Obama Says Pressure to Stay Active in Politics Strains Marriage with Michelle

Former President Barack Obama said pressure to remain politically active through the Trump administration has strained his marriage with former first lady Michelle Obama.

"She wants to see her husband easing up and spending more time with her, enjoying what remains of our lives," Obama told The New Yorker in an interview published May 4. "It does create a genuine tension in our household, and it frustrates her."

Early in President Donald Trump's first term, Obama largely followed the tradition of former presidents staying quiet about their successors. Over time, the 44th president spoke out more.

During Trump's second administration, Obama has broken those norms further and become the president's most prominent critic, a role he acknowledged in the interview.

"People aren’t looking at me in historical comparison to other presidents," he told the magazine. "They don’t care about the fact that no other ex-president was the main surrogate for the party for four election cycles after they left office."

Obama said Trump's "recklessness" pushed him to comment on actions including the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris climate accords and efforts to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, his signature domestic policy.

His opposition to Trump has drawn him back into politics "more than I would have preferred," he told the magazine.

Obama has carried key Democratic issues, including a recent push for the party's redistricting effort in Virginia shared with his nearly 120 million followers on X.

Five posts urging Virginians to vote yes on a ballot measure that redrew congressional districts to favor Democrats drew over 220 million views, based on X's public statistics.

The posts used partisan language.

"Free and fair elections are the cornerstone of our democracy. But right now, they’re under attack. Several Republican-controlled states have redrawn their congressional maps to give themselves an unfair advantage in the midterm elections," Obama wrote in a March 5 post on X.

Michelle Obama has used new media to voice complaints about the Trump administration, criticizing the president on podcasts including her own.