The Decade-Old Truth Behind Those Bonkers Obama-Jennifer Aniston Affair Rumors

Where did the persistent rumor that former President Barack Obama and Jennifer Aniston are carrying out an affair come from?

Oddly enough, the entire thing seems to have sprung not from the gossip pages of an internet tabloid—but staid British magazine The Economist.

Over ten years ago in a 2014 satirical think piece, The Economist dared to ask what America would be like if its public figures embraced French attitudes toward sex. The result? A scandalous White House where Obama appoints Katie Couric as his First Girlfriend and has a long-term partner in Hillary Clinton, whom he shares four children with. In case those hijinks weren’t enough, George W. Bush also divorces his wife and marries Beyoncé.

The satirical article also happened to imagine a world in which Obama was caught having an affair with Aniston, citing a nonexistent article in People magazine.

This mention of Obama and Aniston appears to be the first time those two names were connected online—until the August 2024 issue of InTouch gave the story legs under the headline: “The Truth About Jen & Barack!”

The tabloid published an unsubstantiated report claiming that Obama and Aniston were having an affair, adding that the pair were “obsessed with each other.”

InTouch cited an episode of celebrity gossip podcast Who? Weekly as the rumor’s main source in their piece.

“The goss is … Michelle and Barack are living separate lives, and Barack is f***ing Jennifer Aniston,” host Lindsey Weber said during the episode. Weber also claimed that the rumor came from “reliable sources”—but clarified that it “obviously could be made up.”

InTouch still ran with the story, however, garnering attention from Aniston herself, who swiftly debunked the whole thing during an October 2024 interview with Jimmy Kimmel.

“Of all the calls you get from your publicist where you’re just like, ‘Oh, no, what’s it gonna be?’ or you get an email saying some cheesy tabloid is gonna make up a story—and then it’s that,” Aniston told Kimmel at the time. “I was not mad at it,” she continued, but added, “That is absolutely untrue.”

The Friends star then clarified that she had only met the former president once and that she knew “Michelle more than him.”

The whole thing was given fresh life after former first lady Michelle Obama failed to show for both Jimmy Carter’s funeral and President Donald Trump’s inauguration, fueling rumors of dysfunction in the pair’s relationship.

While sources cited several reasons for why Michelle didn’t attend those two events—including the fact that she was on vacation in Hawaii—conservative journalists and influencers have latched onto her absences and claimed that a divorce between the two is imminent.

Meghan McCain, the daughter of late Sen. John McCain, claimed that she heard the Obamas were getting a divorce from “reputable people” during a January 22 episode of her podcast, Citizen McCain with Meghan McCain.

“I have been hearing this rumor that the Obamas are getting a divorce by reputable people. I’m not talking about TMZ. I’m not talking about Perez Hilton, although I love him, he’s my friend,“ McCain said. “I’m talking about like very serious journalists telling me that they’re hearing that the Obama divorce rumors are true.”

“We’ve heard that for a long time,” her guest, political journalist Tara Palmeri, added. “Like I just heard that they live separate lives.”

Writer and influencer Jessica Reed Kraus made similar remarks.

In a Jan. 15 post to her 400,000-plus subscriber Substack, House Inhabit, Kraus claimed that she had heard “Jennifer Aniston’s name tied to Barack” for months, while also quoting an anonymous tip she received claiming that the two were having an affair.

Former Fox host Megyn Kelly read Reed’s Substack post verbatim on a Jan. 23 episode of her YouTube show.

While the Obamas have yet to directly address the divorce rumors or the Aniston “scandal,” the former president recently posted a sweet tribute to his wife for her 61st birthday.

“Happy birthday to the love of my life, @Michelle Obama,” Obama wrote on Instagram alongside a photo of the two at dinner. “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!”