Michelle Obama's Honesty About Struggles Of Raising Kids

Source: Tom Williams / Getty

Since leaving the White House in 2017, Michelle Obama has been pretty honest about her time as a First Lady.

But lately she’s been digging deep into another role a lot more women can relate to: having a husband.

She even hosts a podcast, titled IMO, with her brother Craig Robinson, but the internet is up in arms about a conversation she had three years ago.

Back in 2022, Obama was part of an Angie Martinez-hosted Revolt round table where she was joined by Winnie Harlow, Kelly Rowland, H.E.R., and Tina Knowles.

This was around the time her book The Light We Carry was released, which focused on overcoming uncertainty in her career, marriage, and motherhood. While chatting about the book, she reveals that despite Barack Obama eventually becoming president, they had a hard time adjusting to life with kids, like everyone else.

 “But the minute we had kids, it was like, ‘Where are you going, and how far?’ And you start measuring, it’s like, ‘How many diapers did you change?’” Michelle says, of the unfair split of labor with Barack. “And ‘oh, you’re golfing? Oh, you got time? Oh, you got time to golf? How you at the gym all the time?’”

The other women chime in with agreement as Michelle continues about the working dynamic and the stress of young kids. 

“That’s when all the measuring starts, because you got this project,” she said. “Little kids, they’re terrorists. They have demands, they don’t talk, they’re poor communicators, they cry all the time, they’re irrational, they’re selfish, and you love them more than anything, and so you can’t blame them, right?”

She goes on to explain that the lesson she learned was that marriage isn’t 50-50, and they both push and pull at different points in the relationship.

This isn’t the first time Michelle has been candid about working through the kinks in her marriage, which she had brought up previously during Essence Fest in 2019. Despite their busy lives, she remembered getting mad at Barack for making time to go to the gym.

“This was right when we started going to counseling,” Obama said. “And I think for us as women, many of us, we have a hard time putting ourselves on our own priority list, let alone at the top of it.”

Michelle Obama talking about the details of her marriage is great for other couples to see that relationships take work and aren’t picture-perfect. But social media has taken offense to her statements, accusing her of complaining about being married to a busy man and airing out their dirty laundry on podcasts.

See below how the latest gender war is erupting on social media.

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