Former First Lady Michelle Obama says she’s in therapy and its helping her transition to what she thinks is going to be the ‘next phase’ of her life.
While she’s been out giving interviews, she’s attempted to squash long-running rumors that she and her husband, former President Barack Obama, are divorcing.
On The Jay Shetty Podcast, Obama discussed being an ’empty nester’ and admitting to getting ‘some help’ as she heads into her 60s.
‘At this phase of my life, I’m in therapy right now because I’m transitioning, you know? I’m 60 years old, I’ve finished a really hard thing in my life with my family intact, I’m an empty nester, my girls are in—you know, they’ve been launched,’ she said.
Obama said that she’s got ‘other voices’ to talk to and a ‘new person that’s getting to know me’ as she works through things.
Being out of public service, she now finds herself in a situation where ‘every choice that I’m making is completely mine.’
‘I now don’t have the excuse of, ‘Well, my kids need this’ or ‘My husband needs that’ or ‘The country needs that.’
Former First Lady Michelle Obama (pictured) says she’s in therapy and its helping her transition to what she thinks is going to be the ‘next phase’ of her life
On The Jay Shetty Podcast, Michelle Obama (pictured left) discussed being an ’empty nester’ and admitting to getting ‘some help’ as she heads into her 60s
She says that therapy is a ‘tune-up for this next phase’ in an attempt to ‘unwind some old habits and ‘sort through some old guilt,’ along with focusing on her relationship with her mother.
‘So, I’m getting that tune-up for this next phase because I believe this is a whole ‘nother phase in life for me. And I now have the wisdom to know—let me go get some coaching while I’m doing it,’ she said.
Obama encouraged anyone who needs mental health services to try and get access to a therapist.
‘I am an advocate of it. Everybody needs to find their form of it, the best way they can,’ she said.
Last week, Michelle set the record straight after speculation over the former first couple’s recent public appearances during a podcast with entrepreneur and investor Steven Bartlett.
‘If I were having problems with my husband, everybody would know about it,’ she said, laughing.
Bartlett mentioned how the media had speculated about pair’s future after she skipped out on Donald Trump‘s inauguration.
The host said her absence left some believing ‘there’s an issue with you and Barack, there’s a divorce coming.’
Obama (pictured left) is making the rounds on the podcast circuit of late as she promotes her own entry with her brother, Craig Robinson (pictured right)
Being out of public service, she now finds herself in a situation where ‘every choice that I’m making is completely mine’
‘Let me tell you, he would know it,’ Obama said, directing a finger at her brother, Craig Robinson. ‘And everybody would know it.’
Obama, 61, was promoting her own podcast that she hosts with Robinson.
She added that she’s ‘not a martyr’ and joked about how she would address such marital strife publicly.
‘I would be problem-solving in public, like, “Let me tell you what he did,”‘ she said.
Robinson took the joke one step further: ‘If they were having a problem, I’d be doing a podcast with him.’
Michelle acknowledged that marriage is ‘hard’ for her and the former president but added that ‘I wouldn’t trade it,’ calling President Obama, ‘as the young people say… my person.’
‘The beauty of my husband and our partnership is that neither one of us was ever really, ever going to quit at it, because that’s not who we are. And I know that about him. He knows that about me.’
She said that young people give up on marriage too soon, in part because they see a false image of a perfect union between herself and her husband.
Michelle set the record straight after speculation over the former first couple’s recent public appearances during a podcast with entrepreneur and investor Steven Bartlett
Amid the speculation, the Obamas have been seen going out to dinner twice over the last month in Washington
‘I talk about these things because I think that people give up too quickly on marriage,’ the ‘Becoming’ author said.
‘Because there is so much friction built into the equation. And if you’re not getting help, talking about it, 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,’ she said.
‘Because they look at me and Barack and go, ‘#couple goals.’ And I’m like, it’s hard,’ Obama added.
Michelle has been open about her marriage struggles throughout the years and particularly on her new podcast, IMO (In my Opinion), which she hosts with her brother Robinson.
The Obamas have been married for 32 years but have faced ongoing rumors about their marriage status over the last few months.
Michelle has shared that the former president was broke when they met and that she had to convinced to support his bid for the White House.
‘Being married to the president of the United States [is a] thing that that none of us kind of banked on. We knew Barack was smart and ambitious, but, you know…’ she said.
She has also shared personal grievances with her husband, like his former impunctuality and lack of deep conversations with his golf friends.
Earlier this month, Michelle addressed the rumors directly on an episode of actress Sophia Bush’s podcast.
She said her decision to skip President Jimmy Carter’s funeral, and President Donald Trump’s inauguration, were simply decisions she made for herself.
Her absence at both high-profile political events stoked divorce rumors, as did President Obama’s admission last week that he was in a ‘deep deficit’ with his wife.
‘That’s the thing that we as women, I think we struggle with disappointing people. 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,’ Obama said in the podcast episode, released Tuesday.
‘That this couldn’t be a grown woman just making a set of decisions for herself, right?’ she continued.
Michelle added: ‘That’s what society does to us.’
‘We start actually, finally going, “What am I doing? Who am I doing this for?” And if it doesn’t fit into the sort of stereotype of what people think we should do, then it gets labeled as something negative and horrible.’
Amid the speculation, the Obamas have been seen going out to dinner twice in DC over the last month.
Michelle also recently addressed those who have called her ‘angry’ in the past as she discussed the ‘angry black woman’ trope.
‘The first label they put on us as Black women is that we are angry,’ she said earlier this month. ‘And the irony is, like, yeah. I am probably less light than many of my white female friends.’
She added of the way the media has portrayed her: ‘The first thing that some female journalist said is that I emasculating him just by sort of trying to tell the truth about what my life was, right?’
