Michelle Obama is proving once again that partnership matters more than paychecks.
On Wednesday’s episode of her “IMO” podcast with her brother, Craig Robinson, the former first lady reflected on the risks she took to make her 36-year relationship with Barack Obama work.
During a conversation about balancing ambition and dating, Robinson asked, “Would you be attracted to a guy who’s not financially sound when you meet him?”
Without hesitation, Michelle Obama replied, “Uh, I married one.”
The author, attorney, and mother of two elaborated, explaining how and why she left corporate law not long after meeting her now-husband.
“I had somebody who was like, ‘I got your back. The risks you think you’re taking, they aren’t that crazy, and I’m here to help you,’” she recalled.
That promise sealed the deal.
“I said, ‘I would rather have that in a partner than a higher income,’” she explained. “‘I would rather have somebody who is ready to do some hard things with me.’ But that meant I had to be ready to do some hard things with him.”
At the time they met, Michelle Obama was on a lucrative corporate law track, while the future president was only a summer associate at Sidley Austin, fresh off his first year at Harvard Law. He had previously worked as a community organizer in Chicago, but his financial future was still uncertain.
Michelle Obama eventually left the private sector for public service, but the real test of their partnership came when her husband entered politics in the 2000s. During his 2008 presidential run, she stepped away from her own career to care for their two daughters and support his campaign full time.
The gamble paid off: He was elected president twice, serving from 2009 to 2017.
Michelle Obama’s remarks come amid ongoing speculation about the couple’s marriage. Rumors began swirling after Barack Obama attended both President Jimmy Carter’s funeral and President Donald Trump’s inauguration solo.
While neither has addressed the gossip directly, they seemed to shut it down with a pair of sweet Valentine’s Day posts earlier this year.
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“Thirty-two years together and you still take my breath away,” the Democrat captioned a candid selfie with his wife.
She posted the same photo with a message that said, “If there’s one person I can always count on, it’s you, @BarackObama. You’re my rock. Always have been. Always will be.”