Over the past few months, rumors have been swirling that Barack and Michelle Obama are heading for divorce. According to these rumors, Barack and Michelle have been living “separate lives” for quite some time.
Now, Michelle is adding fuel to these rumors in a big way by admitting that she never wanted Barack to go into politics in the first place. Perhaps this resentment is what led to the alleged breakdown of the Obamas’ marriage, should they actually be splitting.
Michelle Didn’t Want Barack ‘To Be A Politician’
On the latest episode of her IMO podcast, Michelle sat down with Elle’s Editor-in-Chief Nina Garcia and African-American literature professor Farah Jasmine Griffin. The point of the episode was meant to be to discuss Michelle’s new fashion book “The Look.” However, it didn’t take long for Michelle to steer the conversation in a direction that allowed her to speak negatively about Barack.
Indeed, the interview took a turn when the women were discussing the all-white ensemble that Michelle wore at the Democratic National Convention in 2004. Michelle explained that she had been short on time when it came to finding something to wear to this event. As she gave her guests a window into what her life looked like pre-White House, Michelle confessed that she never wanted Barack to go into politics in the first place.
“[It] was very much the life of a working mother with a partner that traveled often,” recalled Michelle, 61.
“You know, I had a full time big job, I had two little girls,” the former lawyer continued. “My husband decided he was going to be a politician, which was like ‘oh my god, really? Can you pick just one other career? I mean there’s so much [else].'”
Michelle recalled telling Barack, “You’re very talented, you know, you could do almost anything – are you sure politics is what you want to do?”
Michelle ‘Didn’t Think About’ Barack’s DNC Speech
The former First Lady went on to claim that when Barack was chosen to give the keynote address at the 2004 DNC, she was so busy raising their daughters that she “didn’t have time to think about the speech.”
“I literally didn’t think about it,” she admitted, adding that he “knew he was writing it, I was listening to drafts, I was like ‘oh, that sounds good, it’s going to be exciting.’ But I didn’t make the connection because I was busy. [I was] dropping the girls off at ballet, doing pick up and making dinner and getting to my job.”
Michelle was both shocked and horrified when she learned that she would have to join Barack onstage and “be the wife and wave.”
“I was like ‘oh my god I have nothing to wear and I can’t just take one of my suits,'” she remembered. “I made one of those mad, lunch-hour dashes to probably Bloomingdales and just happened upon this beautiful taffeta suit that looked white.”
Michelle concluded by lamenting that she and Barack had no idea that this speech would change their lives forever.
“He was just giving a speech,” Michelle concluded. “We didn’t know it would be the speech that could catapult him to national attention, that was not the assignment.”
Barack’s Marriage ‘Deficit’ With Michelle
It’s become increasingly clear as of late that Michelle wasn’t a big fan of Barack’s political career. Even Barack himself has admitted that he has been in a marriage “deficit” with Michelle in the wake of them leaving the White House eight years ago.
Barack spoke about this last month while being interviewed on the final episode of WTF with Marc Maron, which is ending after sixteen years. While speaking to host Marc Maron, Barack offered up some advice about how to handle suddenly having so much free time.
“Just be a little brain-dead for a while. I read a bunch of books that had been stacked up,” Barack, 64, advised as he talked about when he left office. “I had a big deficit with my wife I had to kind of work my way out of, right? So, we went on a lot of trips and hung out and had nice dinners and slept in.”
‘Trying To Dig Myself Out Of A Hole…’
Barack previously made similar comments while speaking in London’s O2 Arena as part of his European speaking tour, Barack confirmed that his time in the White House drastically negatively impacted his relationship with Michelle, 61.
“I was digging myself out of the hole I found myself in with Michelle,” Barack confessed. “Now I’m at about level ground.”
Barack went on to say that it’s been “challenging” to get his marriage with Michelle, 61, back on track.
Barack made nearly identical comments about the state of his marriage days later while giving a speech at a Jefferson Educational Society event in Erie, Pennsylvania.
“I have spent over eight years now trying to dig myself out of a hole with Michelle,” Barack said in that speech.
“And that’s been challenging, but I feel like I’m making progress,” he added. “I’m almost breaking even at the moment.”
That doesn’t sound very promising for the future of the Obamas’ marriage, now does it?!
Obama Divorce Rumors
This comes at a difficult time for the Obamas, as they’ve been plagued by rampant divorce rumors for years.
These divorce rumors escalated in a big way back in January, when Michelle skipped both the funeral of Jimmy Carter and the inauguration of Donald Trump. She was the only living former First Lady to miss each of these events. This forced Barack to attend both events alone.
“I have been hearing this rumor that the Obamas are getting a divorce by reputable people,” political commentator Meghan McCain said on reporter Tara Palmeri’s podcast earlier this year. “I’m not talking about TMZ, I’m not talking about Perez Hilton, although I love him, he’s my friend.”
“I’m talking about like very serious journalists telling me that they’re hearing that the Obama divorce rumors are true,” she continued.
“We’ve heard that for a long time,” replied Tara, who has long covered Washington politics. “Like I just heard that they live separate lives.”
Listen to Meghan and Tara talk more about this in the clip below.
Michelle Accused Of ‘Really Disliking’ Barack
Michelle launched her IMO podcast back in March. Since then, Michelle has used it to bash Barack and air his dirty laundry seemingly every chance she gets.
In fact, Michelle has complained about Barack so many times on her podcast that the former Fox News host Tucker Carlson recently claimed that the former First Lady “really dislikes her husband, and it’s super obvious.”
“I’m not just saying that to be catty,” Tucker explained. “I think I’m trying to feel compassion for her but her hostility toward the guy is unbelievable.”
Tucker’s fellow former Fox News host Megyn Kelly was quick to agree. She pointed out that “everything Michelle says about her husband is negative.”
“I almost never say negative things about Doug,” Megyn added, referring to her own husband Doug Brunt. “He’s not perfect but when I think about him, I don’t immediately go to whatever is negative. I go to what’s positive and what I love about him.”
Watch Tucker and Megyn talk more about this in the video below.
The Obamas Respond
Back in July, Barack appeared on Michelle’s IMO podcast. There, they desperately tried to shoot down the escalating divorce rumors.
“There hasn’t been one moment in our marriage where I thought about quitting my man,” Michelle claimed. “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.”
“These are the kinds of things that I just miss, right?” Barack chimed in to add. “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?'”
Unfortunately for the Obamas, however, many are still not buying their claims that their marriage is still going strong.
Michelle’s latest comments about having never wanted Barack to go in the politics in the first place will certainly do nothing to help her case that all is well in her marriage. Only time will tell if the Obama marriage will actually survive!