Michelle Obama reveals why she and Barack saw a marriage counselor

Michelle Obama reveals "there are times you want to leave" as she opens up about marriage counseling in her latest book.

Barack and Michelle Obama breezed through their roles as the first couple for eight years but their decades-long marriage needed some work, according to Michelle. In her book, she opens up about seeking counseling and why they were driven to do so.

THE STRUGGLE

“There are times you want to leave,” the former First Lady admits to People during an interview for the promotion of her memoir. She later reveals that though she sometimes “wished things would be different,” she laments, “I don’t think I ever thought ‘I’m checking out of this.’”

Michelle wrote in her book that their marriage began to struggle after experiencing difficulties trying to conceive. She suffered a miscarriage and eventually turned to in vitro fertilization which resulted in their two girls, Malia and Sasha.

It became a balancing act for Michelle and Barack after. They were running high-powered careers while adjusting to being new parents. The stress eventually got the better of them. Marriage counseling became their refuge to air out their differences.

A WAKE-UP CALL

For Michelle, it was also a wake-up call to take control of her own happiness and to stop feeling guilty.

“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.”

SURVIVING 26 YEARS

Michelle and Barack have been married for 26 years. On their anniversary last month, they tweeted sweet messages for each other, proving their love and devotion to each other is strong.

It’s not surprising since the couple found ways to adjust to their differences. Michelle revealed to the hosts of “Today” that she and her husband have separate bathrooms which she claimed is the key to their successful marriage.

Michelle admitted one of her pet peeves about her husband is when he drops by her bathroom unannounced.

“Why are you here?,” she would ask. And he would reply, “I live here, can I enjoy my bathroom too?”

Despite their bathroom issues, Michelle and Barack are a phenomenal couple. They’re not perfect, but they’ve learned to live with that.