Former first lady Michelle Obama addressed the recent rumors that she and her husband of 32 years, Barack, could be heading for divorce.
The 61-year-old “Becoming” author discussed the rumors during an episode of Sophia Bush’s “Work in Progress” podcast, which aired this morning.
Rumors about marital struggles for the Obamas swirled after Michelle skipped attending former President Jimmy Carter’s funeral in December. She also didn’t attend President Donald Trump’s second inauguration, even though her husband was there, as were all the other former first ladies.
“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, per E! News. “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.”
“This couldn’t be a grown woman just making a set of decisions for herself, right?” she continued. “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.”
Later, Michelle mentioned that she’s been considering “making some big girl decisions” at this point in her life and understanding that she has to “own it fully.”
“If not now, when? What am I waiting for? How am I going to spend 20 years?” she said during the interview. “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,” she added. “So, who do I want to have a lunch with? How long do I want to stay in a place? Do I want to travel? If a girlfriend calls and says, ‘Let’s go here,’ I can say ‘Yes!’ I can. And I’m trying to do that more and more.”
“I get to look at my calendar, which I did this year. It was a real big example of me, myself, looking at something that I was supposed to do, you know, without naming names, and I chose to do what was best for me,” she said. “Not what I had to do, not what other people wanted me to do, and between you and me, that was an important test for me just as a woman, as an independent person. Because, like all women, I operate from guilt.”
Barack didn’t specifically address divorce rumors, but he did mention his marriage while speaking with Hamilton College president Steven Tepper during an event last week, the outlet noted.
“I was in a deep deficit with my wife, so I have been trying to dig myself out of that hole by doing occasionally fun things,” the former president said at the time.
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[[{“value”:”
Former first lady Michelle Obama addressed the recent rumors that she and her husband of 32 years, Barack, could be heading for divorce.
The 61-year-old “Becoming” author discussed the rumors during an episode of Sophia Bush’s “Work in Progress” podcast, which aired this morning.
Rumors about marital struggles for the Obamas swirled after Michelle skipped attending former President Jimmy Carter’s funeral in December. She also didn’t attend President Donald Trump’s second inauguration, even though her husband was there, as were all the other former first ladies.
“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, per E! News. “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.”
“This couldn’t be a grown woman just making a set of decisions for herself, right?” she continued. “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.”
Later, Michelle mentioned that she’s been considering “making some big girl decisions” at this point in her life and understanding that she has to “own it fully.”
“If not now, when? What am I waiting for? How am I going to spend 20 years?” she said during the interview. “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,” she added. “So, who do I want to have a lunch with? How long do I want to stay in a place? Do I want to travel? If a girlfriend calls and says, ‘Let’s go here,’ I can say ‘Yes!’ I can. And I’m trying to do that more and more.”
“I get to look at my calendar, which I did this year. It was a real big example of me, myself, looking at something that I was supposed to do, you know, without naming names, and I chose to do what was best for me,” she said. “Not what I had to do, not what other people wanted me to do, and between you and me, that was an important test for me just as a woman, as an independent person. Because, like all women, I operate from guilt.”
Barack didn’t specifically address divorce rumors, but he did mention his marriage while speaking with Hamilton College president Steven Tepper during an event last week, the outlet noted.
“I was in a deep deficit with my wife, so I have been trying to dig myself out of that hole by doing occasionally fun things,” the former president said at the time.
“}]]
