COUPLESMichelle Obama Admits 'Marriage Is Hard' After Debunking Divorce Rumors
Michelle and Barack Obama tied the knot in 1992.
Michelle Obama's marriage is still going strong — but she never said it was easy.
During the latest episode of her and brother Craig Robinson's "IMO" podcast, Obama, 61, opened up about the struggles a union can bring while speaking with her older sibling, 62, and special guest Tracee Ellis Ross, 52.
Michelle Obama recently addressed divorce rumors about her and Barack.
The conversation also involved the difficulties of dating — prompting Michelle and her brother to recall what the early days of her and former President Barack Obama's relationship looked like.
"I've told this story many times about when you first started dating Barack. So Mich starts to date Barack, and we don't know who this guy is, we're just like, 'Barack? Who's got a name like Barack?' And I'm thinking it's gonna last a month like most of your relationships,'" Craig joked, poking fun at his little sister.
After her brother admitted he was certain Michelle and Barack's romance was "not going to last," the former first lady explained how it takes a lot of work for a relationship to go the distance.
"Marriage is hard and it is reasonably hard, you know, it's the right kind of hard but don't get upset when it's hard," confessed Michelle, who shares daughters Malia, 26, and Sasha, 23, with Barack.
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Michelle and Barack Obama share two daughters: Malia, 26, and Sasha, 28.
She continued: "The reality is that if you choose to have a traditional marriage and you have kids let me tell you the years from one to 13 will be bad for you as an adult."
Clarifying how starting a family is a "beautiful" thing, she warned having children will certainly "take you for a loop."
Michelle Obama recently admitted 'marriage is hard.'
Michelle's comments about marriage come just weeks after she addressed ongoing speculation she and Barack are divorcing during a guest appearance on the Wednesday, April 9, episode of Sophia Bush’s "Work in Progress" podcast.
When discussing how she’d skipped out on a few high-profile events lately — including former President Jimmy Carter’s funeral and POTUS Donald Trump’s inauguration in January — Michelle declared: "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."
"This couldn't be a grown woman just making a set of decisions for herself, right?" she wondered. "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."
Michelle and Barack have been married since 1992 and were last spotted publicly together in December 2024, though the famed attorney was seen wearing her wedding ring while out and about without her husband this month.
