BARACK Obama has admitted to some marriage tensions as the former president continues to maintain a public life a decade after leaving the White House.
His comments come after Michelle previously shut down divorce rumors that had arisen after she didn’t join her husband at multiple public political events, including President Donald Trump’s second inauguration.
Obama revealed that Michelle wants him to take a back seat from the public eye and has raised concerns about the demands of his schedule.
“She wants to see her husband easing up and spending more time with her, enjoying what remains of our lives,” Obama said in an interview with The New Yorker.
However, the former president appeared to blame Trump’s return to the White House for keeping him from walking away, as he can be pressured to speak out against him.
“It does create genuine tension in our household, and it frustrates her,” he said.
“I’m more forgiving of it, in the sense that I understand why people feel that way, because people aren’t looking at me in historical comparison to other Presidents,” Obama said of the pressure to be on the campaign trail.
“They don’t care about the fact that no other ex-President was the main surrogate for the Party for four election cycles after they left office.”
Obama has remained an active ex-president since he left office in 2016.
Obama recently made headlines as he was slammed for hypocrisy after praising voters in Virginia for voting in favor of a gerrymandered congressional map.
Rumors of trouble in paradise regarding Obama and his wife of over 30 years have been swirling since Michelle was not seen at Trump’s second inauguration or former President Jimmy Carter’s funeral.
All former living presidents were joined by their wives at the service, except for Obama.
Michelle revealed on actress Sophia Bush’s podcast, Work in Progress, that she skipped the events simply because she wanted to.
“That’s the thing that we as women, I think we struggle with disappointing people,” the former first lady said.
“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.”
Speculation about their marriage gained more attention in January 2025 after Obama shared a picture of the pair holding hands across a table, with a social media user claiming Michelle’s smile looked fake.
