Barack Obama made a rare appearance on wife Michelle Obama’s podcast In My Opinion (IMO) this week, using humor to shut down persistent rumors about their marriage.
The former president, 63, joined Michelle, 61, and her brother/co-host Craig Robinson for the new episode, and the trio quickly launched into playful banter about recent speculation surrounding the Obamas’ relationship.
“This is the episode everyone’s been waiting for,” Craig joked, introducing Barack as “my brother-in-law, your husband, the former president of the United States.”
Michelle added, “He managed to find time in his packed schedule to join us. We’re honored.”
As the couple greeted each other, Craig quipped, “Wait — you guys like each other?” prompting Michelle to reply dryly, “That’s what the rumor mill says.”
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Barack played along, saying, “She took me back! It was touch and go for a while,” to which Michelle shot back, “Don’t you start.”
Laughing, Craig added, “It’s so nice to have you both in the same room,” prompting Michelle to note, “I know — because when we’re not, people assume we’re divorced.”
The couple has spent much of the past year working on individual projects, fueling gossip online. Even a family photo posted for their daughter Sasha’s 24th birthday in June wasn’t enough to silence some of the speculation.
In a May interview on The Diary of a CEO podcast, Michelle addressed the chatter head-on: “The beauty of our relationship is that neither of us was ever going to quit — that’s just not who we are.”
She also explained her choice to step back from certain public events after leaving the White House — including her decision not to attend President Donald Trump’s 2017 inauguration. “At 61, I’m finally owning my wisdom,” she said. “It took everything in my power to stop doing what was perceived as right and do what was right for me.”
In April, she shared a similar sentiment on her own podcast: “People couldn’t believe I was saying no for any other reason — they had to assume our marriage was falling apart.”
On the latest IMO episode, the Obamas also discussed parenting and how different their experience might have been raising a son instead of daughters Malia, 27, and Sasha, 24.
Barack admitted, “I think I might’ve been more judgmental, harder… Father-son dynamics are complicated, especially when you didn’t have that model growing up.”
Raised by his mother after his parents divorced, Barack noted he may have struggled more with a son: “I’d like to think I would’ve been self-aware enough to combat it, but it might’ve been more difficult.”
Despite all the outside noise, the couple’s easy chemistry and candid conversations on the podcast made one thing clear — they’re still very much a team.
