Michelle Obama responds to divorce rumours after stepping back from the spotlight

Michelle Obama has spoken out about those divorce rumours

Rumours about the couple's marriage started to circulate after she stepped back from the spotlight.

People online quickly assumed that their marriage was in trouble, but Michelle laughed off the claims.

The author spoke out about her relationship on Sophia Bush's podcast, Work In Progress.

She said people simply can't accept "a grown woman just making a set of decisions for herself."

She told Sophia Bush: "This year, people couldn't even fathom that I was choosing myself. That they had to assume that my husband and I are divorcing."

"This couldn't be a grown woman just making a set of decisions herself, right? But that's what society does to us," she commented.

Michelle was absent from many political events this year, but she said she is simply putting herself first.

She said people fail to realise that women are allowed to put themselves first, especially mothers.

"That’s the thing that we as women struggle with – disappointing people.”

"I can't blame my decisions and indecisions on anyone other than me. I think if I'm honest with myself, I could have made a lot of these decisions years ago. But I didn't give myself that freedom," she said.

"But that’s what society does to us… We actually finally start going, ‘What am I doing? Who am I doing this for?’ And if it doesn’t fit into the sort of stereotype of what people think we should do, then it gets labeled as something negative and horrible."

Michelle said it is now "time to make some big girl decisions" in her life.