Michelle and Barack Obama address divorce rumors
Former first lady Michelle Obama spoke with Sophia Bush on the “Work in Progress” podcast about the divorce rumors.
Michelle Obama is done going high for other people.
The former first lady spoke for the first time about skipping President Donald Trump’s second inauguration on the April 23 episode of her “IMO With Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson” podcast, which she co-hosts with her brother.
During a conversation with the former collegiate basketball coach and Oscar nominee Taraji P. Henson, the “Becoming” author again addressed viral rumors she was divorcing former President Barack Obama by skipping the inaugural ceremony.
“My decision to skip the inauguration — or my decision to make choices at the beginning of this year that suited me — were met with such ridicule and criticism,” Obama explained during the episode. “People couldn’t believe that I was saying no for any other reason. They had to assume that my marriage was falling apart.”
The comments were made in reference to viral rumors she was divorcing the former president.
“I’m here really trying to own my life and intentionally practice making the choice that was right for me, and it took everything in my power to not do the thing that ‘was right,’ or was perceived as right, but do the things that was right for me,” she added on “IMO.”
The “Becoming” on Netflix star said she had to “basically trick” herself into skipping the inauguration by making sure she would have nothing to wear to the ceremony.
“It started with not having anything to wear,” she said. “I was like, ‘If I’m not going to do this thing, I got to tell my team, I don’t even want to have a dress ready,’ right? Because it’s so easy to just say ‘let me do the right thing.’”
Michelle Obama says ‘saying no’ is ‘muscle that you have to build’
Since leaving life in the White House behind, Obama has reevaluated her approach to handling public situations, revealing that therapy has helped her skip events like Trump’s inauguration and former President Jimmy Carter’s funeral on Jan. 9.
“We made it through. We got out alive. I hope we made the country proud. My girls, thank God, are whole,” Obama told Henson and Robinson. “But what happened to me? And going through therapy is getting me to look at the fact that maybe, maybe finally I’m good enough.” The voting rights advocate said she is trying to “actively” practice saying no to “rewire” the “neurons in my head that made me keep pushing and keep striving.”
Obama said attending events solo, or the former president attending without her, help reinforce her newfound method of “saying no,” during a discussion with Henson about the pressures of being famous Black women.
“It’s a muscle that you have to build,” she said of her mindset. “And I think we suffered, because it’s almost like we started training late in life to build that muscle, right? I am just now starting to build it.”
The mom to Malia, 26, and Sasha, 23, said that she wants “our daughters, I want the young women out there… I want my girls to start practicing different strategies for saying ‘no.’”
She added: “After all that I’ve done in this world, if I am still showing them that I have to … show people that I love my country, that I’m doing the right thing, that I am always … going high all the time, even in the face of a lot of hypocrisy and contradiction, all I’m doing is keeping that crazy bar that our mothers and grandmothers set for us.”
Michelle Obama previously slammed Barack Obama divorce rumors
This year, the former first lady has emerged as outspoken as ever since leaving the White House in 2017.
She recently dismissed rumors that she and her “A Promised Land” author husband are heading toward divorce during an early April interview with Sophia Bush.
While speaking on the “Work in Progress” podcast hosted by the actress, the former first lady discussed having the freedom to pursue and decline different opportunities since leaving the White House. She said whenever she makes “a choice for myself,” people are quick to assume her marriage is over.
“We as women, I think we struggle with disappointing people,” she told the “One Tree Hill” alum. “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. That this couldn’t be a grown woman just making a set of decisions herself. But that’s what that’s what society does to us.”
On Valentine’s Day, she threw lightly veiled shade at critics of the A-list duo’s marriage, captioning an Instagram selfie of the pair “If there’s one person I can always count on, it’s you, @BarackObama. You’re my rock. Always have been. Always will be. Happy Valentine’s Day, honey!”
Contributing: Anthony Robledo
Leave a Reply