Michelle Obama, the wife of the former President of America, sparked divorce rumors after she failed to attend Jimmy Carter’s funeral with Barack Obama.
The speculations of their alleged divorce intensified after Michelle Obama announced that she would not be present at President Donald Trump’s second inauguration. This prompted media outlets and public figures to speculate on the state of her marriage, with some suggesting the couple was experiencing marital difficulties.
While addressing the divorce rumors during an appearance on Sophia Bush’s Work in Progress podcast on Wednesday, Michelle Obama shared her thoughts on the topic and opened up about her personal choices.
“The interesting thing is that, when I say ‘no,’ for the most part people are like, ‘I get it, and I’m OK,’” she said, adding that people sometimes struggle to accept when women make decisions for themselves that don’t conform to society’s expectations.
She further explained, “That’s the thing that we as women, I think we struggle with disappointing people. I mean, so much so that this year people couldn’t even fathom that I was making a choice for myself that they had to assume that my husband and I are divorcing.”
Michelle Obama continued, emphasizing the societal pressure women face: “This couldn’t be a grown woman just making a set of decisions for herself, right? But that’s what society does to us. 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.”