Former US President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama have jointly addressed claims that they are divorcing following months of speculation.

Speaking on the IMO podcast, which is owned by Michelle and her elder brother Craig Robinson, Obama said he did not even know rumour mills were talking about it.

He said that he was shocked when the matter came to his attention.

“These are the kind of things that I just miss, I don’t even know this stuff is going on, and then somebody mentioned it to me and I was like, what are you talking about?” Obama remarked at the beginning of the podcast.

On her part, Michelle said that not even once has the thought of leaving Obama crossed her mind ever since they got married.

She noted that while they had had hard times previously, they had also had many adventures together.

The former US First Lady insisted that she has become a better person over the years because of the man she married.

“There hasn’t been one moment in our marriage where I thought about quitting on my man. We have had some really hard times, we have had a lot of fun times, a lot of adventures and I have become a better person because of the man I'm married to,” Michelle said.

The speculations started when the former first lady failed to accompany her husband to several high-profile events – including Donald Trump's inauguration and the funeral of former President Jimmy Carter.

In an April 2025 appearance on the Work in Progress podcast hosted by actress Sophia Bush, Michelle said she was now in a position to control her own calendar as a "grown woman".

She said that people were not able to believe that she was making a decision for herself and instead had to assume that she was divorcing.

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The former First Lady however, admitted that she felt some guilt for stepping back from certain duties.

"This year people 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 just making a set of decisions for herself, right? But that's what society does to us.

"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."