Former first lady Michelle Obama said she is at a stage in her life where she is completely free and her decisions do not revolve around her children or her husband, for the first time. “I mean, this stage in life for me, for me personally, is the first time that I’ve been completely free — where every choice that I make in my life is not about my husband, not about his career, not about what my kids need or where they’re going. It’s totally about me,” Michelle said on her weekly podcast. Michelle’s remark was seen as a telling comment, though the divorce rumors have now taken a backseat as Michelle Obama has made it clear that her marriage had issues about which she is very open to talk, but they are not parting ways. In her many online appearances, mostly podcasts, Michelle said her marriage was hard sometimes but she would not trade it as Barack Obama is the “my person” for her. “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 said earlier. The rumors started after Michelle Obama was absent from major political events including President Donald Trump’s inauguration. Michelle clarified that she did not want to be the person who checks all the right boxes and wanted to listen to her heart and did not want to go. “My decision to skip the inauguration, what people don’t realize, or my decision to make choices at the beginning of this year that suited me, were met with such ridicule and criticism,” she said. “People couldn’t believe that I was saying no for any other reason, that they had to assume that my marriage was falling apart, you know.”The Obamas are teaming up with Larry David for a sketch comedy series for HBO. Higher Ground, the production company of the Obamas, would produce the yet-to-be-titled half-hour series.