldn’t be a grown woman just making a set of decisions herself, right? But that’s what society does to us,” before adding, “And if it doesn’t fit into the sort of stereotype of what people think we should do, then it gets labeled as something negative and horrible.”
Michelle’s reaction to the hearsay about her marriage to Barack generated online discussion from outside observers on People magazine’s website.
“She deserves to have her own life [and] make decisions for her. I’m sure she’s still considering her family and her marriage. I wish the public would give her space to do her without the scrutiny. She’s an amazing human!” one person wrote.
A more critical comment about Michelle read, “He constantly has to apologize to her for being President for two terms??? Come on, now. That’s an honor. If he wasn’t, she might have to live a grueling life as an attorney in order to afford 1/100 of her current assets.”
Someone pushed back on that negative sentiment by replying, “If you don’t get that he says that jokingly, then you’re looking for something to poke at. Please stop… The glass is half-full, remember.”
The Obamas first met in 1988 when Barack took a job at a law firm Michelle was already working at. The two eventually married on Oct. 3, 1992, and share two daughters, 26-year-old Malia Obama and 23-year-old Natasha “Sasha” Obama.
Barack defeated Republican Sen. John McCain in the 2008 presidential campaign to become the 44th president of the United States. The Democratic Party leader held the highest office in the land until Donald Trump succeeded him in 2017.
In March 2025, Michelle reflected on her eight years as first lady on her “IMO” podcast with her co-host and brother, Craig Robinson, 62.
“I couldn’t have gotten through eight years in the White House without my big brother,” she admitted. “That’s another sort of unusual aspect to our lives, our relationships, was this whole being married to the president of the United States thing that none of us kind of banked on.”
While Michelle was present for Trump’s first inauguration in 2017, she decided to skip his 2025 inauguration.
Barack did attend the festivities held in D.C. following the former “The Apprentice” star’s 2024 campaign against then-Vice President Kamala Harris.
Trump’s inauguration snub came after Michelle also missed the highly publicized state funeral service for former President Jimmy Carter on Jan. 9, 2025. The memorial was held inside the Washington National Cathedral.
Michelle purposely missing both high-profile political events led to whispers that the Obamas were possibly separating. John McCain’s daughter, conservative talking head Meghan McCain, heavily pushed the breakup gossip just days after Trump’s second inauguration.
Perez Hilton However, there have also been suggestions that Michelle’s absence at the inauguration and Carter’s funeral had to do with her not wanting to publicly associate with the current president.
Throughout the two-term Obama presidency, Trump was one of the most vocal proponents of the false birthism conspiracy theory that claimed Barack was not born in America and, therefore, not eligible to be president.
“She’s never been fake and she’s never been phony. She’s always been very deliberate about where and how she shows up,” an unnamed source told Page Six in January 2025.
After leaving the White House, Barack and Michelle worked together to launch Higher Ground. The production company has overseen films such as “Fatherhood” and “Rustin” as well as television programs such as “We the People” and “Starting 5.”
Michelle’s appearance on “Work in Progress” included her talking about her TV watching preferences as compared to her husband’s preferred programming. She is a fan of comedies like “Nobody Wants This,” “Shrinking,” and “Ted Lasso.”
She went on admitting that like normal couples, “Barack and I, we sometimes argue over what can we watch jointly because he likes death and darkness and then every, I said, you know, you like the plots where everybody’s sad and then they die.”
