PoliticsGeorge W. Bush Was 'Mad' Over Barack and Michelle Obama Divorce Rumors, Reveals Daughter Jenna Bush Hager
During 'TODAY With Jenna & Friends,' Jenna Bush Hager disclosed her father George W. Bush's frustrated reaction to rumors about Barack and Michelle Obama's marriage.
July 17 2025, Published 11:34 a.m. ET
George W. Bush was not happy about Barack and Michelle Obama's divorce rumors.
During the Thursday, July 17, episode of TODAY With Jenna & Friends, host Jenna Bush Hager, 43, exposed her father's heated reaction when he heard the buzz.
Barack Obama was a guest on Michelle Obama's podcast.
"I remember I called my dad, and I was like, 'Have you heard this rumor?' He's like, 'I don't believe it. It's not true.' And I'm like, 'Okay. Love you,'" she recounted of talking to the former president, 79. "He was kind of mad that I called to even ask. He was like, 'That isn't true. I know them, and that isn't true.' Sometimes, when you're in the public eye like that, those rumors start."
Barack Obama Makes Guest Appearance on Michelle Obama's Podcast
Michelle and Barack Obama squashed divorce rumors.
Barack joined Michelle on the Wednesday, July 16, episode of her "IMO" podcast to help squash the hearsay.
"I watched that three times, because you can see their dynamic, which is so refreshing and cute..." Jenna said. "The whole world created all these rumors because they weren't even in the same room."
Guest co-host Octavia Spencer agreed and thought it was "kind of ridiculous" people were speculating about their marriage in the first place.
"It's crazy that they would even have to respond by showing up [on the podcast]," the actress quipped.
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Jenna Bush Hager weighed in on the Barack and Michelle Obama divorce rumors.
At the beginning of the podcast episode, both the couple and Michelle's brother, Craig Robinson, made light of the rumors.
"Wait, you guys like each other?" Craig, 63, teased.
"She took me back...it was touch and go for a while," Barack, 63, joked.
The basketball coach expressed how nice it was to have them in the same room together, opening a window for Michelle, 61, to clap back at haters.
"I know, because when we aren't [in the same room], people think we're divorced," she quipped. "There hasn’t been one moment in our marriage where I have thought about quitting my man."
Although the former first lady admitted they've had both "hard times" and "fun times," she has "become a better person" because of her husband, whom she praised as an "engaged” father to their daughters: Malia, 27, and Sasha, 24.
Michelle Obama Further Addresses Divorce Rumors
Michelle and Barack Obama are not divorced.
Michelle previously addressed her detractors on the "Wild Card" podcast in June.
"The fact that people don’t see me going out on a date with my husband sparks rumors of the end of our marriage," she expressed. "It’s like, 'OK, so we don’t Instagram every minute of our lives.' We are 60. We’re 60, y’all. You just are not gonna know what we’re doing every minute of the day."
