Michelle Obama Says Her Newfound Independence Since Leaving White House Fueled Speculation She and Barack Were Divorcing

Michelle Obama is opening up about her newfound independence, and how it fueled speculation that she and her husband Barack Obama were headed for divorce.

In a new episode of Sophia Bush's iHeart Radio podcast Work in Progress which landed on Tuesday, April 8, Michelle, 61, opened up about how her life has changed since leaving the White House and becoming an empty nester.

"I want to know what your life and your social life looks like right now," Bush, 42 asked the former first lady.

"It is whatever I want, Sophia, It's whatever I want," Michelle responded. "It's the first time in my life all of my choices are for me."

Michelle went on to explain how her dual roles of mother to daughters Sasha and Malia and the first lady limited her decision-making in the past.

Michelle noted that she made excuses like "I have to make sure the girls are okay, or my husband's president, so I can't do that" to avoid making decisions.

"Now, you know, I can't blame my decisions and indecisions on anyone other than me," Michelle said, adding, "I think if I'm honest with myself, I could have made a lot of these decisions years ago. But I didn't give myself that freedom."

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She also touched upon how this newfound freedom combined with constant public scrutiny led to gossip and speculation about the state of her marriage.

"That's the thing that we as women struggle with — disappointing people. I mean, so much so that this year people couldn't even fathom that I was making a choice for myself. That they had to assume that my husband and I are divorcing."

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"This couldn't be a grown woman just making a set of decisions herself, right? But that's what society does to us," she continued. "We start actually going, what am I? What am I doing? What 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."

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Last week, Barack also spoke openly about his and Michelle's marriage.

During a conversation with Hamilton College President Steven Tepper on Thursday, April 3, the former president said he was “in a deep deficit with my wife” after his two presidential terms.

“So I have been trying to dig myself out of that hole by doing occasionally fun things,” Barack, who has been married to Michelle since 1992, quipped.

During her podcast interview, Michelle revealed that one of their shared hobbies was watching TV.

"I need light," Michelle said, mentioning Nobody Wants This and Ted Lasso as her favorite shows. "Barack and I we sometimes argue over what can we watch jointly because he likes death and darkness. I said, 'You know, you like the plots where everybody's sad and then they die.'"

Listen to Michelle Obama's conversation with Sophia Bush on the Work in Progress podcast here.

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