"There Hasn't Been One Moment...": Obamas Address Divorce Rumours

Barack Obama and Michelle Obama's marriage was "touch and go for a while," the former US President has said. But the former first lady said there was never a moment she thought about "quitting on my man"  in a new episode of IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson.

"She took me back!" Barack Obama said, laughing. "It was touch and go for a while."  The couple addressed persistent divorce rumours for the first time.

Michelle firmly dismissed the rumours, saying, "There hasn't been one moment in our marriage where I've thought about quitting on my man. And we've had some really hard times and we've 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."

This was the first time the Obamas publicly responded to speculation about their marriage, which has intensified in recent months following Michelle's absence from several public appearances, including Donald Trump's inauguration and Jimmy Carter's funeral.

"It's so nice to have you both in the same room together," said Craig Robinson, Michelle's brother and co-host of the podcast. Michelle replied, "I know because when we aren't, folks think we're divorced."

She also spoke about the criticism she received for skipping Trump's inauguration. "My decision to skip the inauguration, what people don't realise, or my decision to make choices at the beginning of this year that suited me, were met with such ridicule and criticism," she said in an earlier podcast episode. "People couldn't believe that I was saying no for any other reason that they had to assume that my marriage was falling apart."

The Obamas, who married in 1992, share two daughters, Malia and Sasha.

Earlier, the former first lady said the couple simply no longer documented their relationship on social media. "We are 60. We're 60, y'all." She added, "The fact that people don't see me going out on a date with my husband sparks rumours of the end of our marriage. It's like, 'OK, so we don't Instagram every minute of our lives.'"

Michelle Obama also revealed she was "glad" she didn't have a son with Barack Obama, joking that he would have turned out to be "another Barack."

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