Michelle Obama paid tribute to her husband Barack on his 62nd birthday in a simple, sweet Instagram post. In the pic, the former President of the United States appeared pensive as he lounged on a veranda. He wore a gray short sleeved top, breezy beige pants, and a serious expression as he looked at something unseen, his brow furrowed in the sunshine. He accessorized with a sleek smartwatch and loosely held a pair of sunglasses. “Happy birthday to my favorite thoughtful guy,” the former FLOTUS captioned the sweet August 4 post. “Love you, always, @BarackObama.” Michelle completed the post with a smiley emoji surrounded by floating hearts.
Plenty of Michelle’s 55.3 million followers on the platform rushed to the comments thread to react. “Happy Birthday Barack! Thank you for all you do! What a blessing you are to this world!” wrote a follower, while another remarked, “What a mighty GOOD man,” alongside a row of celebratory red balloon emojis. Others called attention to Barack’s timeless legacy. “Happy Birthday to my forever president, President Obama!” wrote one, with yet another chiming in, “Happy birthday Mr President. You really showed what leadership is all about. Enjoy sir and to many more.”
Barack and Michelle married back in 1992, subsequently welcoming daughters Sasha and Malia. In the subsequent years, Michelle has been nothing if not candid about the challenges and joys of being married to the political giant. “You’ve got to know that there are going to be times, long periods of time, when you can’t stand each other … I said it, you know, on the book tour, as a joke,” she told Conan O’Brien during a 2020 episode of her podcast.
“There were times that I wanted to push Barack out of the window, right,” she continued. “And I say that, because it’s like you’ve got to know the feelings will be intense. But that doesn’t mean you quit. And these periods can last a long time. They can last years.”
But she added that the difficult times can give way to incredible times, as well, while addressing concerns that young people too often give up on relationships, refusing to talk about difficulties, because “they think they’re broken.” “I just want to say, look, if that breaks a marriage, then Barack and I have been broken off and on, throughout our marriage, but we have a very strong marriage,” she explained. “And if I had given up on it, if I had walked away from it, in those tough times, then I would’ve missed all the beauty, that was there as well.”