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.
Now, Michelle is adding fuel to these rumors by dining out with her daughters Malia and Sasha without Barack. Indeed, this move has only led to more speculation about the potential downfall of the Obama marriage.
Michelle Reemerges With Daughters
Michelle, 62, was photographed by Daily Mail looking “noticeably gaunt and skinny” as she arrived at the celebrity hotspot restaurant Funke in Beverly Hills, California on Monday night flanked by Secret Service agents. She was soon joined by daughters Malia, 27, and Sasha, 24.
Barack, however, was nowhere to be found. Meanwhile Michelle looked less than pleased in The Mail’s images.
Check out one of the photos below.
This came days after Barack, 64, admitted that his own obsession with speaking out against President Donald Trump has caused “genuine tension” in his marriage with Michelle.
Barack told The New Yorker on Monday that President Trump’s actions have pulled him back into politics “more than I would have preferred.” It seems that this has proved to be costly when it comes to the Obama marriage.
“She wants to see her husband easing up and spending more time with her, enjoying what remains of our lives,” Barack said of Michelle.
“It does create a genuine tension in our household, and it frustrates her,” he continued. “I’m more forgiving of it, in the sense that I understand why people feel that way, because people aren’t looking at me in historical comparison to other presidents. They don’t care about the fact that no other ex-president was the main surrogate for the Party for four election cycles after they left office.”
Yikes! Now that doesn’t bode well for the future of the Obama marriage, now does it?!
Obama Divorce Rumors
In 2022, Michelle infamously admitted during a televised roundtable that “there were ten years where I couldn’t stand my husband.” Last year, she complained about her marriage on her IMO podcast, which she hosts with her older brother Craig Robinson.
“You’re gonna have a bad decade,” Michelle said with a sigh in April of 2025.
“If the odds were you’re going to be married to your partner for 50 years and ten of those years could be bad, you’d sign up for it,” she continued. “You know, and that’s really how it works out.”
The Obama divorce rumors escalated in a big way back in January of 2025, 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.
Michelle reemerging with her daughters without Barack will certainly do nothing to help her case that all is well in her marriage. Only time will tell if Barack and Michelle will actually stay together!