Michelle Obama’s Podcast Remark About Being ‘Single’ Turns Heads

Former First Lady Michelle Obama made a casual remark about being single during a recent episode of her podcast, fueling ongoing speculation about a possible strain in her marriage to former President Barack Obama.

Michelle was joined by her brother, Craig Robinson, and Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky on the latest episode of her show, IMO [In My Opinion], when she appeared to express a hint of personal interest in the tech executive.

“You know, I have to say, Brian, if I’m a single girl out there and I find out that Brian Chesky is single and I could like stay in his house -” she began before Robinson cut in.

“Here she goes, right to the relationship!” Robinson said, adding: “Brian, you don’t have to feel pressure.”

Chesky, however, played right along, noting, “Her and her husband have tried to set me up before.”

That led the former first lady to say she was “very invested in Brian’s love life,” to which he said he “appreciated.”

The unusual exchange comes amid persistent speculation about the state of Michelle and Barack Obama’s marriage—fueled in part by the former First Lady’s notable absences from both President Donald Trump’s inauguration and the funeral of former President Jimmy Carter.

Adding to the chatter, Barack Obama recently acknowledged that he is in a “deep deficit with my wife” and has been working to plan enjoyable activities for the two of them. Michelle, for her part, has publicly voiced frustrations with her husband, citing his past habit of being late and his tendency to avoid meaningful conversations with his golf buddies, DailyMail.com reported.

Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson has since focused on those remarks, telling fellow podcaster Megyn Kelly that the former First Lady “really dislikes her husband, and it’s super obvious.”

“I’m not just saying that to be catty… I think I’m trying to feel compassion for her but her hostility toward the guy is unbelievable,” he added.

The former Fox News star then went on to claim “there’s nothing more destabilizing than an unhappy marriage.”

Kelly, herself a Fox News alumna, agreed with Carlson, adding that “everything Michelle says about her husband is negative.”

“I almost never say negative things about Doug,” Kelly said of her own husband. “He’s not perfect, but when I think about him, I don’t immediately go to whatever is negative. I go to what’s positive and what I love about him.”

However, Michelle dismissed rumors of marital trouble during a recent appearance on a podcast hosted by entrepreneur and investor Steven Bartlett.

When Bartlett raised the ongoing speculation—specifically pointing to her absence from Donald Trump’s inauguration, which some interpreted as a sign of a rift—he noted that it fueled talk of a possible split, with some suggesting, “there’s an issue with you and Barack, there’s a divorce coming.”

“Let me tell you, he would know it,” Michelle said, pointing a finger at her brother. “And everybody would know it.”

“If I were having problems with my husband, everybody would know about it,” she said with a laugh.

Robinson joked, “If they were having a problem, I’d be doing a podcast with him.”

Calling Barack her “person,” Michelle then added, “The beauty of my husband and our partnership is that neither one of us was ever really, ever going to quit at it, because that’s not who we are. And I know that about him. He knows that about me.”

Michelle noted further that many young people give up on marriage too quickly, partly because they’ve been misled by an unrealistic image of a perfect relationship between her and Barack.

“I talk about these things because I think that people give up too quickly on marriage,” she said.