In early 2025, rumors circulated online about the state of former U.S. President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama's marriage after her absence from several high-profile events fueled speculation about an imminent split between the two.
Claims spread via social media, tabloids like the Daily Mail and personalities like former Republican Sen. John McCain's daughter Meghan McCain, who alleged she heard about the Obamas supposedly divorcing from "reputable people" and "very serious journalists" in an episode of her podcast, "Citizen McCain."
However, there is no legitimate evidence that the Obamas are getting a divorce. On the contrary, Michelle Obama dismissed the rumors in multiple podcast appearances, and no public divorce filings appear to exist for the two, suggesting that there's no trouble in paradise. Snopes reached out to the Office of Michelle and Barack Obama to ask if they could definitively debunk the widespread speculation; we await a response.
Tracking the rumor's origins
The Obamas, who married in 1992 and have two daughters, are not new to divorce rumors. Snopes has debunked these rumors before, including a 2017 claim that the two filed for divorce in Illinois and a 2020 satirical article that Michelle Obama filed for divorce after her husband supposedly admitted he was gay.
Rumors about trouble in the Obamas' marriage circulated after Michelle Obama did not accompany her husband to former President Jimmy Carter's funeral on Jan. 9; her representatives told journalists she was in Hawaii and had scheduling conflicts. Then, on Jan. 14, The Associated Press (AP) reported that the Office of Barack and Michelle Obama had released a statement saying she would not attend President Donald Trump's Jan. 20, 2025, inauguration despite her husband's plans to attend. That statement did not give a reason for her absence.
On Jan. 17, the first Black president posted a photo of himself and his wife celebrating her birthday. He gushed about her in the caption, writing: "Happy birthday to the love of my life, Michelle Obama. You fill every room with warmth, wisdom, humor, and grace - and you look good doing it. I'm so lucky to be able to take on life's adventures with you. Love you!" Some entertainment publications called this post evidence that Barack Obama "shut down" the divorce rumors.
However, the Obamas often share publicly affectionate, sometimes professionally lit, photos — so the poorly lit picture of the two of them holding hands with a large table between them inflamed the rumors on social media and in tabloids like The Sun.
The former president also shared a Mother's Day post in May, which some media outlets again pointed to as proof the couple's marriage is still going strong.
The Obamas on their marriage
The Obamas have shared insight on the strain the former president's political career put on their marriage, particularly amid his time in the Oval Office; the former first lady's biography, "Becoming," goes into intimate detail about the sacrifices she made for his career and the couple's early struggles. "It was almost as if every day he were forced to cast another vote, between family and politics, politics and family," Obama wrote in reference to one 2000 congressional campaign of her husband's (see Page 145 here).
In a 2022 interview — see 43:14 — Obama said she "couldn't stand" her husband around the time his political career took off (emphasis ours):
We don't talk about how much work is required and how hard it is even when you are madly in love with the person; even when everything works out right. Bringing two lives together is one of the hardest things to do. But if you understand that it is a process — and a lot of times, and people think I'm being catty when I say this, but there were 10 years when I couldn't stand my husband. 10 whole years! And guess when it happened? When those kids were little.
[…]
Little kids, they're terrorists. They are! They have demands, they don't talk, they're poor communicators, they cry all the time, they're irrational, they're needy. And you love them more than anything. And you can't blame them, because, look, they're cute, and look at him throwing his plate, that's so cute! And you turn that ire on each other. For 10 years, while we're trying to build our careers and you know, worry about school, and who's doing what and you know, I was like, this isn't even! And guess what? Marriage isn't 50-50. Ever, ever. There's times I'm 70, he's 30, there are times he's 60-40. But guess what? Ten years, we've been married 30. I would take 10 bad years over 30. It's just how you look at it. People give up.
(The Obamas' older daughter, Malia Obama, was born in 1998 and their younger, Sasha Obama, was born in 2001; Barack Obama became president in 2008.)
In April, the former president joked in an interview at Hamilton College that he was in a "deep deficit" with his wife following his time in the White House. "I have been trying to dig myself out of that hole by doing occasionally fun things," he said (see 5:50 for the question and 6:56 for the answer.)
Michelle Obama addresses the rumors
Despite any tension the couple say they experienced, nothing the Obamas have publicly said indicates they are getting a divorce — in fact, far from it. Michelle Obama addressed the rumors in an April 8 podcast episode of "Work in Progress" with actress Sophia Bush. Here is what she said after
That's the thing that we as women, I think we struggle with, like disappointing people. Yeah, you know, I mean so much so that this year people were, you know, they couldn't even fathom that I was making a choice
for myself. That they had to assume that my husband and I are divorcing, you know, that this couldn't be a grown woman just making a set of decisions for herself.
On April 23, she spoke about trying to become comfortable saying "no" on a podcast episode of "IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson" in reference to missing Trump's inauguration at 42:44 (emphasis ours):
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. 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 right," or that was perceived as right, but do the thing that was right for me.
That was a hard thing for me to do. I had to basically trick myself out of it. And it started with not having anything to wear. I mean, I had affirmatively — because I'm always prepared, for any funeral, anything. I walk around with the right dress, I travel with clothes just in case something pops off. So I was like, if I'm not going to do this thing, I gotta tell my team — I don't even want to have a dress ready.
The podcast episode's
On May 1, she again addressed the divorce rumors, this time on an episode of "The Diary of a CEO" podcast with host Steven Bartlett, in which she appeared alongside her brother, Craig Robinson (see 1:21:54 under "Not Attending Trump's Inauguration"):
BARTLETT: Obviously, off the back of that people started to swirl rumors that there's an issue with you and Barack and it was coming I can — I mean you can say it yourself, but I
don't think that needs to be addressed. [Laughter] OBAMA: What I will say: You know me now well enough, Steven. If I were having problems with my husband, everybody would know about it. I'd be like, and let me tell you! And [Robinson] would know it, and everybody would know it. I'm not a martyr, I'm not, and I would be problem-solving in public, and be like, "Let me tell you what he did." [Laughter]
ROBINSON: Listen, if they were having a problem, I'd be doing a podcast with [Barack]. [
Laughter ]
No public divorce papers have been filed
Unless Barack and Michelle Obama confirm any divorce rumors, the only evidence that could definitively prove the two are seeking a legal split would be divorce records filed in court. The couple's main residence is reportedly in Washington, D.C. — but no divorce records have been filed by Barack or Michelle Obama in District of Columbia Courts, according to an emailed response from the courts' spokesperson, Doug Buchanan.
Furthermore, a search of the Cook County, Illinois, court system for divorce records related to Barack or Michelle Obama returned no results. (The two married in Chicago, Illinois, which is within Cook County's jurisdiction.)
(Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County)
(Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County )
Finally, if divorce filings did exist for the couple, it would certainly make news — and no legitimate news outlets, as of this writing, have reported on any divorce filings from the Obamas, per a Google search.
Thus, no evidence exists proving the Obamas are getting a divorce; in fact, multiple statements from Michelle Obama suggest that not only do the rumors have no basis in truth, but her marriage is doing just fine.
Recently, we also found no evidence that Barack Obama and Jennifer Aniston are having an affair, despite rumors about the alleged entanglement appearing in celebrity gossip media.