Michelle Obama has addressed rumors that she and Barack are getting divorced.
The couple turned heads in January when Barack attended former President Jimmy Carter’s funeral without his wife. Days later, Michelle confirmed she wouldn’t attend Donald Trump’s second presidential inauguration either, sparking rumors that she and Barack were splitting up.
The former First Lady finally spoke about the discourse during an appearance on Sophia Bush’s Work in Progress podcast on Wednesday.
“The interesting thing is that, when I say ‘no,’ for the most part people are like, ‘I get it, and I’m OK,’” she said.
“That’s the thing that we as women, I think we struggle with disappointing people. I mean, 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.”
“This couldn’t be a grown woman just making a set of decisions for herself, right?” she added. “But that’s what society does to us. We start actually, finally going, ‘What am I doing? Who am I doing this for?’ 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 remarks come days after Barack made a candid revelation about their relationship. During a talk at Hamilton College on April 3, he explained how his presidency affected his marriage of 32 years.
“I was in a deep deficit with my wife,” he said. “I’ve been trying to dig myself out of that hole by doing occasionally fun things.”
Michelle previously opened up about her marriage during an interview with Revolt TV, in which she said of the effort she and her husband put in: “There are times I’m 70, he’s 30. There are times he’s 60, I’m 40.”
She also said “there were 10 years” where she “couldn’t stand” Barack, but added: “I would take 10 bad years over 30. It’s just how you look at it.”
According to Michelle, the issue stemmed from a realization that the couple’s marriage wasn’t “even” at the time, as she noted that she was taking care of the children and her husband was embarking on his political career.
Barack had two terms as US president, which lasted from 2009 to 2017.
“That’s when all the measuring starts,” she continued, while acknowledging that couples often “turn that ire on each other.”
