Barack Obama Says He's "Been Trying to Dig" Himself Out of a "Deep Deficit" With Michelle Obama Since They Left the White House

Barack Obama and Michelle Obama have both been candid about the challenges their relationship endured while they lived in the White House. Now, Barack is discussing how he fought for his marriage after his presidency ended.

On April 3, Barack spoke to Hamilton College President Steven Tepper about the state of his marriage following two terms as POTUS. "I was in a deep deficit with my wife," the author of Dreams From My Father said, via The Daily Beast. "So I have been trying to dig myself out of that hole by doing occasionally fun things."

The Obamas tied the knot on October 3, 1992 in Chicago, and subsequently welcomed two daughters—Malia, born in July 1998, and Sasha, born in June 2001.

In December 2022, Michelle was similarly open about experiencing troubling periods in her marriage to Barack. "People think I'm being catty by saying this—it's like, there were 10 years where I couldn't stand my husband," she revealed during a roundtable conversation with Revolt TV. "And guess when it happened? When those kids were little."

While Barack pursued his political career, Michelle seemingly found her own professional dreams stalling. "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,'" the author of Becoming said at the roundtable. "And guess what? Marriage isn't 50/50, ever, ever."

Barack previously shared that Michelle didn't initially want him to run for president. "Her initial response was, 'No,'" he said during an appearance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert in 2020. "What I said to her, 'We still need to think through all the different elements of it and if at the end of that you still say no, then it's a no.'"