Michelle Obama has put an end to speculation that she and former President Barack Obama are headed for a divorce.
In a recent episode of actress Sophia Bush’s Work in Progress podcast, the former First Lady opened up about her personal choices, including her decision not to attend President Jimmy Carter’s funeral or President Donald Trump’s inauguration—decisions she said were made for her own reasons.
Her absence from these high-profile events had fueled rumors about trouble in the Obamas’ marriage, especially after President Obama recently admitted he was in a “deep deficit” with his wife.
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Michelle revealed in the episode released on Tuesday;
That’s the thing that we as women, I think, struggle with disappointing people. I mean, so much so that this year people were, you know, they couldn’t even fathom that I was making a choice for myself that they had to assume that my husband and I are divorcing
That this couldn’t be a grown woman just making a set of decisions for herself, right?
Obama added: ‘That’s what society does to us.’
We start actually, finally going, “What am I doing? Who 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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HOW SHE PLANS ON LIVING OUT THE NEXT CHAPTER OF HER LIFE
Having celebrated her 61st birthday on January 17, the former First Lady spoke thoughtfully with Bush about the questions she’s exploring regarding how she wants to live out the next chapter of her life.
‘So you know, now is the time for me to start asking myself these hard questions of who do I truly want to be every day,‘ Obama said.
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She said that looks ‘like whatever I want it to look like.‘
‘And I still find time to, you know, give speeches, to be out there in the world, to work on projects. I still care about girls’ education,‘ Obama said. ‘We, you know, the library is opening a year from now.‘
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The former first lady acknowledged that there are ‘certain things I am and am not doing‘ with President Obama’s presidential library, which is being constructed on Chicago’s South Side.
‘But the interesting thing is that when I say no, for the most part, people are like, I get it, and I’m OK, right?‘ she continued.
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