Michelle Obama finally addresses why she wasn’t at Trump’s inauguration as she and Barack are spotted out together

Michelle and Barack Obama are seen out on the town in Georgetown amid divorce rumors.

Amid rumors that there’s been trouble in paradise, Michelle and Barack Obama are doubling down.

During the Wednesday episode of her new podcast that she hosts with her brother, “IMO With Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson,” the former First Lady addressed the rumors surrounding her absence from Trump’s second inauguration.

“People couldn’t believe that I was saying no for any other reason; they had to assume that my marriage was falling apart,” Obama said. “It took everything in my power to not do the thing that was perceived as right, but do the things that was right for me. That was a hard thing for me to do.”

Obama said she had to “basically trick” herself into not attending the inauguration by deciding early on to not pick out an outfit to wear should she start to give in on not going. 

“It started with not having anything to wear,” she said. “I was like, if I’m not going to do this thing, I got to tell my team, I don’t even want to have a dress ready, right? Because it’s so easy to just say let me do the right thing.”

Despite the rumors her absence from the event caused, which worsened when she continued to skip out on appearances with her husband of 32 years, she said she made “the choice that was right for me.”

The topic came up during a conversation with guest Taraji P. Henson about delving into the “art of saying no.” 

“It’s a muscle that you have to build,” Obama said of the art form. “And I think we suffered, because it’s almost like we started training late in life to build that muscle, right? I am just now starting to build it.”

The comments on the podcast arrive amid constant speculation about the Forever First Couple’s relationship status, and days after she and Barack were spotted together for the first time this year. 

On Saturday, April 19, the couple was seen out on a dinner date at the restaurant Osteria Mozza in Georgetown, Washington, D.C., the New York Post reported. According to the publication, Barack was seen dining solo at the same restaurant just before Trump’s inauguration as divorce rumors began. 

Based on a video posted by a local Instagram account, Washingtonian Problems, the husband and wife received cheers and applause from their fellow diners, and the former president waved to the patrons. All seemed well.