Inside the Obama's rocky marriage: How lonely Michelle nearly walked out on ambitious (and hen-pecked) Barack
By Paul Thompson
Last updated at 12:53 AM on 23rd September 2009
Comments (2) Add to My Stories President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle came close to splitting up as he tried to build his political career, according to a new book.
Left alone for long periods as her husband pursued his political ambitions, Michelle considered walking out of the marriage after eight years, it is claimed.
But fears that daughter Sasha had the life-threatening illness spinal meningitis brought the couple back together.
According to author Christopher Anderson, the illness in 2001 helped forge a new bond between the couple.
Anderson's book 'Barack and Michelle: Portrait of an American Marriage' suggests a troubled union as Mr Obama attempted to make his way in Chicago politics.
Michelle, 48, is quoted as telling her husband: 'You only think about yourself.
'I never thought I'd have to raise a family alone.'
Anderson said Mr Obama tired of his wife's constant nagging.
'I love Michelle, but she's killing me with this constant criticism,' Barack is quoted as confiding to his grandmother Madelyn Dunham.
'She just seems so bitter, so angry all the time.'
Anderson also reveals that the couple went through heartache before Mrs Obama conceived her first child.
Anderson, who wrote a biography of Princess Diana called 'The Day Diana Died', said the couple talked to friends about using IVF or even adopting.
Speaking on the CBS 'Early Show' today Anderson said Mrs Obama almost walked out on the marriage.
He said: 'I think she could have walked at one point. She felt abandoned.'
'The strains in their marriage, they've been very open about,' he said.
'During the period when he was in the senate ... he said it was a dark time in their marriage. It was angry all the time.'
Anderson, who interviewed over 200 friends of the couple for the biography, also spoke about Michelle's heartache at not being able to conceive.
'For five years they tried to have children, and they were very concerned about their ability to have them before Malia came along.
'And, in fact, one of their best friends has gone on record as saying when she became pregnant, she was afraid to tell Michelle, because Michelle had been trying so hard and she didn't want to break her heart.
'They discussed adoption with some of their closest friends and then, fortunately for them, Malia came along in 1998.'
Anderson also said that Michelle gave the thumbs down to Hillary Clinton as her husband's running mate in the election.
And he claimed it was she who persuaded him to adopt the 'Yes, we can' slogan - which he considered corny.
Read more: dailymail.co.uk |
