COUPLESMichelle Obama Says She and Barack Did 'the Work' to Improve Their Marriage After 'Years' of 'Tough Times': 'It Only Gets Better'
Michelle Obama admitted marriage can be 'hard.'
March 11 2026, Published 4:53 p.m. ET
Michelle Obama candidly discussed the ups and downs of her marriage to Barack Obama on the Wednesday, March 11, episode of her "IMO" podcast.
The former first lady explained one of the reasons she dishes on the "hard" parts of her relationship is to show how they made it through the obstacles.
Michelle Obama admitted she's had 'tough times' in her marriage to Barack.
"We’ve been married 30 plus years. Something works," Michelle, 62, said of tying the knot with the ex-president, 64, in 1992. "If you don’t let people know about the tough times, I think they quit too soon."
"That’s why I say things like you can go through ten bad years in a 30-year marriage and that’s still great odds," the mother-of-two continued, referring to a previous confession in which she admitted she "couldn't stand" her spouse for a decade.
The former first lady said their marriage is only getting 'better.'
"In any long relationship, there is going to be years, months, hours of time where things just don’t feel right," the Becoming author noted. "You don’t quit on it. You dig deeper. And if you don’t dig deeper, you miss all the stuff on the end."
Michelle went on to explain that "the level of muscle Barack and I have in our marriage is earned. It’s earned over time and it’s only gotten better."
"That's the point. It only gets better," she declared. "We’ve done the work."
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The Spouses Are in a 'New Phase of Life' as Empty Nesters
The podcast host said it's 'taking time' for the couple to adjust to being empty nesters.
Michelle said she and her beau are in a "new phase of life" now that both of their daughters, Sasha, 24, and Malia, 27, are living on their own.
"That’s a whole new assignment that you have to factor in. Now we’re doing this, and we’re back to just me and him. It takes time," she said of adjusting.
Inside the Obama Divorce Rumors
Michelle Obama shut down divorce rumors, noting she and her husband 'don't Instagram every minute of our lives.'
As OK! reported, divorce rumors between the pair swirled last year after Barack was seen on a few outings by himself — including going solo to Donald Trump's 2025 inauguration.
However, she shut down the gossip on a June 2025 episode of the "Wild Card" podcast.
"One of the major decisions I made this year was to stay put and not attend funerals and inaugurations and all the things that I’m supposed to attend," she explained. "That was a part of me using my ambition to say, ‘Let me define what I want to do, apart from what I’m supposed to do, what the world expects of me.’ And I have to own that."
"The fact that people don’t see me going out on a date with my husband sparks rumors of the end of our marriage. It’s like, ‘OK, so we don’t Instagram every minute of our lives.’ We are 60. We’re 60, y’all," she expressed. "You just are not gonna know what we’re doing every minute of the day."
