Over the past year, 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.
Though the Obama divorce rumors are still running rampant, Barack and Michelle put on a united front on Tuesday as they spoke at a stakeholders reception for the Barack Obama Presidential Center in Chicago.
There, Michelle took the stage wearing a unique skirt and top that paid tribute to her late mother Marian Robinson, who died in 2024 at the age of 86. The belted, pencil skirt that Michelle wore featured a large photo of Marian’s face on it.
Michelle Brings Barack To Tears
The Obamas claimed that Barack, 64, saw Michelle’s skirt for the first time when they were onstage. The former president was reportedly so moved by it that he was brought to tears.
“He’s really messed up,” Michelle, 62, told the audience. “I’m giving him some time because this beautiful skirt that my stylist Meredith Koop picked out, that is my favorite portrait of my mom. He didn’t know it existed until just a few minutes ago.”
“I’ve had a few weeks to settle down in the beauty of this skirt, but it’s messing him up for good reason,” she continued. “But Marian would have been so proud.”
Check out this moment for yourself in the video below.
Obama Divorce Rumors
This comes at a difficult time for both Barack and Michelle, as they have been plagued by rampant divorce rumors for over a year.
These divorce rumors escalated in a big way back in January of last year, 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 in 2025. “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 of last year. 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 has 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.”
The Obamas Respond
Back in July of last year, 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.
The Obamas can create emotional moments onstage for their stakeholders all that they want to, but an increasing number of Americans are finding it hard to believe that all is well in their marriage. Only time will tell if the Obama marriage will actually survive.