‘I was making a choice’: Michelle Obama speaks out over divorce rumours and public 'assumptions'
10 April 2025, 09:29 | Updated: 10 April 2025, 10:11
Michelle Obama has spoken out for the first time on speculation surrounding her marriage to Barack Obama, following her notable absence from recent public events.
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Appearing on actress Sophia Bush's Work in Progress podcast, the former First Lady opened up about recent speculation surrounding her marriage to Barack.
Voicing what life was now like for her outside of the White House, she shared the joy of control and being able to make “a choice for myself" and the "struggle" women have when it comes to "disappointing people".
“I could have made a lot of these decisions years ago, but I didn’t give myself that freedom,” she told Sophia.
“Maybe even as much as I let my kids live their own lives, I use their lives as an excuse for why I couldn’t do something.”
Sharing her thoughts on the recent marriage speculation on the podcast, she added that she was merely exercising her newly attained powers of choice.
"That's the thing that we as women, I think we struggle with disappointing people," she continued.
"I mean, so much so that this year people were, you know, they couldn't even fathom that I was making a choice for myself that they had to assume that my husband and I are divorcing," Ms Obama said.
It comes as the former First Lady skipped a number of recent high-profile events in recent months, including President Donald Trump’s second inauguration in January, alongside the state funeral of former President Jimmy Carter.
Husband Barack, the former Democrat president who was succeeded by Mr Trump in 2016, attended the inauguration.
Her absence led many to speculate that a rift had formed between the pair, with online commenters theorising on the subject.
She continued: “And now that’s gone. And so now I have to look at my — I get to look at my calendar, which I did this year, was a real big example of me, myself looking at something that I was supposed to do — you know, without naming names.
"And I chose to do what was best for me, not what I had to do, not what I thought other people wanted me to do.”
It followers insiders alleging in January that Michelle hoped her absence from the Washington DC event "speaks volumes".
At the inauguration, Barack was spotted speaking cordially with Mr Trump at the funeral of their fellow former president Jimmy Carter last week - despite their political differences and past criticisms of each other.
On reviewing images of the ceremony, Mr Trump remarked afterwards: "It did look very friendly, I must say."