The Obamas have denied divorce rumours, emphasising their strong bond and commitment to family.
Recent rumours about a potential divorce between former President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, have sparked widespread speculation and confusion. Despite the swirling gossip, the couple has consistently addressed these rumours with calm and defiance. Both have publicly denied any issues in their marriage, emphasising their strong bond and shared commitment to family. Michelle Obama, in particular, has spoken about the challenges of being in the public eye but also how they have worked through tough moments together. With a relationship that has been closely followed for years, the Obamas continue to reaffirm their unity and love, dismissing the divorce rumours as unfounded.
Here are some of the notable statements the couple has made recently in response to the ongoing rumours.
Michelle Obama’s Response
Michelle Obama recently spoke with Sophia Bush on the “Work in Progress” podcast, dismissing divorce rumours and sharing that she’s prioritising her own decisions and well-being since leaving the White House. She expressed frustration that people assume she’s making choices based on her husband’s career rather than her own desires. Michelle emphasised the importance of women making their own decisions and not being judged for it.
Last month Michelle Obama complained about how difficult it was to follow her husband after he became the president of the United States for eight years. She admitted that her initial response upon hearing that Barack Obama was a candidate for the White House was “no way”.
“Being married to the president of the United States [is a] thing that none of us kind of banked on,” Michelle Obama said in the first episode of her podcast, “IMO”, which debuted on Wednesday, as per The NY Post.
Having never concealed her dislike for politics, Michelle Obama also expressed her annoyance at her husband’s continued tardiness when they first began dating at the Sidley Austin law office in Chicago.
“I’ve got this husband who, when it’s time to leave, is getting up and going to the bathroom,” Michelle Obama, who left the White House in 2017, said.
Barack Obama’s Response
Barack Obama acknowledged the challenges his presidency placed on their marriage, stating he was in a “deep deficit” with Michelle due to his busy schedule. To strengthen their bond, he’s made an effort to engage in fun activities with her. He shared this sentiment with Hamilton College President Steven Tepper, highlighting the strain his eight years in office put on their relationship.
During the conversation, Obama, 63, acknowledged that his eight years in office from 2009 to 2017 had placed a strain on his relationship with Michelle.
“I was in a deep deficit with my wife,” Obama admitted in a conversation. “So I have been trying to dig myself out of that hole by doing occasionally fun things,” the former president added.
Their Marriage
The Obamas have been married since 1992 and have consistently denied any issues in their marriage. Michelle has spoken about the difficulties of being in the public eye but also how they’ve worked through tough moments together.
Michelle Obama Addresses Those Persistent Divorce Rumors, Yet Again
One more time for those in the back: Michelle Obama and former president Barack Obama are not getting divorced. In an interview on Sophia Bush’s podcast, Work in Progress, published Wednesday, the former first lady clarified that just because she’s not always physically with her husband, she’s still with him.Alluding to her absence at both the state funeral of former president Jimmy Carter in January and the inauguration of Donald Trump later that same month, which her husband attended solo, Michelle stood beside her decisions to skip the occasions.
“I chose to do what’s best for me, not what I had to do,” she said, not explicitly singling out either event. She has been critical of Trump in the past, and has urged the world not to “normalize” him or his policies.
The skipped engagements have been pointed to by conspiracy theorists, who, for months have claimed the pair are splitting up, sometimes with an also-untrue side of accusations that Barack had an affair with Jennifer Aniston, a rumor that Vanity Fair reported the long tail of, and debunked.
On the podcast, Michelle continued that 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 said. “But that is what society does to us.”
Next thing you know, she’ll have her own credit card and decide what to wear without her husband’s approval. It’s a slippery slope.
Michelle recently launched a podcast of her own, co-hosted with her brother, Craig Robinson, called IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson. On the show’s first episode, she talked about divorce—her brother’s, and how hurt she was when her sibling didn’t tell her about his split from his wife years ago.
Representatives for Michelle and Barack Obama did not immediately return Vanity Fair’s request for comment.
Michelle Obama hits back at divorce rumors that start when she makes ‘a choice for myself’
Michelle Obama dismissed rumors that she and former President Barack Obama are heading toward divorce.
While speaking on the “Work in Progress” podcast, the former first lady discussed having the freedom to pursue and decline different opportunities since leaving the White House. She said whenever she makes “a choice for myself,” people are quick to assume her marriage is over.
“We as women, I think we struggle with disappointing people,” she told host and “One Tree Hill” star Sophia Bush. “They couldn’t even fathom that I was making a choice for myself. That they had to assume that my husband and I are divorcing. That this couldn’t be a grown woman just making a set of decisions herself. But that’s what that’s what society does to us.”
While she continues to give speeches, pursue projects and advocate for girl’s education, the 61-year-old said she has become more reflective about how she spends her time.
“Now is the time for me to start asking myself these hard questions of … ‘Who do I truly want to be every day? And that changes,” Obama said. “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.”
Obama was notably absent when her husband, former President Barack Obama, attended President Donald Trump’s second inauguration and the funeral of former President Jimmy Carter, which several former first ladies attended.
President Obama Inspires Crowd at Hamilton
More than 5,000 people listened as Obama engaged in an hour-long casual conversation with Hamilton President Steven Tepper in the Margaret Bundy Scott Field House as part of the College’s Sacerdote Great Names Series.
The former president opened by sharing that he hasn’t spoken in public recently. He spends the majority of his time split between work with his Obama Foundation training the next generation of leaders and finishing the second half of his presidential memoir. “In case any of you feel sorry for yourself, this is like 50 term papers,” he said.
That comment drew a collective laugh from the many students in the crowd and led to a broader discussion about what it takes to be a good communicator. Obama said that one must have strong convictions, and articulating them effectively requires a willingness to both share your own experiences and listen to others.
“What made me a better communicator was listening to stories of the people I was meeting.”
He admitted that when he first embarked on the presidential campaign trail in 2007, armed with facts and policies, his message was dry. “What made me a better communicator was listening to stories of the people I was meeting,” he said. “By knowing their lives and what they’ve gone through — losing a job, not having healthcare, their aspirations for their kids, the challenges they had gone through … their fears, their hopes — weaving that into a broader story about how we can work and live together, that’s what worked for me.
“When you listen … you have a capacity to also reach people who don’t agree with you on everything, who don’t think exactly like you or have the same priorities or perspectives, and you can reach a broader audience,” he said.
Tepper next asked the former president to share his thoughts on why many Americans seem to be losing trust in government. Obama said that for most of his lifetime, Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, shared a broad consensus around basic notions of democracy as embodied in the Constitution and Bill of Rights, such as rule of law, separation of power, an independent judiciary, freedom of worship and the press, and an assurance that if one goes before the law, there will be an impartial process to make decisions.
“I do believe that our commitment to those principles has eroded, in part because the government itself got really big and felt distant and unresponsive,” he said.
While Obama acknowledged that he disagrees with many of the policies of the current White House, a larger issue is more troubling. “I’m more deeply concerned with a federal government that threatens universities if they don’t give up students who are exercising their right to free speech,” he said. “The idea that a White House can say to law firms, if you represent parties that we don’t like, we’re going to bar you from representing people effectively. That kind of thing is contrary to the basic compact we have as Americans. Imagine if I had done any of this stuff. Imagine if I had pulled Fox News’ credentials from the White House press corps.
“It’s unimaginable that the same parties that are silent now would have tolerated behavior like that from me or a whole bunch of my predecessors. I say this not on a partisan basis,” he added. “This has to do with something more precious, which is ‘who are we as a country and what values do we stand for?’”
To put issues of the day in historical context, Obama reminded the audience that in many ways the idea that “might makes right” has been the default rule for most of human history. Democracy is a relatively new concept, and an international order where countries cooperate instead of fight is still a bit fragile. He acknowledged that in building our democracy, mistakes have been made along the way and many issues remain to be addressed, but “overall, this system we set up, has created the healthiest, wealthiest, most peaceful era in human history,” he said.
Obama further observed that another reason our commitment to democratic ideals has dissolved is that many Americans have become comfortable and complacent. “It’s been easy during most of our lifetimes to say you are progressive or say you are for social justice or say you’re for free speech and not have to pay a price for it,” he said. “Now we’re at one of those moments where it’s not just enough to say you’re for something, you might actually have to do something and possibly sacrifice a bit. If we say we’re for equality, are we willing to risk something for it? We believe in freedom of speech, do we still stand up when we disagree, when it’s hurtful, when it infuriates us?”
As for strategies for how we as a society can begin bridging divides, the former president recalled another time early in his presidential campaign. Social media was in its infancy and young volunteers on his team were employing Meetup to arrange gatherings of supporters in their local area. People from all walks of life met to learn more about Obama’s position on issues while at the same time getting to know each other. Today, he said, we have siloed communities online that never meet and only reinforce ideas that everybody agrees with. “The more we can encourage, I believe, space, institutions, practices that just get people talking to each other and working together on something in the real world, the more likely we are to break down some of that polarization and rebuild trust,” he said.
The introduction of widespread use of social media and smartphones coincided with Obama’s time in the White House. Although those technologies changed the way we communicate, he sees Artificial Intelligence as having a far broader and disruptive implication across professions.
“I would argue right now, you are better off with a liberal arts education,” he said, noting that what machines can’t do — tell a good story, show compassion, inspire a child, build a sense of teamwork — are the uniquely human skills we need now more than ever.
Obama closed by giving the audience advice regarding resilience. Each president has the opportunity to design a rug for the Oval Office, and his had several quotes stitched into it. One was a quote that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. used: “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” What Obama found inspiring about this is the message that things do get better. Change may not happen as fast as one might like and sometimes there are setbacks.
“Progress is slow and it’s hard. Do not get discouraged because you don’t fix everything all at once. … resilience, more than anything, is what’s needed — understanding that if you work hard you’re still going to fail sometimes,” he said. “The right thing isn’t always going to be rewarded, but it’s worth trying. If you try, not only do you usually end up getting better outcomes, but you are going to live a better life.”
Barack Obama: Family Life
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Obama married Michelle LaVaughn Robinson on October 3, 1992. Their first daughter, Malia Ann, was born on July 4, 1998, and their second daughter, Natasha, known as Sasha, was born on June 10, 2001. Both Michelle and the Obamas’ two daughters were born in Chicago and, until moving to Washington, DC, on January 5, 2009, two months after Barack Obama was elected president, they had spent almost their entire lives there. The Obamas chose to send their daughters to Sidwell Friends School, Sasha initially as a second-grader at the school’s Bethesda, Maryland, elementary school campus and Malia as a fifth-grader at its middle school campus in Washington. The Obamas were accompanied to Washington by Michelle’s mother, Marian Shields Robinson, whom they invited to live with them in the White House and who did so for all eight years of the Obama presidency. Robinson is the only surviving parent of either Barack or Michelle Obama.
Other close family members include Michelle Obama’s brother, Craig Robinson, who coached the Oregon State University men’s basketball team until 2014 before beginning a broadcast career with ESPN, and Barack Obama’s half-sister Maya Soetoro Ng. Ng was born in 1970 in Indonesia, the daughter of Obama’s mother and her second husband, Lolo Soetoro. Growing up, Barack Obama’s family influenced his values in ways that later shaped his political philosophy. “Empathy is at the heart of my moral code … ,” he wrote in The Audacity of Hope, “a call to stand in somebody else’s shoes and see through their eyes. Like most of my values, I learned about empathy from my mother.” As a result, Obama is “angry about policies that consistently favor the wealthy and powerful over average Americans, and insist[s] that government has an important role in opening up opportunity to all.”
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During his final year as president, Obama consulted with a wide range of formal and informal advisers about life after the presidency, which began on January 20, 2017. In March 2016, Obama said that he and his family would remain in Washington, DC, at least until Sasha finished high school in 2019. In May 2016, the White House announced Malia’s decision to attend Harvard University, starting in the fall of 2017 after she took a gap year between graduating from high school and beginning college. The Obamas rented and then bought a house in the prestigious Kalorama section of northwest Washington.
Just 55 years old when his second term ended, Obama announced shortly before leaving office that as a former president, he and former Attorney General Eric Holder would focus on helping Democrats win control of more of the state legislative houses that will shape the redistricting process after the 2020 census. He also hoped to cement his legacy and give back to his adopted hometown of Chicago through the development of the Obama Presidential Center. Located in the South Side, the center will focus on civic engagement and community development.
Obama also said that although he intended to play a restrained role in national politics, he would speak out “when I think our core values may be at stake,” including matters involving “systematic discrimination,” “obstacles to people being able to vote,” “institutional efforts to silence dissent or the press,” and “efforts to round up kids who have grown up here . . . and send them someplace else, when they love this country.” Applying this rubric, Obama criticized his successor, President Donald J. Trump, ten days after leaving office for his travel ban, which attempted to limit entry to the United States by refugees and residents of seven majority-Muslim countries.
