Obama says leaving White House helped his marriage

Former President Obama says exiting the White House helped give his marriage to Michelle Obama a boost.

The former first lady has previously revealed she “couldn’t stand” her husband for roughly “10 years” of their union. “CBS Mornings” cohost Nate Burleson asked the 44th president about those comments in an interview Tuesday.

“How do you get back in good graces?” Burleson asked Obama, eliciting laughs from the former commander in chief.

“Let me just say this: It sure helps to be out of the White House and to have a little more time with her,” Obama replied.

In an interview last month with “CBS Mornings’” Gayle King, Michelle Obama opened up about her relationship.

“We’ve been married for 30 years,” she told King. “If I fell out with him for 10 [years], and we had a great 20 years, I’d take those odds anytime.”

The Obamas tied the knot in 1992.

The 61-year-old former president said Tuesday that the couple’s children (Malia, 24, and Sasha, 21) having grown up also helped his marriage.

“Michelle, when our girls were growing up, that was priority number one, two, three and four,” Obama, who left office in 2017, said.

“So I did not fully appreciate — I think as engaged of a father as I was — the degree of stress and tension for her, knowing not just that me and Michelle were under scrutiny and in this strange environment, but that we were raising our daughters in a kind of situation that just wasn’t normal,” he said.

“Now that they’re doing good, she is a little more forgiving of all my flaws,” Obama added with a grin.

“What she’s told me is, ‘Looking back, you did OK as a dad.’ And if I passed that test, she’ll forgive me, most of my other foibles.”