Michelle Obama Breaks Silence on 'Hard' Personal Decisions As Divorce Chatter With Barack Escalates
Michelle Obama recently addressed some deeply personal challenges in her marriage to Barack Obama, revealing how difficult decisions shaped her life, including a controversial moment involving her husband's injury during a White House basketball game.
The former first lady told the story in a new episode of the podcast "IMO," which she co-hosts with her brother Craig Robinson, and began by recalling that fateful moment when Barack was injured playing one of his famous games of pickup basketball. After her husband received a nasty lip injury, however, she made him quit playing.
"I made Barack put his basketball shoes up once he got his lip busted when he was in the White House playing a pickup game," Michelle shared. She humorously recalled a time when she received a call from Secret Service agents informing her of the injury while she was at a doctor's appointment.
"He came in with a gauze thing on his lip," Michelle continued. "I'm always telling him to be careful playing basketball. You have an important job now, and this happens."
Michelle also shared that when the injury occurred, it was just days before a big speech her husband was set to deliver. She recalled being horrified to find her husband with what she called a "split lip" that required "30-something stitches" — a characterization tempered by the subsequent White House statement that said the injury had just needed a dozen stitches.
She joked, "You're playing like you're 10, and now your lip is split."
Michelle also looked back on a few of the more difficult decisions she has made, including when she chose not to attend Donald Trump's inauguration. In her podcast, she explained her decision as a result of therapy and self-discovery, saying that it was "what felt right" for her.
According to her, "My decision to skip the inauguration you know, what people don't realize, or my decision to make choices at the beginning of this year that suited me were met with such ridicule and criticism, like people couldn't believe that I was saying no for any other reason, that they had to assume that my marriage was falling apart, you know?"
She went on, "It's like, while I'm here really trying to own my life and intentionally practice."
"Making the choice that was right for me. And it took everything in my power to not do the thing that was perceived as right, but do the things that was for me, that was a hard thing for me to do."
Marriage Rumors and Speculations
Since the release of this episode, Michelle's comments about Barack's injury have drawn attention, with some speculating she may have exaggerated the story. But what has really contributed to the ongoing speculation about their marriage is the fact that the pair had been spotted in public together, more so recently.
Barack and Michelle have both been plagued with rumors about pressure on their marriage, such as when the former president attended a number of high-profile events, such as Donald Trump's inauguration and former President Jimmy Carter's funeral, without his wife. The Non-presence of Michelle at these events has given rise to speculations from watchers, fueling larger gossip of a probable separation of the two.
