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At the end of 2022, one of Barack and Michelle Obama’s most honest and human statements took place. The former first lady made a confession during an interview with news station Black Revolt TV as she described how raising children had strained her marriage.
There were 10 years when I couldn’t stand my husband. And guess when it happened? When the kids were little.
The couple has long been open about the challenges of marriage. Michelle wrote about how they went through marriage counseling in her memoir Becoming. In addition, both she and Barack spoke candidly in the media about the work needed to survive a marriage. However, Michelle’s recent confession is the most admirable. Earlier in an interview in 2009, the former first lady said:
It’s not fair to the institution of marriage and it’s not fair to young people who are trying to build something, to project this perfection that doesn’t exist… the image of the perfect relationship is the last thing we want to create.
Their relationship began with a date at an ice cream shop. It was the summer of 1989
Barack and Michelle met in the summer of 1989. She was 25 at the time and he was 27. Michelle had been working as a lawyer for Sidley & Austin in Chicago for a year. She was assigned the role of mentor to a freshman law student who was to work with her as a summer associate. He was from Hawaii and it was Barack Obama. The law firm didn’t usually admit freshmen for the summer, but the man had obviously impressed them enough to make an exception. Barack was late for the first meeting, which did not make the best impression. A month later, a law student asked his mentor out on a date. At first, she was indifferent to his advances and kept repeating that “no way, it’s completely tacky.” Also because of the relationships between them at work. However, he convinced her with sincere intentions, without any, and an offer to quit his job. On their first date, they went for a walk to an ice cream shop and Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing.” The site of their first kiss was even commemorated with a plaque in Chicago. Michelle told Good Morning America:
When we stopped for ice cream and he felt me start to open up, he just did. He leaned in for a kiss and that was it. Love began with that kiss, and he was already my man.
The couple dated for two years before Barack proposed to Michelle. He took his bride to the Gordon Restaurant in Chicago, ostensibly to celebrate passing the bar exam. There he got down on one knee with the ring and asked a question to which Michelle replied “yes”. The couple married on October 3, 1992, at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. Their first dance was Stevie Wonder’s “You and I” before heading to California for their honeymoon. The couple wrote their own vows for each other, and Michelle said that Barack’s sincere feelings foreshadowed their future together.
Barack didn’t promise wealth, just an interesting life. He kept that promise.
On July 4, 1998, their first daughter, Malia Ann, was born, and on June 10, 2001, Natasza was born.
Barack Obama was elected president, and America fell in love with the first couple
After the 2008 political campaign slogan “Yes, We Can” proved to be a convincing herald of change for Americans, Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States. We can only imagine the stress their relationship was put through during this period. Fortunately, Michelle knew the secret to surviving hard times. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2011, she said:
It has to be a real partnership and you have to really like and respect the person you’re married to because it’s a hard road. I mean what I say to young couples. Don’t expect it to be easy to combine two lives and try to raise others and do it forever. It’s a recipe for disaster. There are ups and downs. But if you can finally look him in the eye and say, “I like you,” I’ve stopped believing in love at first sight. I think you go through that wonderful stage of love, but when things get tough, you need more than that.
On October 3, 2022, Barack and Michelle Obama celebrated 30 years of marriage.
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
