Michelle Obama has spoken out against rumours that her marriage to Barack Obama might be in trouble.
The former first lady has not accompanied her husband to several high-profile events – including Donald Trump’s inauguration and the funeral of former President Jimmy Carter – fuelling speculation that they might be separating.
Without explicitly mentioning these occasions, Mrs Obama told the Work in Progress podcast hosted by actress Sophia Bush that she was now in a position to control her own calendar as a “grown woman”.
She said that people were not able to believe that she was “making a decision” for herself and instead “had to assume that my husband and I are divorcing”.
Mrs Obama shared that she felt some guilt for stepping back from certain duties.
“That’s the thing that we as women, I think we struggle with like disappointing people,” she said.
“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.
“This couldn’t be a grown woman just making a set of decisions for herself, right? But that’s what society does to us.”
Mrs Obama also said in the podcast: “I chose to do what was best for me. Not what I had to do. Not what I thought other people wanted me to do.”
While her absence from President Trump’s inauguration was seen as a break from tradition, she did give a high-profile speech at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) this past summer.
“Hope is making a comeback,” she told a Chicago crowd of thousands at the DNC, as she urged them to throw their weight behind then-presidential nominee Kamala Harris.