Michelle Obama is breaking her silence on the Barack Obama divorce rumors.
The former First Lady appeared on Tuesday’s episode of the Work in Progress podcast with Sophia Bush, where she opened up about all the speculation surrounding her and Barack’s relationship. If you remember, rumors started to swirl after Barack appeared at both Jimmy Carter’s funeral and Donald Trump’s inauguration without Michelle. At the time, insiders claimed it wasn’t because of any relationship issues — but rather that she’s “checked out” of DC life in regard to the funeral, and wasn’t about to “plaster on a pleasant face and pretend for protocol’s sake” that she approved of Trump’s re-election at all.
In other words, she’s an independent woman who can make decisions outside of what her husband wants! And she doubled down on those reports during her conversation with Sophia! The 61-year-old explained:
“The interesting thing is that, when I say ‘no,’ for the most part people are like, ‘I get it, and I’m okay.’ That’s the thing that we as women, I think … We struggle with disappointing people. I mean, so much so that this year people were … 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.”
When she puts it into perspective like that, the rumors really do seem silly. She continued:
“This couldn’t be a grown woman just making a set of decisions for herself, right? But that’s what society does to us. We start actually, finally going, ‘What am I doing? Who am I doing this for?’ And if it doesn’t fit into the sort of stereotype of what people think we should do, then it gets labeled as something negative and horrible.”
She’s much more than just Barack Obama’s wife! She’s her own woman with her own autonomy! Who can still be in a happy marriage!
Now in her 60s, Michelle noted she’s working on “making some big girl decisions”:
“If not now, when? What am I waiting for? How am I going to spend 20 years? Now is the time for me to start asking myself these hard questions of, ‘Who do I truly want to be every day?’”
She continued:
“I’m trying to do that more and more, so what does it look like? It looks like whatever I want it to look like, and I still find time to give speeches and to be out there in the world and to work on projects.”
Good for her!
Amid all the divorce speculation, the Obamas have also been hit with rumors Barack has a secret relationship with Jennifer Aniston… A rumor she’s firmly denied, and one they laid to rest when they posted heartwarming Valentine’s Day messages in honor of their 32-year-long marriage.
