Michelle Obama recently opened up about a humorous struggle in her marriage: the fight over the thermostat.
During a candid chat with comedian Amy Poehler on the Good Hang podcast, Michelle revealed that she and her husband, Barack Obama, often disagree over bedroom temperatures.
“Sometimes I get into bed freezing, and other times I feel like I need to take my skin off,” Michelle, 61, joked. She explained that while Barack is always cold, she prefers a cool 68-degree bedroom. “Do not touch the thermostat,” she warned, adding that she often wakes up hot and accuses her husband of adjusting it during the night.
According to Page Six, Michelle shared that their disagreements have become so frequent that Barack, 63, is now afraid to go near the thermostat. “I didn’t touch it, I swear,” he reportedly pleads when confronted in the middle of the night. Michelle laughed, “He’s scared of it now.”
The Obamas also have a few playful rules in their relationship. Michelle revealed that she made a deal with Barack when they got married: “I can tease him, but he can’t tease me.” She added that she and their daughters, Malia and Sasha, love to joke around with Barack, calling it their family’s “love language.”
Despite recent public speculation about their relationship, Michelle has made it clear there’s no trouble. “If we had issues, people would know,” she stated firmly in another recent interview.
Rumours that the high-powered couple was headed for divorce began circulating earlier this year when Barack attended former President Jimmy Carter’s funeral in January without Michelle. Her announcement days later that she would not attend Donald Trump’s second presidential inauguration only fueled speculation of a rift.
But Michelle asserted that was simply her setting personal boundaries. “I chose to do what was best for me—not what I had to do, not what I thought other people wanted me to do,” she said. In her memoir Becoming, Michelle wrote that Barack’s political career led to periods of loneliness and frustration in their marriage, admitting, “There were 10 years where I couldn’t stand him.”
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