Michelle Obama acknowledges that her marriage has had its ups and downs, says Jodi Kantor in The New York Times Magazine. After her husband decided to go into politics, starting with a run for the Illinois state Senate, Michelle, a lawyer, helped support the family. She was happy to have her own career, but resented the fact that Barack was so often away, especially after their daughters were born. “This was an eye-opener to me, that marriage is hard,” she says. “Going into it, no one ever tells you that. They just tell you, ‘Do you love him?’ ‘What’s the dress look like?’” As her husband’s political ambitions grew, Michelle put her own career on hold, which created further strain. Moving to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. has brought them closer, but didn’t erase all problems. “The strengths and challenges of our marriage don’t change because we moved to a different address.” First Ladies rarely speak honestly about marital conflict, and her comments challenge the notion of the Obamas’ marriage as a storybook romance. But the image of a flawless marriage, she says, “is the last thing we want to project. It’s unfair to the institution of marriage, and it’s unfair for young people who are trying to build something, to project this perfection that doesn’t exist. Good marriages take work.”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
Silk Roads at The British Museum: a 'mesmerising' exhibitionThe Week Recommends 'Epic' show explores the many routes connecting East and West, through a collection of 'beautiful, unusual, intricate' treasures
-
The week's best photosIn Pictures A hurricane's aftermath, a marching parade, and more
-
Sarah Moss picks her favourite booksThe Week Recommends The author shares works by Virginia Woolf, Dorothy Wordsworth and Ross Gay
-
Will 'weirdly civil' VP debate move dial in US election?Today's Big Question 'Diametrically opposed' candidates showed 'a lot of commonality' on some issues, but offered competing visions for America's future and democracy
-
1 of 6 'Trump Train' drivers liable in Biden bus blockadeSpeed Read Only one of the accused was found liable in the case concerning the deliberate slowing of a 2020 Biden campaign bus
-
How could J.D. Vance impact the special relationship?Today's Big Question Trump's hawkish pick for VP said UK is the first 'truly Islamist country' with a nuclear weapon
-
Biden, Trump urge calm after assassination attemptSpeed Reads A 20-year-old gunman grazed Trump's ear and fatally shot a rally attendee on Saturday
-
Supreme Court rejects challenge to CFPBSpeed Read The court rejected a conservative-backed challenge to the way the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is funded
-
Arizona court reinstates 1864 abortion banSpeed Read The law makes all abortions illegal in the state except to save the mother's life
-
Trump, billions richer, is selling BiblesSpeed Read The former president is hawking a $60 "God Bless the USA Bible"
-
The debate about Biden's age and mental fitnessIn Depth Some critics argue Biden is too old to run again. Does the argument have merit?
