Former first lady Michelle Obama has revealed what made her seek therapy.
Fresh from setting the record straight on rumors about a divorce from husband Barack, Michelle was back on the podcast circuit—this time on Jay Shetty’s On Purpose.
The 60-year-old told the British host that she is going through a “transition,” referring to her life post-politics, her age, and her two daughters becoming adults.
“At this phase of my life, I’m in therapy right now because I’m transitioning, you know? I’m 60-years-old, I’ve finished a really hard thing in my life with my family intact, I’m an empty nester, my girls are in—you know, they’ve been launched,” she said.
Malia, who turns 27 in July, and Sahsa, who turns 24 in June, were just children when their father became president of the United States in 2009.
Malia, who graduated from Harvard in 2021, is now a writer and director. Her short film The Heart debuted at Sundance Film Festival last year. She has also worked on the Amazon Prime Video series Swarm.
Sasha graduated from Washington, D.C.’s Sidwell Friends School in 2019 and then enrolled at the University of Michigan before switching to the University of Southern California. She graduated from USC with a degree in sociology in 2023. The pair live together in Los Angeles.
Michelle added on Jay Shetty’s pod that “every choice that I’m making is completely mine,” now that the girls have flown the nest and she’s no longer a part of a presidential administration.
“I now don’t have the excuse of, ‘Well, my kids need this’ or ‘My husband needs that’ or ‘The country needs that,’” she explained.
She said her “formal therapy” serves as a “tune-up for this next phase” in an attempt to “unwind some old habits and sort through some old guilt.”
“So, I’m getting that tune-up for this next phase because I believe this is a whole ‘nother phase in life for me. And I now have the wisdom to know—let me go get some coaching while I’m doing it,” she said.
It comes after Michelle brushed off rumors of a divorce from Barack. Speaking on The Diary of a CEO podcast last Thursday, she said: “If I were having problems with my husband, everybody would know about it.”
Whispers swirled after Barack attended both Jimmy Carter’s funeral and Donald Trump’s second inauguration solo.
Podcast host Steven Bartlett noted her absence had led some to think “there’s an issue with you and Barack, there’s a divorce coming,” a comment that prompted a hearty laugh from Michelle.
“Let me tell you—he would know it,” she said, pointing to her brother, Craig Robinson, who was also on the episode. “And everybody would know it.”
“I’m not a martyr, I’m not,” Michelle continued. “I would be problem-solving in public, and be like, ‘Let me tell you what [Barack] did.”
Michelle has a podcast with her brother called IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson.
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