Former US first lady Michelle Obama has once again addressed the rumours surrounding her marriage with former President Barack Obama, saying the reason behind them seldom being photographed together is simply because they’re “too old for Instagram”. “The fact that people don’t see me going out on a date with my husband sparks rumors of the end of our marriage,” 61-year-old Obama told NPR podcast host Rachel Martin.“It’s like, ‘OK, so we don’t Instagram every minute of our lives. We are 60. We’re 60, y’all,’” she said.“You just are not gonna know what we’re doing every minute of the day.”The former first lady explained that she deliberately went against expectations by choosing not to attend high-profile events, such as former President Jimmy Carter’s funeral and President Donald Trump’s inauguration, and acknowledged that she had to “own it” when her absence drew backlash and further fueled speculation about problems in her marriage.“One of the major decisions I made this year was to stay put and not attend funerals and inaugurations and all the things that I’m supposed to attend,” she said.“That was a part of me using my ambition to say, ‘Let me define what I want to do, apart from what I’m supposed to do, what the world expects of me.’ And I have to own that. Those are my choices,” she added, acknowledging that her choice to stay away had sparked criticism.“Whatever the backlash was, I had to sit in it and own it. But I didn’t regret it, you know? It’s my life now, and I can say that, now,” she said. Michelle Obama has spoken candidly about her family and marriage challenges on her podcast, IMO, which she co-hosts with her brother, Craig Robinson.She also shared how she felt the need to scale back her personal ambitions as both a working mother and the first lady. “As a working mother, I – you know, I think all of that stuff, it kind of cut my ambitions short a little bit. Because I had to make a set of decisions, ‘OK, my husband’s over here, I’ve got these kids over here. I don’t know if I can afford to be ambitious right now. So I have to take a step back,’” she said.Michelle Obama has previously responded to the rumors about her marriage, firmly stating that if they were true, she wouldn’t remain silent.Last month on a podcast “The Diary of a CEO” Obama told the host Steven Barlett, “If I were having problems with my husband, everybody would know about it. My brother would know it. I’d be problem-solving in public. I’m not a martyr,” she said.Amid ongoing divorce rumors, the Obamas made a public appearance last month, enjoying a date at the upscale Lowell Hotel restaurant in Midtown Manhattan, and were also spotted looking affectionate during another dinner outing in Washington, DC, back in April.
