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 whining that she felt “confined” during her time as First Lady. She made this admission while interviewing the radically liberal Hollywood star Jane Fonda on her IMO podcast.
Michelle Felt ‘Confined’ As First Lady
Michelle, 61, complained about her time as First Lady while speaking with Jane, 87, and her other guests Bethann Hardison, 83, and Jenna Lyons, 57.
“That little eight-year stint as First Lady tends to be a bit confining because the job was not just to represent me, but to represent the nation,” Michelle whined. “As the first Black family in that house… Black folks feel in all the first positions that we’re carrying the torch, we’re lighting the way.”
Michelle went on to complain that she felt tons of pressure to do “really, really well so that the next folks will have a chance” and “get it right.”
“Women, people of color, people of different ethnicities, of different genders and sexual orientation – we all feel that,” Michelle claimed.
Not stopping there, Michelle proceeded to allege that this pressure impacted the way that she dressed. It should be noted that she’s currently desperately promoting her new fashion book “The Look.“
“A lot of my fashion choices, as we talked about in ‘The Look,’ were about using the language as a way to send a message about beauty, about culture, about the American spirit, about inclusion,” Michelle stated. “So you know, I had a role. And now that I’m out of that role, fashion is about me, it’s selfishly completely about what I like and what I want to do.”
According to Michelle, she felt “confined” when it came to her fashion choices in the White House.
“Now I feel like, whatever I do, I don’t have to explain it or it doesn’t have a consequence in that way,” she concluded. “It wasn’t that I resented that, but I was representing [the White House] and now I’m just representing me.”
Barack’s Marriage ‘Deficit’ With Michelle
It’s become increasingly clear as of late that Michelle did not enjoy her time in the White House. 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, 64, 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.
“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 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 over a year.
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 complaints to her buddy Jane about feeling “confined” during her time as First Lady will certainly do nothing to help her case that all is well in her marriage. Only time will tell if Michelle and Barack actually stay together!