Michelle Obama supported future husband Barack before he achieved financial success

When Craig asked her: "Would you be attracted to a guy who's not financially sound when you meet him?" Michelle responded: "Uh, I married one."

She added: "I left my corporate firm when I met Barack. I had somebody who was like, 'I got your back. The risks you think you're taking, they aren't that crazy, and I'm here to help you.'" Michelle added: "That's when I said, 'I would rather have that in a partner than a higher income. I would rather have somebody who is ready to do some hard things with me.'

"But that meant I had to be ready to do some hard things with him."

Michelle met Barack, now 63, in 1989 when she was 25 and he was 28, while both were working at the Sidley Austin LLP law firm in Chicago.

The former president asked Michelle on a date within a month of meeting, and they became engaged in 1991. They married the following year and later had two daughters, Malia in 1998 and Sasha in 2001.

Barack's political career began in earnest in 2004 when he was elected as an Illinois state senator, bringing the family into the public eye. In 2008, he became the 44th president of the United States and won re-election in 2012.

Michelle has acknowledged their journey had not always been easy.

Speaking on Revolt TV in December 2022, she admitted to struggling with the pressures of marriage and parenthood, saying: "I couldn't stand Barack when our daughters were young because I felt like I was carrying the load while we both worked on our careers."

She added: "Marriage isn't 50/50 - ever. There's sometimes I'm 70, he's 30, but guess what? We've been married 30. I would take 10 bad years over 30."

The couple have faced recent speculation over their marriage after Barack attended former president Jimmy Carter's funeral and Donald Trump's inauguration alone.

But Page Six has reported Michelle has simply "checked out" of her old life in Washington DC.