Obama admits Trump has caused ‘tension’ in his marriage after Michelle makes dramatic plea

Barack Obama has given a rare and candid glimpse into his marriage – and it turns out Donald Trump is causing trouble at home.

The former president, 64, admitted in an interview that Michelle wants him to step back from public life so the couple can enjoy their later years together.

The problem? He is repeatedly involved in the politics of that time.

The former commander-in-chief said Trump’s return to the White House is the reason he can’t simply walk away, and that his inability to do so has become a source of friction at home.

“It’s creating real tension in our household, and it’s frustrating her,” Obama told The New Yorker. “I’m more forgiving about it, I understand why people feel that way.”

He also pushed back against critics who say he is not doing enough, arguing that his continued involvement has no precedent. “No other ex-president was the primary surrogate for the party for four election cycles after they left office,” he said.

On the public call for more to be done, Obama was philosophical: “The fact that people want me to do more is a good sign.”

Obama was only 47 when he entered the White House and 55 when he left – younger than most of his predecessors – and remains one of the most active ex-presidents in modern history.

In an interview with The New Yorker, Barack Obama said that Donald Trump’s return to the White House is the reason he cannot simply leave politics.

The former president offered a rare glimpse into his marriage to Michelle

Just last month, Obama became the top national figure to support the Virginia amendment to redistrict the state’s congressional maps and give some currently Republican Party-controlled seats to Democrats.

He also recently appeared alongside New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani during a visit to a children’s center.

Obama had a group of children laughing when he pulled a stunt on them during a visit to a New York childcare center in April.

He and Mayor Mamdani read to preschoolers and sang along during the visit, and did not answer questions after their performance.

While at Learning Through Play Pre-K school, Obama and Mamdani read the book Alone and Together to the children and sang along to The Wheels on the Bus.

After sitting on chairs during the reading, the two sat on the floor to act out a major theme from the book.

“Remember the book that said, together we are strong,” Obama told the children.

“So you’re all going to have to help me get up,” the former president continued amid the shouts and laughter of the young attendees, before adding, “Because I’m old.”

Obama pretends to struggle to stand as children lift him up during a visit to Learning Through Play Pre-K in New York on April 18

The former president was there with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and the pair sang a song

Obama was president from 2009 to 2017, long before most of his audience was born.

The 44th president has also offered to be a sounding board for 34-year-old Mamdani, whose star power, youth and progressive agenda have made him stand out in Democratic politics and even shown similarities to Obama’s own political rise.

Other, more mainstream Democrats also appear to hold the former president in high regard.

The Democratic Party rejected their most recent president, Joe Biden, in their Easter Sunday message this year.

Last month, they posted a photo of the back of Obama’s head with the Easter Bunny, along with the caption “better times in the White House.”

The duo looked at the Washington Monument, which stood between them, in the photo taken during Obama’s presidency more than a decade ago.

Joe Biden was Obama’s vice president and became president himself from 2021, but has apparently been excluded from the Democratic Party’s messaging

Democrats notably missed mentioning Biden in a “better times” post on X last month

But many quickly realized that Democrats seemingly forgot to praise their most recent leader in the Oval Office – Biden.

Despite serving as Obama’s vice president and then serving as president himself from 2021 until last year, Democrats’ X account notably missed mentioning Biden in their “better times” post, with some voters saying they were “erasing” him from history.

Obama will also leave another lasting mark on the US later this year when his Presidential Center and Library opens in Chicago in June.