Michelle and Barack Obama have hit back at rumours they are to divorce after much speculation that their marriage is in trouble.
The Obamas’ relationship has been the subject of gossip over the past few months especially after Michelle didn’t show up at either Jimmy Carter’s funeral or the second inauguration of Donald Trump.
During an appearance on Michelle’s podcast IMO, which she co-hosts with her brother Craig Robinson, when the former President of the United States arrived and warmly embraced his wife, Robinson joked 'What, you guys like each other?' before Michelle replied: 'Oh yeah, the rumour mill.'
Barack joked back 'She took me back! It was touch and go for a while.'
The former first lady joined in adding that it is nice to be in the same room as her husband, 'When we aren't, folks think we're divorced.'
On a serious note she then revealed 'There hasn't been one moment in our marriage where I thought about quitting my man. And we've had some really hard times. So we had a lot of fun times, a lot of adventures, I have become a better person because of the man I'm married to.'
Barack admitted he was largely unaware of what people were saying, 'These are the kinds of things that I just miss, right? So I don't even know this stuff's going on. And then somebody will mention it to me and I'm all like, "what are you talking about?"
The couple who have been married for almost 33 years share two daughters, Malia, 26, and Sasha, 24.
In addition to Michelle’s absence at high-profile political events Barack has also added fuel to divorce rumours, after his recent admission that he was having a discrepancy of some sort with his wife. While addressing Hamilton College students in April he told them ‘I was in a deep deficit with my wife, so I have been trying to dig myself out of that hole by doing occasionally fun things'
However during a podcast with entrepreneur and investor Steven Bartlett in May, Michelle set the record straight telling the host while laughing 'If I were having problems with my husband, everybody would know about it!'
On last week’s podcast the mother-of-two told guest Julia Louis-Dreyfus 'I mean at this stage in life for me, personally, is the first time I've been completely free,' 'There's been a release where every choice I make is not about my husband, not about his career, not about my family, not about what my kids need or where they're going, it's totally about me,' she admitted, quipping: 'This is when we start living ladies.'
In previous media appearances, Michelle rubbished rumours of divorce and suggested there was a sexist angle to the allegations that she couldn't be a woman simply making her own decisions.
She told podcast host Sophia Bush "And that's the thing that we as women, I think we struggle with, like 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, you know? This couldn't be a grown woman just making a set of decisions herself, right? But that's what society does to us."
And when appearing on NPR’s Wild Card podcast she told host Rachel Martin, “The fact that people don’t see me going out on a date with my husband sparks rumours 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’.”
