Michelle Obama wants you to know that she and President Barack Obama are still kicking (and very much in love!) after 32 years of marriage. During a conversation on the Work in Progress podcast, the former first lady got candid about decisions she’s made since leaving the White House in 2017. She also debunked divorce rumors that have been surfacing in the process.
“The interesting thing is that, when I say ‘no,’ for the most part people are like, ‘I get it, and I’m okay,’” Michelle said on the April 9 episode of the pod. “That’s the thing that we as women, I think...we struggle with disappointing people. I mean, so much so that this year people were...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.”
She went on, telling host Sophia Bush, “This couldn’t be a grown woman just making a set of decisions for herself, right? 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 also dished about “making some big girl decisions” in her 60s. “If not now, when? What am I waiting for? How am I going to spend 20 years?” she asked. before adding, “Now is the time for me to start asking myself these hard questions of, ‘Who do I truly want to be every day?’”
Ahead of the former first lady’s podcast appearance, Barack gave rare insight into his marriage with Michelle during Hamilton College’s Sacerdote Series in Clinton, New York, on April 3.
“I was in a deep deficit with my wife,” he told Hamilton College President Steven Tepper at the event. “So I have been trying to dig myself out of that hole by doing occasionally fun things.”
Well, nothing to see here—the Obamas are still going strong.
