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Michelle Obama has broken her silence on the divorce rumours running around about her and Barack's marriage.
Speaking to Sophia Bush in a recent episode of her iHeart Radio podcast, Work in Progress, Michelle spoke about how her responsibilities and free time had changed recently.
When asked by Bush what her life and social life now look like, Michelle explained that for the first time, all her choices 'are for me'.
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"It is whatever I want, Sophia, It's whatever I want. It's the first time in my life all of my choices are for me," she said, adding that she no longer uses excuses like, 'I have to make sure the girls are okay, or my husband's president, so I can't do that'.
She continued: "Now, you know, I can't blame my decisions and indecisions on anyone other than me.
"I think if I'm honest with myself, I could have made a lot of these decisions years ago. But I didn't give myself that freedom."
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Michelle also commented on *those* divorce rumours, adding: "That's the thing that we as women struggle with — disappointing people. I mean, so much so that 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 herself, right? But that's what society does to us.
"We start actually going, what am I? What am I doing? What am I doing this for? And if it doesn't fit into the sort of stereotype of what people think we should do, then it gets labeled as something negative and horrible."
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Divorce rumours began circulating earlier this year, when Barackattended the funeral of former US president Jimmy Carter and Trump's inauguration by himself.
Just last week, Barack also touched on his marriage during a chat at Hamilton College.
Speaking about a range of subjects, including Donald Trump's second term in office, and his recent tariff announcement, Barack also discussed his relationship, explaining he was 'in a deep deficit with [his] wife'.
“I was in a deep deficit with my wife,” Barack told Hamilton College President Steven Tepper.
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“So I have been trying to dig myself out of that hole by doing occasionally fun things.”
Back in 2023, Barack hinted that being out of office gave him more time with his wife and family.
“Let me just say this: It sure helps to be out of the White House and to have a little more time with her,” he told CBS.
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He went on to explain that during his time as president, the couple's daughters, Malia and Sasha, were Michelle's number one priority.
"And so I did not fully appreciate, I think — as engaged of a father as I was — the degree of stress and tension for her knowing that not just me and Michelle were under scrutiny and in this strange environment, but that we were raising our daughters in a kind of situation that just wasn't normal," he said.
Topics: Celebrity, Michelle Obama, Politics
Lucy Devine