For the past eight months or so, people have been speculating about the state of Barack and Michelle Obama’s marriage. First, there was a wild tabloid rumor that Barack was having an affair with Jennifer Aniston (the actress denied this). Then, earlier this year, Michelle didn’t join her husband at either Jimmy Carter’s funeral or Donald Trump’s inauguration. Never mind Barack’s posts about her birthday or Valentine’s Day — there were still some people who believed that the famous political couple were over. Now, Michelle is setting the record straight, and for some reason she chose to do it on Sophia Bush’s podcast.
On Tuesday’s episode of Work in Progress, Michelle told Bush that the reason we don’t see her out as much is because, well, she just doesn’t want to go out. Without “naming names,” she recalled one “real big example” of opting out of “something that I was supposed to do,” explaining, “I chose to do what was best for me — not what I had to do, not what I thought other people wanted me to do,” the former First Lady told Bush. Fair enough.
Obviously, Michelle has not fully stepped out of the spotlight. She explained that she still gives speeches and works on projects, and she’s still focused on girls’ education. (Real fans also know that she has a podcast and a healthy-soda company to focus on.) But Michelle added that, because she has passed on a few (unpleasant-sounding) public events, people have become convinced that she and Barack are headed to Splitsville.
“That’s the thing that we as women — I think we struggle with, like, disappointing people,” she said. “I mean, so much so that this year people were, you know — 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 making a set of decisions for herself, right?”
God forbid a woman look at the guest list for Trump’s inauguration and say, “Absolutely not.” I hope she spent the day eating chips in bed and watching The Real Housewives. If anyone has earned one of life’s great pleasures, it’s her.
