Michelle Obama Addresses Barack Marriage Rumors, Recalls Obstacles in Relationship

During an appearance on Thursday's episode of The Diary of a CEO with Steven Bartlett podcast, the former first lady addressed speculation that she and Barack were experiencing marital problems after her decision not to accompany him to President Jimmy Carter's funeral and President Donald Trump's second inauguration.

Michelle, 61, -- who was joined by her brother and podcast co-host, Craig Robinson -- laughed off rumors that sparked after she did not attend the public events with Barack, 63, in January.

"If I were having problems with my husband, everybody would know about it," Michelle said, before gesturing to her brother, "He would know it."

"And everybody would know it. I'm not a martyr. I would be problem-solving in public. 'Let me tell you what he did,'" she added with a laugh.

Robinson chimed in, joking, "If they were having a problem, I would be doing a podcast with him."

However, Michelle recalled what led to her decision to decline attending Trump's inauguration.

"What do I want to do in this moment? As a box-checking, a person who has been box-checking her whole life, doing the right thing, trying to always be an example, always going high, I think now I earned a little bit of 'well, how do I feel?'" she said. "'Do I want to upend my life and take this trip and leave my peace and my children for this?' I didn't have to, but that was my choice."

The Becoming author -- who lived at the White House from 2019 to 2017 during Barack's two terms -- stressed that she "never" would have not attended if she believed it was the "right thing to do for other people to set an example."

"I think I just told myself, 'I think I've done enough of that. And if I haven't, then I never will. It will never be enough," she added.

Elsewhere during the podcast, Michelle reflected on challenges she and Barack have faced in their marriage, including fertility struggles.

"There are so many natural reasons why marriage, infertility, [and] trying to have kids makes things difficult," recalled the postcast host, who shares Malia, 26, and Sasha, 23, with Barack. "I try to tell couples, 'Of course it's hard. Just listen to what I said, like, if you're having some issues in your marriage, it's not you. It's the process of marriage. It’s just all hard.'"

"Guess what happens when it all works out, right? You know what you end up with? Babies … [who are] little people with their own sense of everything," she continued. "They mess you up. You love them dearly, but they're a hassle, and they're demanding, and they have their own whims, and now they're in your world, they're in your partnership. They are factored into everything."

However, Michelle noted that "everything works out," marriage is "still going to be hard."

"Now you're developing a life," she explained. "I think that people give up too quickly on marriage because there is so much friction built into the equation. If you're not getting help, talking about it [and] going to therapy, just understanding how things are changing and how do you continuously renegotiate your relationship with your partner?"

"I just see people quitting because they look at me and Barack and go, 'Hashtag couple goals,'" she added. "I'm like, 'It’s hard for us too, but I wouldn't trade it.' He is, as the young people say, my person."

Michelle admitted that while there were times when she was "mad, "resentful," and felt like she did not get "enough attention," she has never wanted to end her marriage -- and neither has Barack.

"The beauty of my husband and our partnership is that neither one of us was ever really going to quit at it 'cause that’s not who we are," she said. "I know that about him [and] he knows that about me."