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‘Really Hard Times’: Barack And Michelle Address Divorce Rumors In Joint Sitdown

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The hits just won’t stop coming for the Obamas, who remain besieged by rumors of a pending divorce that both finally addressed head-on during their first joint sitdown in years.

Both chose safe turf for their admissions, sitting together on Michelle Obama’s podcast that launched earlier this year to mixed reviews. She and her brother, Craig Robinson, have dedicated entire shows to their family lives, and occasionally the former first lady has waxed poetic about her marriage to former President Barack Obama.

All three started the show’s latest episode by jumping right into the persistent rumors of a looming divorce.

“What, you guys like each other?” Robinson joked. Michelle replied flatly, “Oh yeah, the rumor mill.”

“She took me back!” cracked the former president before adding their marriage was “touch-and-go for a while.”

Michelle reflected on how nice it was to finally be back in the same room as her husband.

“When we aren’t, folks think we’re divorced,” she stated.

Speculation about the state of the Obamas’ marriage has grown since Michelle skipped Jimmy Carter’s funeral in December, a bipartisan affair that saw President Obama sit near President Donald Trump, laughing as the latter invited him to play golf together at one of his lavish courses.

In contrast, Michelle has made clear through allies that she’ll no longer entertain the niceties of honoring President Trump, whom she has publicly referred to as a “convicted felon” and a “known slumlord” in past speeches or private comments.

However, when it comes to her husband, Michelle made a heartfelt statement about her 33-year marriage.

“There hasn’t been one moment in our marriage where I thought about quitting my man,” she said.

Michelle continued: “And we’ve had some really hard times. So we had a lot of fun times, a lot of adventures, and I have become a better person because of the man I’m married to.”

Robinson recalled a recent visit to Wichita, Kansas, where a fan asked him about the health of his sister’s marriage to the former president.

“This woman came up to me and she was so nice, she’s like, can I have a picture?” he said.

“You know how you get the side hug, and she’s like, ‘What did he do?'” Robinson laughed. “What makes you think he messed up?”

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President Obama feigned ignorance of the controversy, saying he doesn’t put much thought into public opinions about his marriage these days.

“These are the kinds of things that I just miss, right? So I don’t even know this stuff’s going on. And then somebody will mention it to me, and I’m all like, ‘What are you talking about?’ he replied, the Daily Mail reported.

The presidential couple left the White House in 2017. Their youthful marriage brought daughters Malia and Sasha, now 26 and 24, respectively, into the public eye while the family of four projected the all-American image.

Behind the scenes, however, persistent rumors circulated that Michelle had grown increasingly distant from her husband after his time in elected office came to an end. She also reportedly rebuffed entreaties by Democratic Party leadership to run for president in 2024, saying she was done with politics altogether, including refusing to be heavily involved in Kamala Harris’s campaign.

Obama said after the election that he had been in a “deep debt” to his wife for some time.