Michelle Obama Opens Up About Having 'Bad Years' in Marriage and Struggling to 'Find That Connection' — as 'Divorce of the Century' Rumors Continue to Bury Former First Lady and Barack
Michelle Obama said she intends to be 'together forever' with husband Barack.
Aug. 7 2025, Published 7:58 p.m. ET
In the face of fast-flying divorce rumors, Michelle Obama defiantly declared that she and husband Barack Obama will be married "forever" no matter how much she can't stand him, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
Michelle's bold proclamation came during a discussion about modern dating and "why sparks fade and slow burns last" on her August 6 IMO podcast, where she said that even in their darkest moments, the pair are willing to work things out.
'We Will Be Married Forever'
Michelle Obama is willing to take the bad years along with the good in her marriage to Barack Obama.
"A lot of people joke about the fact that it's like, there are 10 years when I didn't like my husband, right?" Michelle, 61, strongly noted about her infamous statement that she "couldn't stand” Barack for a decade of their nearly 33-year marriage.
"We've been married for 30 years, and we will be married forever. So, let's say we live long. It will be 50-plus years. And if 10 of those years were bad, you know, anybody would take those odds," she added about how the couple has no plans to split even if times get hard again.
The Need to 'Talk Honestly'
Barack and Michelle Obama married in October 1992 after three years of dating.
Michelle went on to dish about the marital math, "People don't tend to think in terms of odds and numbers. Of course, you're going to have years if you add up the days and the hours where you're struggling to find that connection."
"That is a normal experience. You would have that if you lived with your best friend for 30 years, 10 of those years you would hate each other. But you don't throw out a relationship or marriage because of a couple of bad years," she explained.
The former first lady said she worries terribly about younger people today who are quicker to quit on each other when things get tough and wishes they would follow her and Barack's lead to stick it out through unhappy times.
"I think more married couples need to talk more honestly about what marriage really is, because I see too many young people quitting on relationships," Michelle warned, saying otherwise people will "end up alone" unless they're willing to "compromise" quite a bit with their partner.
10 Awful Years
Michelle Obama openly admitted to being miserable in her marriage when her kids were young.
The Chicago native stunned fans in 2022 when she made a highly cutting comment about how she hated being married to Barack. However, she noted that it took place while the couple were raising their now-adult daughters, Malia, 27, and Sasha, 24, while balancing life in the White House as America's new first family.
“People think I’m being catty for saying this...it’s like, there were 10 years where I couldn’t stand my husband. Ten years! And guess when it happened? When those kids were little," Michelle huffed at the time. The couple's kids were just 10 and seven years old, respectively, when Barack won the presidency in 2007.
Fueling the Fire
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Michelle Obama set off a firestorm of divorce rumors when she noticeably skipped Jimmy Carter's state funeral.
Michelle fueled divorce rumors in a huge way when she skipped two major Washington D.C. events in January, leaving Barack to attend Jimmy Carter's state funeral and Donald Trump's inauguration solo while she vacationed in Hawaii.
The Becoming author said the choice was an intentional one when appearing on NPR’s Wild Card podcast in June.
"One of the major decisions I made this year was to stay put and not attend funerals and inaugurations and all the things that I'm supposed to attend," Michelle declared at the time about her independence from her husband's duties as a former president.
"That was a part of me using my ambition to say, 'Let me define what I want to do, apart from what I'm supposed to do, what the world expects of me.'"
Reflecting on her high-profile snubs, Michelle added, "Whatever the backlash was, I had to sit in it and own it. But I didn't regret it, you know? It's my life now, and I can say that, now. But we'll see. Maybe next year, we sit down, I'll go, 'I went a little too far.'"
