Barack Obama Opens Up About Past Marital Struggles With Michelle

The former president sat down with CBS Mornings to talk about the challenges he and Michelle have faced as a married couple.

Difficult Decades

Interviewer Nate Burleson asked Barack about some comments that Michelle made during a separate interview last year.

“People think I’m being catty by saying this — it’s like, there were 10 years where I couldn’t stand my husband,” Michelle shared. “And guess when it happened? When those kids were little.”

“And for 10 years while we’re trying to build our careers and, you know, worrying about school and who’s doing what and what, I was like, ‘Ugh, this isn’t even.’ And guess what? Marriage isn’t 50/50, ever, ever,” she continued.

“There are 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. And people give up … ‘Five years; I can’t take it.'”

To More Years

When those remarks surfaced during Barack’s interview, he said “Let me just say this: it sure helps to be out of the White House. And to have a little more time with her.”

“Michelle — when our girls were growing up, that was priority number one, two, three and four. And so, I did not fully appreciate, I think, as engaged of a father as I was, the degree of stress and tension for her, knowing that not just me and Michelle were under scrutiny and in this strange environment, but that we were raising our daughters in a kind of situation that just wasn’t normal,” he added.

“Now that they’re doing good, she is a little more forgiving of all my flaws,” he continued. “What she’s told me is, you know, ‘Looking back, you did okay as a dad.’ And if I passed that test, then she’ll forgive me most of my other foibles.”

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