Michelle Obama breaks silence on skipping Trump inauguration
Former First Lady Michelle Obama denies divorce rumors with her husband, and says she is reevaluating her public appearances.
In Michelle Obama’s opinion, “everyone would know” if she was divorcing her husband.
The former first lady said it wouldn’t be a secret if she was splitting from former President Barack Obama, during a May 1 episode of “The Diary of a CEO” podcast with host Steven Bartlett.
“If I were having problems with my husband, everybody would know about it,” she said, telling Bartlett that her brother and “IMO” podcast co-host Craig Robinson “would know it,” too. The “Becoming” author also said that “I would be problem solving in public,” adding, “I’m not a martyr.”
The former collegiate head basketball coach Robinson said if the pair were having marriage problems, “I’d be doing a podcast with (Barack Obama).”
This is not the first time the “Becoming” on Netflix star has addressed viral rumors that her marriage with president No. 44 was ending, which first surfaced after she skipped President Donald Trump’s second inauguration.
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Michelle Obama said differences with Barack Obama make them more compatible
On the April 23 episode of “IMO” featuring Robinson and Oscar nominee Taraji P. Henson, Obama revealed why she decided to skip Trump’s second 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.
“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.”
This year, amid Trump’s second stint in office, the former first lady has emerged as outspoken as ever – about her own marriage and own opinions – since leaving the White House in 2017. The Obamas married in Chicago in October 1992 and share two adult daughters, filmmaker Malia, 26, and 23-year-old University of Southern California alum Sasha.
Obama echoed her earlier comments about why she skipped the event to Bartlett in the “Diary of a CEO” episode.
“You know, as a box-checking person who has been checking her whole life, doing the right thing, trying to always be an example, always going high … I think I just told myself, ‘I think I’ve done enough of that,’ and if I haven’t, then I never will. It’ll never be enough. So let me start now,” Obama said.
But the Higher Ground co-founder said the differences in her and the former president’s respective personalities actually make them more compatible.
When “I met Barack Obama, he showed up in my life as the opposite of a box checker, but somebody that I describe in my book as an ‘ultimate swerver.’ He did nothing by the book,” she said. “He was brilliant and interesting.”
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