Barack and Michelle Obama have finally spoken about the condition of their marriage, putting to rest months of rumors suggesting issues in their relationship.

The ex-President, now 63, made an appearance on his wife’s podcast, IMO, which she co-hosts with her brother Craig Robinson. Together, they immediately tackled the gossip about a potential split.

‘What, you guys like each other?’ Robinson joked, before Michelle replied: ‘Oh yeah, the rumor mill.’

‘She took me back!’ Obama light-heartedly chimed in, adding: ‘It was touch and go for awhile.’

Michelle jokingly commented that it’s enjoyable to share space with her husband, quipping to her brother, “When we’re not, people assume we’ve separated.”

Michelle then made a heartfelt admission about her relationship with her husband of almost 33 years.

‘There hasn’t been one moment in our marriage where I thought about quitting my man,’ she said passionately. 

She continued: ‘And we’ve had some really hard times. So we had a lot of fun times, a lot of adventures, and I have become a better person because of the man I’m married to.’

Robinson admitted he had been asked about his sister’s marriage, recalling an interaction with a fan who asked for a photo in Wichita, Kansas.

‘This woman came up to me and she was so nice, she’s like, can I have a picture?’ he recalled.

‘You know how you get the side hug, and she’s like “what did he do?”‘ he told the couple, with Robinson jokingly replying: ‘What make you think he messed up?’

Obama admitted he misses a lot of the speculation, and he was largely unaware of what people were saying.

‘These are the kinds of things that I just miss, right? So I don’t even know this stuff’s going on. And then somebody will mention it to me and I’m all like, “what are you talking about?”‘ he said incredulously. 

The Obamas have been married for almost 33 years and share daughters, Malia, 26, and Sasha, 24. Over the past few months they have faced ongoing rumors about their marriage status.

The rumor mill swirled after her decision to skip both Jimmy Carter’s funeral and President Donald Trump’s inauguration – with Michelle insisting they were decisions she made for herself.

Her absence at the high-profile political events stoked divorce rumors, as did President Obama’s admission in April that he was in a ‘deep deficit’ with his wife. 

‘This is like 50 term papers. I mean, it just goes on forever,’ he said while addressing Hamilton College students in April. ‘I’m hoping to get to the finish line on that.’

‘Beyond that, look, I was in a deep deficit with my wife, so I have been trying to dig myself out of that hole by doing occasionally fun things,’ the former Democratic president admitted. 

In May, Michelle set the record straight during a podcast with entrepreneur and investor Steven Bartlett following speculation over the former first couple’s recent public appearances

‘If I were having problems with my husband, everybody would know about it,’ she told the host, laughing.

She added that she’s ‘not a martyr’ and joked about how she would address such marital strife publicly. 

Last week, Michelle made a frank admission about life at home with husband  after spending months dodging divorce rumors. 

The mom-of-two shared the insight about being an empty nester with a husband who is no longer serving as the President of the United States on Wednesday’s episode of her podcast, IMO, which she hosts with older brother Craig Robinson.

‘I mean at this stage in life for me, personally, is the first time I’ve been completely free,’ the mother-of-two told guest Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

‘There’s been a release where every choice I make is not about my husband, not about his career, not about my family, not about what my kids need or where they’re going, it’s totally about me,’ she admitted, quipping: ‘This is when we start living ladies.’