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Barack Obama has opened up about his marriage.
For reasons that don’t exactly seem concrete or proof of much of anything at all, there’s been chatter of late that the former President of the United States is headed for a divorce from wife Michelle Obama.
During a conversation with Hamilton College President Steven Tepper on April 3, the 63-year old didn’t tackle this speculation head-on.
But he still made headlines due to his candor.
Admitting to having been “in a deep deficit with my wife” after his two terms in the Oval Office ended, Obama explained further:
“I have been trying to dig myself out of that hole by doing occasionally fun things.
The spouses got married in 1992 and are parents of two daughters: Malia, 26, and Sasha, 23. They’ve also been honest over the years about the nature of their relationship.
In December 2022, for example, Michelle said there was a decade during their relationship when “she couldn’t stand” her husband.
“People think I’m being catty by saying this — it’s like, there were 10 years where I couldn’t stand my husband,” she said in a conversation with Revolt TV. “And guess when it happened? When those kids were little.”
Because one of them was a two-term President, the Obamas lived in the White House from January 2009 to January 2017.
In May 2023, when Obama was asked about his wife’s previous remarks on CBS Mornings, he responded:
“Let me just say this: it sure helps to be out of the White House. And to have a little more time with her…
“Michelle — when our girls were growing up, that was priority number one, two, three and four.
:And so, I did not fully appreciate, I think, as engaged of a father as I was, the degree of stress and tension for her, knowing that not just me and Michelle were under scrutiny and in this strange environment, but that we were raising our daughters in a kind of situation that just wasn’t normal.”
Earlier this year, Michelle didn’t accompany her husband Jimmy Carter’s state funeral … or President Donald Trump’s inauguration; events that a former President’s wife is expected to attend.
Observers have been wondering whether we’re about to witness the first-ever Presidential divorce, with $70 million at stake between the pair if so.
But the Obamas pay this sort of talk no mind.
“Through it all, what kept us sane — and we tried to instill this in our daughters — is, you cannot live through social media,” Michelle told her brother, Craig Robinson, in a talk at SXSW in March. “I don’t think I have ever once looked at a comment section, period.”
That sounds like sage advice in our opinion.
On Valentine’s Day 2025, meanwhile, both spouses wrote some very nice things online about the other.
“Thirty-two years together and you still take my breath away. Happy Valentine’s Day, @MichelleObama!” wrote the the two-time Commander-in-Chief on February 14.
Added Michelle on that same date:
“If there’s one person I can always count on, it’s you, @BarackObama. You’re my rock. Always have been. Always will be. Happy Valentine’s Day, honey!”
She even included a heat emoji with this very kind message.
