The Obamas joke about divorce rumors: “We were on the rocks for a while”

Former US President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama directly addressed divorce rumors in an episode of their podcast released this Wednesday.

“He took me back!”, said Barack Obama on the IMO podcast with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson. “We were on the ropes for a while.”

Speculation about the couple’s marriage has proliferated in recent months. Some rumors gained strength after several public appearances in which Michelle Obama did not accompany her husband, including the inauguration of President Donald Trump in January.

“It’s so nice to have you both in the same space,” said Robinson, Michelle Obama’s brother, to the couple. Michelle replied: “I know because when we’re not, people think we’re divorced.”

Robinson told an anecdote: a woman at an airport approached him to ask about his marriage. “What did you do?”, Robinson asked him.

“This kind of thing is what I miss,” said Barack Obama. “I don’t even know this is happening and suddenly someone tells me about it and I ask myself: what are you talking about?”

Michelle Obama went on to say: “There hasn’t been a single moment in our marriage where I’ve thought about leaving my husband. We’ve been through very difficult times, but also a lot of fun, a lot of adventures, and I’ve become a better person thanks to the man I’m married to.”

The former first lady had already addressed the speculation about her marriage and her decision not to attend Trump’s inauguration.

“My decision not to attend the inauguration, which people don’t understand, or my decision to make decisions that suited me earlier this year, was met with so much ridicule and criticism,” she explained in an episode of her podcast earlier this year. “People couldn’t believe I would say no for any other reason, so they had to assume my marriage was falling apart.”

The Obamas married in 1992.