Barack and Michelle Obama, who spent eight years in the White House between 2009 and 2017, have been married since 1992.
After two consecutive terms in the White House, Barack Obama may seriously owe his wife, Michelle.
The 63-year-old former president acknowledged that in January 2017, once the Obamas left the White House after eight years, he realized he was in a “deep deficit” with his 61-year-old wife.
“I have been trying to dig myself out of that hole by doing occasionally fun things,” Obama said while in conversation on Thursday with Hamilton College President Steve Tepper, per the Daily Beast.
The admission arrives as widespread scrutiny around their marriage continues after Michelle was absent from events with her husband earlier in the year. Obama and Michelle, who have been married since 1992 and share two daughters together, Malia, 26, and Sasha, 23, have been open about different times their relationship has experienced some strain.
In a 2022 interview the former first lady admitted, “There were 10 years where I couldn’t stand my husband” when their children were much younger.
In May 2023, when Obama was asked about Michelle’s comments on CBS Mornings, he replied, “Let me just say this: it sure helps to be out of the White House. And to have a little more time with her.”
“When our girls were growing up, that was priority number one, two, three and four,” the former president continued. “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.”
Last week, speaking on the Wednesday episode of the podcast she hosts with her brother, “IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson,” Michelle shed light on her mindset when she first met Obama. She explained that despite him not being financially stable at the time, he encouraged her to take big risks with her career early on.
“I left my corporate firm when I met Barack,” she said. “I had somebody who was like, ‘I got your back. The risks you think you’re taking, they aren’t that crazy, and I’m here to help you.’”
She added, “That’s when I said, ‘I would rather have that in a partner than a higher income. I would rather have somebody who is ready to do some hard things with me.’ But that meant I had to be ready to do some hard things with him.”
