'She took me back': Barack and Michelle Obama address divorce rumors with humor

Barack Obama shuts down divorce rumours

Former US President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama have responded to ongoing divorce rumors with their trademark mix of humor, warmth, and sincerity.

The couple appeared on Michelle’s podcast In My Opinion (IMO), co-hosted by her brother Craig Robinson, the episode opened with playful banter as Robinson teased, “Wait, you guys like each other?” prompting Michelle to laugh and reply, “Oh yeah, the rumor mill.”

Barack leaned into the joke, quipping, “She took me back! It was touch and go for a while,” to which Michelle responded with a smile, “Now don’t start.”Robinson added, “It’s so nice to have you both in the same room together,” and Michelle agreed, “I know, ’cause when we aren’t, folks think we’re divorced.”

While the jokes kept the tone light, Michelle took a moment to clarify the truth behind the headlines: “There hasn’t been one moment in our marriage where I have thought about quitting my man,” she said.

“We’ve had some really hard times and we’ve had a lot of fun times, a lot of adventures - and I’ve become a better person because of the man I’m married to.”

Barack, visibly touched, responded: “OK, don’t make me cry now. Not at the beginning of the show.”

Divorce rumors of Obama's sparked when earlier this year when Barack attended several high-profile events alone, including Jimmy Carter’s funeral and Donald Trump’s inauguration.

She explained her absence in a previous podcast, saying she’s in a new stage of life where she feels “completely free” to make personal choices, a freedom she hadn’t experienced before.

She also noted that her time away was misinterpreted: “So much so that this year people couldn’t even fathom that I was making a choice for myself. They had to assume that my husband and I are divorcing.”