Michelle Obama speaks out on new ‘freedom’ as she addresses divorce rumors

The former First Lady of the US has opened up about how 'people couldn't even fathom' she was 'making a choice' for herself, and so they assumed she must be divorcing Barack Obama.

Ah, the joys of social media - whose rumor mill most recently has been spinning away with whispers that the Obamas' marriage is on the brink.

Michelle and Barack tied the knot in 1992 and granted, Barack has opened up about how the move into the White House in 2009 until 2017 certainly put a strain on the pair's marriage, however, does this mean they're considering parting ways anytime soon?

Well, Michelle opened up about her relationship and how her life has changed since stepping away from the position of First Lady of the US in an episode of Sophia Bush's iHeart Radio podcast Work in Progress, which first aired yesterday (April 8).

The 61-year-old reflected since leaving the White House, for 'the first time' in her life, 'all' of her 'choices' are for herself.

Michelle admitted she's learnt not to 'blame [her] decisions and indecisions on anyone other than' herself, previously having used the excuse of her daughters or husband being President to avoid making a call on something.

She continued: "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."

However, she attributes this to a wider issue too, acknowledging how women often 'struggle with disappointing people,' revealing divorce rumors arose when people started seeing her 'making a choice for [herself] and people being unable to 'even fathom' that.

"They had to assume that my husband and I are divorcing," she added. "This couldn't be a grown woman just making a set of decisions herself, right?"

Just because a woman seems more 'free' doesn't mean she's going through a divorce, okay? (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Michelle pointed out 'that's what society does to us'; making people question who they are, what they're doing, and what they're doing it 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," she continued.

Michelle's comments follow Barack similarly reflecting on their marriage and how it's changed over the years - particularly post White House - to College President Steven Tepper.

The former president of the US admitted he was 'in a deep deficit' with Michelle and has been 'trying to dig [himself] out of that hole by doing occasionally fun things'.