At this point, it’s fair to say Barack and Michelle Obama have transformed themselves from popular politicians (the president and his FLOTUS) into wealthy celebrities. Since leaving the White House, these two have seemingly focused on themselves and their relationship. They already seemed insanely close and connected while Barack Obama was president, so you might think that swimming in both time and money in recent years has supercharged their relationship.
That may or may not be the case, but one thing life outside the White House has done is make the Obamas both a lot more blunt about how Barack Obama’s political career ended up negatively affecting their lives and their marriage. Believe it or not, that’s just one thing that makes us suspicious about their relationship; keep reading to discover other signs that the Obamas’ marriage is nothing like what you were led to believe!
Michelle Obama had to put her life and career on hold for Barack
While each of the Obamas is now insanely wealthy and successful on their own, most would still consider Barack to be the breadwinner. After all, he’s the former President of the United States, and the family’s current financial success is largely due to the respect and reputation Barack Obama built up over his years as president.
However, when these two first got together, Michelle Obama was very much the breadwinner. She had plenty of corporate law experience and a prestigious job at the University of Chicago Medical Center, but she ended up giving this up for her husband’s political ambitions. As People reports, she said “Something had to give, and it was my aspirations and dreams,”
From where we’re standing, the resentment in that statement is obvious. Sacrifice is one thing, but giving up all your hopes and dreams for someone else sounds like a recipe for a relationship disaster.
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Barack Obama picks fights about a sensitive subject
These days, the Obamas seem so comfortable together, and one of the reasons for this is that they are always on the same page regarding major life decisions. That wasn’t the case earlier in their relationship, however, and the details of one incident are enough to cast a long shadow over the rest of the relationship.
On an episode of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, she revealed that it began an almost immediate argument between herself and Barack when they went to dinner and he revealed that he didn’t believe in the concept of marriage. This would become a subject of frequent arguments, and she later revealed that he brought this up again to “trigger a fight” on the very night he proposed.
This was presumably meant to be a cute and funny moment. But the fact that Barack ruined such a special evening by deliberately triggering his future wife is something that never sat right with us.
Michelle Obama admitted she couldn’t stand her husband for a decade
We’ve been focusing on things the Obamas have admitted about their relationship that make us suspicious about the couple. However, some would say that none of these stories of, say, Michelle giving up her career for Barack indicate trouble in the home. If you’re still on the fence about this, just wait until you hear Michelle describe her major resentment.
On The Revolt show, Michelle admitted that after she and her husband had children, she began to resent that she was putting in more of the work of raising them while Barack focused on his career. She had basically given up her career as a successful and independent woman to help raise children because Barack’s career was so important. This led her to resent her husband for an entire decade, and this resentment didn’t really go away until she got therapy.
Obviously, it’s important that Michelle is doing the work. But any relationship where one partner spends an entire decade resenting the other one will always seem weird to us!
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They admittedly put on a relationship front for the world
By now, you might be doing some quick math. If Michelle Obama couldn’t stand her husband for 10 years due to having to put in most of the work of raising the kids, then the relationship must have been in serious trouble during their time in the White House.
We know this is true, sadly: People reports that even though the couple put on appearances by hugging and kissing in public, there was an “undercurrent of tension in [Michelle], subtle but constant.” None of this went away until they were out of the White House, with Barack reporting that “There were nights when, lying next to Michelle in the dark, I’d think about those days when everything between us felt lighter…and my heart would suddenly tighten at the thought that those days might not return.”
Seemingly, those days have returned. But due to all these years of resentment and putting on a front for the world, we’ll never look at this relationship the same way again!