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, these divorce rumors are being fueled after Barack attended a major funeral without Michelle.
Michelle Skips Major Funeral
On Friday, Michelle shocked everyone by not appearing at the funeral of the civil rights icon Rev. Jesse Jackson in Chicago, Illinois. This was particularly surprising, given the Obamas’ longstanding ties with Jackson.
Instead, Barack attended the funeral alone. He was joined by many famous political couples, including Joe and Jill Biden, Bill and Hillary Clinton, and Kamala Harris and Doug Emhoff. Barack even spoke at the funeral, yet Michelle still decided to sit it out.
After Jackson passed away on February 17 at the age of 84, the Obamas issued a joint statement honoring him.
“Reverend Jackson also created opportunities for generations of African Americans and inspired countless more, including us,” the statement reads. “Michelle got her first glimpse of political organizing at the Jacksons’ kitchen table when she was a teenager. And in his two historic runs for president, he laid the foundation for my own campaign to the highest office of the land.”
This makes it all the more shocking that Michelle would choose to skip Jackson’s funeral. At the time of this writing, Michelle has offered no explanation for why she did not attend the ceremony.
Obama Divorce Rumors
This comes after the Obamas have been plagued by divorce rumors for over a year. They are also well aware that Michelle skipping events adds major fuel to these rumors.
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, 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 skipping Reverend Jackson’s funeral will certainly do nothing to help her and Barack’s case that all is well in their marriage. Only time will tell if their marriage will actually survive!