--- title: Michelle Obama Says She Got Marriage Counseling With Barack description: Michelle Obama revealed in a candid interview that even she and former president Barack Obama benefitted from marriage counseling. canonical: https://time.com/5450376/michelle-obama-marriage-counseling/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-11-09T16:13:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:55:56.026Z og:title: Michelle Obama Reveals She and Barack Got Marriage Counsel og:description: "We work on our marriage" og:url: https://time.com/5450376/michelle-obama-marriage-counseling/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltad6e647e53bc1f20/69893eb486f68e03436eaab3/michelle-obama-barack-obama-marriage-counseling.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Barack And Michelle Obama Attend Portrait Unveiling At Nat'l Portrait Gallery og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Michelle Obama Reveals She and Barack Got Marriage Counsel twitter:description: "We work on our marriage" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltad6e647e53bc1f20/69893eb486f68e03436eaab3/michelle-obama-barack-obama-marriage-counseling.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Michelle Obama Says She and Barack Sought Marriage Counseling When They Needed It ## Video: See the Newly Unveiled Official Portraits of Barack and Michelle Obama [Watch (HLS stream): See the Newly Unveiled Official Portraits of Barack and Michelle Obama](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/kjOZ9VOE.m3u8) (2:01)  _Published 2018-02-12. The National Portrait Gallery will unveil the long-awaited portraits of former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama on Monday._  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Nov 9, 2018 4:13 PM UTC  WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 12: Former U.S. President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama participate in the unveiling of their official portraits during a ceremony at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery, on February 12, 2018 in Washington, DC. The portraits were commissioned by the Gallery, for Kehinde Wiley to create President Obama's portrait, and Amy Sherald that of Michelle Obama. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images) WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 12: Former U.S. President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama participate in the unveiling of their official portraits during a ceremony at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery, on February 12, 2018 in Washington, DC. The portraits were commissioned by the Gallery, for Kehinde Wiley to create President Obama's portrait, and Amy Sherald that of Michelle Obama. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)Mark Wilson—Getty Images  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Nov 9, 2018 4:13 PM UTC For many, [Barack](http://time.com/5358013/barack-obama-birthday-57/) and [Michelle Obama](http://time.com/5421731/michelle-obama-white-house/)‘s nearly-[three decades long romance](http://time.com/barack-michelle-obama-love-story-photos/) is the ultimate relationship goals, but the former First Lady wants people to know that a good marriage and partnership takes work — and that it’s not wrong to ask for help when you need it. In an interview with _Good Morning America’_s Robin Roberts, Obama shared that she and the former president have gotten marriage counseling in the past to help “talk out our differences.” “I know too many young couples who struggle and think somehow, there’s something wrong with them,” Obama said. “I want them to know that Michelle and Barack Obama — who have a phenomenal marriage and who love each other — we work on our marriage and we get help with our marriage when we need it.” Obama also shared how while it may seem that marriage is “supposed to be easy,” it is also an opportunity to learn about not only your partner, but yourself. “What I learned about myself was that my happiness was up to me and I started working out more, I started asking for help, not just from him but from other people,” she said. “I stopped feeling guilty.” Watch the Michelle Obama _Good Morning America_ interview below. > [](https://twitter.com/GMA/status/1060875880363307009) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5450376/michelle-obama-marriage-counseling/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5450376/michelle-obama-marriage-counseling/"},"headline":"Michelle Obama Says She and Barack Sought Marriage Counseling When They Needed It","datePublished":"2018-11-09T16:13:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:55:56.026Z","description":"\"We work on our marriage\"","url":"https://time.com/5450376/michelle-obama-marriage-counseling/","keywords":["Newsfeed","celebrities"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltad6e647e53bc1f20/69893eb486f68e03436eaab3/michelle-obama-barack-obama-marriage-counseling.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltad6e647e53bc1f20/69893eb486f68e03436eaab3/michelle-obama-barack-obama-marriage-counseling.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Barack And Michelle Obama Attend Portrait Unveiling At Nat'l Portrait Gallery","caption":"Barack And Michelle Obama Attend Portrait Unveiling At Nat'l Portrait Gallery","creditText":"Mark Wilson—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5450376/michelle-obama-marriage-counseling/","name":"Michelle Obama Says She and Barack Sought Marriage Counseling When They Needed It"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"See the Newly Unveiled Official Portraits of Barack and Michelle Obama","description":"The National Portrait Gallery will unveil the long-awaited portraits of former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama on Monday.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/kjOZ9VOE/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2018-02-12T16:39:45.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/kjOZ9VOE.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5450376/michelle-obama-marriage-counseling/","duration":"PT2M1S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5450376/michelle-obama-marriage-counseling/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```