Former first lady Michelle Obama dismissed divorce rumors about her and former President Barack Obama during a podcast interview published Wednesday.
Michelle Obama had attracted attention and even prompted questions about her marriage after skipping recent high-profile events like President Donald Trump’s inauguration and the late President Jimmy Carter’s funeral, leaving her husband to attend on his own.
“But the interesting thing is that when I say no, for the most part, people are like, ‘I get it, and I’m okay,’ right?” she told podcast host Sophia Bush of how she spends her time. “And that’s the thing that we as women, I think we struggle with, like disappointing people. I mean so much so that this year people were, 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, you know? This couldn’t be a grown woman just making a set of decisions herself, right? But that’s what society does to us.”
“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,” Obama continued.
She said she chose to do what “was best for me,” while saying she operated from “guilt” as a woman.
Obama also talked about how she’s been making more decisions for herself lately during the podcast conversation.