Michelle Obama can’t stand the way Barack Obama chews his food.
The former first lady spoke to the stimulating food noises of her husband while discussing her marriage to couple therapist Dr. Oona Gollanik on an episode of her “IMO” podcast on Wednesday.
Michelle, who shares her daughters Sasha, 24, and 27-year-old Maria with Barak, reflects that she is empty at the time of dinner, so she often has nothing to say at the time of dinner.
“We should always talk to our kids, but not every day,” Michelle said. “We realized how much time we spent talking about them.
Her brother and co-host Craig Robinson intervened to suggest that there was always “something to say” to the spouse the therapist opposed.
“Even in silence, there is a way to be next to others who can be very lively,” Guralnik offered.
The psychoanalyst then challenges Michelle to jump into what she really thinks from Barack as she sat across the table, and to deal with her deep emotions loudly.
“How many times someone asks, ‘What are you thinking?’ And you’re saying, ‘Well, let me make things,'” Michelle said, “I don’t want to tell you what I was actually thinking.
Guralnik said the point of this story is “really funny” to raise before Michelle contemplating the concept of telling Barak about her pet Peeve.
“Why does your biting bother me so much? Let’s argue,” she jokingly added. “Yeah, I don’t know if I’ll raise it or not.”
Guralnik argued that listening to a person biting is the same as listening to the “essence” of who someone is, but admitted that being troubled by chewing sounds is a “thing” in marriage.
“The girl and I are very annoyed by the way Barack chews,” Michelle said, referring to the kids.
Elsewhere in the episode, 61-year-old Michelle touched on the difficulty of navigating their relationship in the public eye.
“Even when it’s great, it’s difficult,” she said of their marriage.
Michelle, who shut down unfounded divorce rumours earlier this year, has been married to 64-year-old Barack since 1992.
