Barack and Michelle Obama on Relationship Struggles and Divorce Rumors

Michelle and Barack Obama have been candid about their relationship while constantly shutting down divorce rumors.

The former president and first lady tied the knot in 1992. The couple share daughters Malia and Sasha, whom they welcomed in 1998 and 2001, respectively. Michelle previously opened up about why she chooses to be forthcoming about her and Barack’s highs and lows.

“I talk about marriage because I just think that No. 1, most people don’t talk about it,” Michelle said during a January 2024 episode of “On Purpose With Jay Shetty” podcast. “Because what happens is that by not knowing, you hit, in your relationship, some natural, like, understandable rough patches, and you want to quit. And it’s like, ‘Oh, no, no, no, no, no. That’s not quit worthy. That’s just the nature of things.’ That’s why I joked, it’s like, ‘Oh, you’re mad at your partner, you’re mad for a year and you think the marriage is over.’”

In 2025, rumors swirled that Barack and Michelle were headed for a split — but the Becoming author directly addressed the speculation on multiple occasions.

“That’s the thing that we as women struggle with — disappointing people,” she shared during an April 2025 episode of Sophia Bush’s “Work in Progress” podcast. “I mean, so much so that this year people … couldn’t even fathom that I was making a choice for myself, that they had to assume that my husband and I are divorcing.”

Keep scrolling to see what Barack and Michelle have said about the divorce rumors and their relationship now:

They’re Not ‘Couples Goals’

Michelle opened up about how she and Barack have marital issues just like everyone else.

“I don’t want people looking at me and Barack like hashtag couple goals and not know that no, no, there are some broken things that happen even in the best of marriages,” Michelle said during a January 2024 episode of the “On Purpose With Jay Shetty” podcast. “After 31 years, yeah, we still do [cross the line], but you know it quicker. And then you apologize. You learn how to say my bad, right? That takes a second, right?”

Michelle confessed that she and Barack have “made a lot of mistakes” and have “gotten it wrong,” but that’s why they’ve stayed together after all this time.

Post-White House Struggles

While speaking to a group of students at Hamilton College in April 2025, Barack admitted that he was working on prioritizing his and Michelle’s marriage following his presidency. (Barack served two terms from 2009 to 2017.)

“Look, I was in a deep deficit with my wife,” Barack quipped. “So I have been trying to dig myself out of that hole by doing occasionally fun things.”

Not Attending the Inauguration Together

Speculation sparked that Barack and Michelle were having difficulties after she did not attend the inauguration for Donald Trump’s second term in early 2025. Months later, Michelle decided to speak out on the rumors.

“My decision to skip the inauguration, you know, what people don’t realize, or my decision to make choices at the beginning of this year that suited me, were met with such ridicule and criticism. Like, people couldn’t believe that I was saying no for any other reason, that they had to assume that my marriage was falling apart, you know?” she said on an April 2025 episode of the “IMO With Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson” podcast. “It’s like, while I’m here really trying to own my life and intentionally practice making the choice that was right for me.”

Michelle added that it took a lot out of her to not do “the thing that was perceived as right, but do the things that [were] right for me.”