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With less than one month until her 28th wedding anniversary, former First Lady Michelle Obama took to social media to share a throwback photo from her and husband Barack Obama ’s 1992 nuptials. The then-newlyweds were pictured in the vintage snapshot with frosting on their noses. In the caption, the mom of two referenced her recent podcast episode during which she and guest Conan O’Brien discussed the challenges and joys of marriage. “Last week on The #MichelleObamaPodcast, Conan and I reflected on our marriages. This relationship can be one of the most foundational pieces of our identities—bringing us so much joy, meaning, and support every single day,” she wrote alongside the post. “But one thing is for sure: It also takes a lot of work; a lot of honesty with ourselves and our partners. That’s one thing I’ve learned.”
On her podcast last week, Michelle, 56, acknowledged that “people aren’t perfect” and that “marriage is hard.” “It’s a struggle for everyone,” she confessed. “But, the question you have to ask is do you want to spend this life with somebody? Do you want to build something with someone? And there’s no magic way to make that happen.”
The Becoming author also offered advice on how to pick a romantic partner. Michelle suggested approaching marriage “like you would picking your basketball team.” “Because if you’re looking at a team, the people you want to win with, then number one you want everybody on your team to be strong,” Michelle explained. “You don’t want any weak links, you don’t want somebody that you can dominate, you don’t want somebody who’s kind of a loser, right?”
“And also, if you’re on a team, you’ve got to be able to do everything, especially in basketball, it’s like, you would never pick somebody that says, ‘I only dribble. I don’t shoot. I don’t defend. I just dribble,’” she continued. “If we looked at marriage as a real team, then you want LeBron [James], you know?”