Michelle Obama has reignited the rumors that she and her husband, Barack Obama, are getting divorced.
During Wednesday’s episode of the former first lady’s IMO podcast, she spoke with Julia Louis-Dreyfus about her life both as an empty nester and her husband no longer being the president.
“I mean, at this stage in life for me, personally, is the first time I've been completely free,” Michelle told the Seinfeld alum.
“There’s been a release where every choice I make is not about my husband, not about his career, not about my family, not about what my kids need or where they're going, it's totally about me,” she continued. “This is when we start living, ladies.”
Michelle and Barack have been married since 1992 and share two daughters together, Malia, 26, and Sasha, 24.
Over the last few months, there has been speculation that the couple is getting divorced due to their lack of public appearances together. However, when the former first lady spoke on NPR’s Wild Card podcast with Rachel Martin last month, she said she’s not photographed alongside Barack often because of their age.
“The fact that people don’t see me going out on a date with my husband sparks rumors of the end of our marriage,” Michelle said. “It’s like, OK, so we don’t Instagram every minute of our lives. We are 60. We’re 60, y’all. You just are not gonna know what we’re doing every minute of the day.”
The couple first sparked divorce rumors when Michelle did not attend Jimmy Carter’s funeral and President Donald Trump’s inauguration back in January.
Speaking to Martin, Michelle defended her decision to skip the events, regardless of how the general public may have viewed it.
“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,” she said. “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.’ And I have to own that. Those are my choices.”
“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,” she added.
She also addressed the rumors she was divorcing her husband back in April during an appearance on Sophia Bush’s Work in Progress podcast.
“The interesting thing is that, when I say ‘no,’ for the most part people are like, ‘I get it, and I’m OK,’” she said at the time, referencing people who ask her if she’s getting divorced.
