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Michelle Obama denied rumors that she and Barack Obama are getting a divorce. On April 8, 2025, during the Work in Progress podcast, she explained that her absence from recent public events, like Donald Trump’s inauguration, was a personal choice and not a sign of marital issues.
Michelle said that when she decides to turn down high-profile events, people "get it" for the most part. She also said how women "struggle with disappointing people," further saying:
"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 just a grown woman just making a set of decisions herself, right? But that's what society does to us."
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Michelle Obama said she turned down social events for personal reasons, but people twisted it into something negative just because it didn’t match their expectations. The former First Lady said:
"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."
She also emphasized in the podcast that she started to consider how she liked to spend her free time and who she wanted to spend that time with.
Michelle Obama thinks it's time to "make some big girl decisions" about her life
Talking to Sophia Bush in the Work in Progress podcast's April 8, 2025, episode, Michelle Obama reflected on how her life has changed since she and Barack Obama left the White House.
While she remains in the spotlight, she is more out of it than when she was the First Lady, and so she said that she's finally feeling more in control of her calendar.
She also gave some insight on where she is in life right now, adding that she finds herself "making some big girl decisions" now that she's in her 60s. She said:
"It's time for me to make some big girl decisions about my life and to own it fully. Because if not now, when? What am I waiting for? How am I going to spend 20 years?... Now is the time for me to start asking myself these hard questions of, 'Who do I truly want to be every day?'"
She also mentioned that now that she's no longer tied to the White House, she can look at her calendar and choose to do things based on what would be best for her and not simply what she was supposed to do or what people wanted her to do. Michelle Obama said that it has been an "important test" for her as an "independent person" because, like most women, she also operates from "guilt."
While the former First Lady admitted that she still finds the time to give speeches and work on some projects, like girls' education, a cause that she cares about, her calendar now looks like whatever she wants it to look like.
Michelle Obama's interview in the Work in Progress podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Wondery, and more.
