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 has found herself in hot water for saying that young people should date before college. Indeed, this is blowing up in her face as her own divorce rumors continue to escalate.
Michelle Hit With Backlash
During the latest episode of her IMO podcast, which she hosts with her older brother Craig Robinson, Michelle sat down with television writer and film producer Mara Brock Akil. During their conversation, Michelle and Mara express their belief that it’s crucial that young people date around before they go to college.
It didn’t take long for these remarks to backfire on them.
“There are a lot of Black people, they get into college, [and] they’ve never had a boyfriend or girlfriend,” began Michelle, 61.
“I don’t think that’s healthy,” said Mara, 55. Michelle was quick to agree, adding, “I mean a lot of that comes from being in all white environments as Black kids.”
Mara then stressed what she feels is the importance of learning how to navigate someone’s romantic feelings for you, and vice versa.
“[If not] there’s no memory of a mutual desire and how to negotiate those feelings, those conversations, those opportunities – maybe to come to mom or dad for advice,” Mara explained. “There’s no place for them to even practice those practices.”
Unfortunately for both Michelle and Mara, however, social media users were quick to roast them for this in the podcast episode’s comments section.
“This is a slippery slope. Why are they encouraging minor romance?” wrote one social media user. Another added, “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with never having a boyfriend or a girlfriend before you go to college.”
“I don’t think there is anything wrong with never dating before college,” a third user commented. A fourth wrote, “There is no need to rush dating. It will happen when the timing is right. Let’s not put unnecessary pressure where there doesn’t need to be any.”
Obama Divorce Rumors
This comes at a difficult time for the Obama family, as Barack and Michelle have been plagued by divorce rumors for quite some time.
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 with her older brother Craig Robinson 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.
Given the rampant rumors over the state of her marriage, backlash over her comments about young people dating is the last thing that she needs right now. Only time will tell if the Obama marriage actually survives!