Michelle Obama says her husband, Barack Obama, has always challenged her to dream bigger.
In a joint interview with People on Wednesday, the Obamas reflected on their nearly 34-year marriage and what they've learned from each other over the years.
"We are each other's counterbalance," Obama said. "I mean, the truth is that I probably would have been someone who stayed more put, right?"
The former first lady said she grew up valuing stability and might have been reluctant to step outside her comfort zone on her own.
"I think I would have had a beautiful life here, but I think it would have been smaller. I think I wouldn't have had that kind of impact," she said.
Obama added that her husband's influence extended beyond their marriage.
"Because of my husband, because of who he is, he offered all of us — my mom, my family — just a broader sense of what's possible in life," she said.
She said Barack Obama provided "the forward push that sometimes some of us don't have." That influence was behind some of the earliest "uncomfortable steps" she took in her career, including her decision to leave a corporate law firm, she said.
"I think it's been good for me to be a little shaken, to be pushed to do more than what I thought I could do," she added.
The former first lady has often spoken candidly about the dynamics that have helped her marriage last.
In a 2023 podcast appearance, Obama said she and her husband share different love languages. While she prefers acts of service and quality time, he usually expresses affection through words of affirmation and physical touch.
Despite those differences, Obama said a lasting marriage requires both people to keep showing up for each other. "I believe more of us have to be honest about the work that it takes to build a life with another person," she said.
Obama has also said playful teasing is one of her love languages. In a 2025 podcast appearance, she described it as "a love tap."
Read next
Amanda is a senior reporter at Business Insider's Singapore bureau. She covers real estate and lifestyle, with a focus on the stories of everyday people and how they live and find home in different places, particularly across Asia.Her work explores relocation trends and alternative living, often intersecting with travel, culture, wellness, and relationships.In 2025, she won the Singapore Press Club's Rising Stars Young Digital Journalist Award.She previously worked as a writer and video producer at a content marketing agency in Singapore. She graduated from the University at Buffalo with a BA (Hons) in Sociology.Got a tip? Reach her at [email protected].Selected stories:
- Hurricane Ian destroyed parts of Florida, but one town came out of the storm almost unscathed. Inside Babcock Ranch, where one resident says they survived 'by design.'
- Singapore is considered one of the best-designed cities in the world. The man who masterminded it has 2 regrets.
- Why Japan has more than 8 million cheap abandoned houses that people are renovating into dream homes
- Starting over in paradise: What it's like to run a business, find a home, and build a life in Koh Samui, Thailand.
- The Asian island where retirees from around the world are starting over
- Singapore's 'ice cream uncles' are disappearing. Blame old age and bureaucracy.
- Singapore's traditional floating fish farms are disappearing. Meet the farmers battling costs and climate to keep the trade alive.
- She got in trouble as a teen in New York City, but in Bangkok, she became a beauty queen
