"He was like, 'That isn't true. I know them and it isn't true,' " Bush Hager added. "Sometimes when you're in the public eye like that, those rumors start."
Barack and Michelle directly addressed the ongoing rumors surrounding their marriage during the July 16 episode of Michelle and her brother Craig Robinson’s IMO podcast.
"Wait, you guys like each other?" Craig joked, as Michelle replied, "That's the rumor mill." While he took his seat, Barack quipped, "She took me back! It was touch and go for a while."
Michelle teased, "Now, don't you start," before Craig told the couple, "It's so nice to have you both in the same room."
With a laugh, Michelle told him, "I know, because when we aren't, folks think we're divorced."
Rumors about their marriage swelled in January when Michelle chose not to attend multiple high-profile events, including the funeral of President Jimmy Carter and the second inauguration of President Donald Trump.
George, who served as the president prior to Barack’s two-term presidency, has maintained a close friendship with the Obama family, especially Michelle, with whom he’s frequently been seen laughing with at official events.
"I had an opportunity to sit by your father at funerals, the highs and the lows, and we shared stories about our kids and about our parents," Michelle previously told Jenna on Today. "Our values are the same. We disagree on policy, but we don't disagree on humanity, we don't disagree about love and compassion. I think that's true for all of us — it's just that we get lost in our fear of what's different."
George mirrored that sentiment in a 2021 interview with CBS Sunday Morning, saying, "I think it's a problem that Americans are so polarized in their thinking that they can't imagine a George W. Bush and a Michelle Obama being friends."
