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, the Obamas have announced that their production company Higher Ground is ditching Netflix as these divorce rumors continue to circulate.
The Obamas Part Ways With Netflix
Higher Ground’s first look deal with Netflix is up later this year. Insiders are claiming that once it expires, the Obamas’ production company will transition to being independent.
Barack, 64, signified that this change was coming when he was interviewed at History Channel’s special edition of HistoryTalks in Philadelphia Saturday honoring America’s 250th anniversary. There, he talked about starting Higher Ground “with the intention of trying to see if we could lift up some stories that help make America look at itself and excavate those better angels of our nature.”
“And we were in partnership with Netflix,” Barack added. “We’re in a process now of transitioning to a more independent [future] where we can work with a bunch of different studios.”
Sources told Deadline that the Obamas’ deal with Netflix has not yet ended. However, they added that Higher Ground plans to become independent and not pursue another deal with any studio. Higher Ground still intends to collaborate with Netflix on any existing projects.
Barack and Michelle, 62, launched Higher Ground back in 2018 with an exclusive overall deal with Netflix. In 2024, they transitioned to a first look agreement with the international streaming service.
“We’re very grateful for the launch that happened, and I’ll give you an example of the kinds of stories we’ve told,” Barack said. “We’ve told documentaries like American Factory that discusses what’s happening to industrial America, that won an Oscar, and very proud of that. We’ve done some fictional, scripted work like Rustin, about the great Bayard Rustin, a largely unsung hero of the civil rights movement.”
Obama Divorce Rumors
This comes at a difficult time for Barack and Michelle. Indeed, over the past year, the Obamas have been plagued by rampant rumors that they are divorcing.
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 parting ways with Netflix will certainly do nothing to stop the rumors that they’re heading for divorce. Only time will tell if the Obama marriage will actually survive!