Growing up wasn’t a bed of roses for Michelle and Barack Obama, reveals the former first lady in an interview with the magazine Revolt.
The family’s life was turned upside down when they moved into the White House in 2008 when Barack Obama won the US presidential election for the Democrats. At that time, the daughters were seven and ten years old, respectively.
The family stayed in the White House for eight years before handing over the keys to Donald Trump in January 2017.
– People think I’m being disrespectful when I say that – it’s like there were 10 years that I couldn’t stand my husband. Ten years! And guess when he was? When the kids were little, Obama says.
Surprised by the “Christmas present”: – Evil
Frustrated
Michelle says she was frustrated for a long time that the distribution of responsibilities in the household wasn’t fair when her husband was the president of the United States, but she has finally come to terms with it.
– A marriage is never 50/50. Never. There are times I’m 70 and he’s 30. Other times he’s 60 and I’m 40. But guess what? 10 years. We have been married for 30 years. I’d pick 10 bad years out of 30 — it’s just a matter of how you look at it, she says.
The former first lady reveals that she has always respected her husband despite her marital problems.
– Do you like him? You may be mad at him, but you still look at him and say, “I’m not happy with you, but I respect you. I disagree with you, but you’re still a kind and intelligent person,” says Michelle.
The couple have been married since 1992.
All-consuming work
Barack Obama has also previously spoken about his relationship with Michelle. In his 2020 autobiography — titled “A Promised Land” — he revealed what his time as president was like affected their marriage.
The former president wrote that his wife – despite her success and popularity – had “substantial tension” within her.
“It was as if all of her former frustration had become more focused, more real, whether it was about my all-consuming work, or how politics made family vulnerable to attack and criticism, or the feeling that friends and family treated her role as less important,” wrote Obama.
She went on to write about a time when the pair felt lighter, when Michelle’s smile was “more constant” and their love was “less burdened”, and how she feared they would never experience a moment like it again.
Barack Obama also described the love between them when they met and that now everything seems to be fine between them. They settled in a villa a few miles from the White House.
Heavy periods
Michelle has also previously spoken candidly about her marriage to the former US president and how it’s been a bit bumpy at times.
In the podcast “The Michelle Obama Podcast” she announced in 2020 that there are going to be rough times in any relationship, especially if you have young children.
However, he stressed that they have a “very strong marriage”.
– There were times when I wanted to push Barack out the window. I say this because you need to know that the emotions will be intense. But that doesn’t mean you give up. And these periods can be long-lasting—they can last for many years, he said The Guardian.
“Lonely and Painful”
In the 2018 autobiography “Becoming,” he told it first pregnancy ended in miscarriage – and how lonely, painful and extremely demoralizing the time has been. While she was undergoing the IVF process, her husband was busy with work.
– Perhaps it was when I first became irritated by politics and Barack’s extreme commitment to work. Or maybe I just felt the burden of being a woman.
– However he was gone and I was at home with all the responsibility (…). He was thoughtful and committed, he went out of his way. He’s read all the literature on IVF and could tell me about it all night, but his only duty was really to show up at the doctor’s office and donate some sperm, Michelle wrote.
