Barack Obama joined wife Michelle Obama for the latest episode of herIMOpodcast, where the two joked about the rumors surrounding their marriage Michelle's co-host and brother Craig Robinson quipped, "Wait, you guys like each other?" Barack, meanwhile, joked that their relationship had been "touch and go for a while" PresidentBarack Obamamade a long-awaited appearance onMichelle Obama's podcast this week, where the two wasted no time poking fun at the speculation about their relationship. Michelle and her co-host and brother,Craig Robinson, opened the show by teasing the "very, very,veryspecial" guest set to join them that day. "This is the episode that everyone's been waiting for with bated breath," Craig announced, "because we have my brother-in-law, your husband, the former president of the United States." Michelle added, "He made time in his busy schedule to come on. We are honored." As soon as Barack, 63, and Michelle, 61, shared a welcoming embrace, the teasing began. Michelle Obama/YouTube "Wait, you guys like each other?" Craig joked, as Michelle replied, "That's the rumor mill." While he took his seat, Barack quipped, "She took me back! It was touch and go for a while." Michelle teased, "Now, don't you start," before Craig told the couple, "It's so nice to have you both in the same room." With a laugh, Michelle told him, "I know, because when we aren't, folks think we're divorced." Barack and Michelle are no strangers to gossip about their personal lives, with split rumors emerging as they made solo outings and worked on individual projects this year. Even afamily phototo celebrate their daughter Sasha's 24th birthday in June wasn't enough to convince some that the couple was very much together. Barack Obama / Instagram In a May interview onThe Diary of a CEO with Steven Bartlettpodcast, Michelle confronted some of the speculation head-on. "The beauty of my husband and our partnership is that neither one of us was really ever gonna quit at it, 'cause that's not who we are," she said. "And I know that about him. He knows that about me." As for her decisions not to attend certain public events after leaving the White House — specifically, herdecision to skipPresidentDonald Trump's January inauguration — Michelle said that she's finally starting to feel she has "permission to do what I want to do." "I think at 61, I'm finally owning my wisdom," she said. "I think it takes women until we're about 60 to be like, 'I think I know a thing or two.' " On herIMOpodcast in April,Michelle shared more about her decisionto skip the inauguration. "People couldn't believe that I was saying no for any other reason, they had to assume that my marriage was falling apart," she said. "It took everything in my power to not do the thing that was perceived as right, but do the things that was right for me, that was a hard thing for me to do." On today'sIMOepisode, Michelle and Barack discussed the challenges facing men and boys, and why they both think it could have beendifficult to have a sonafter raising Sasha and her older sister, Malia, 27. Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE's free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. The former president admitted, "I think I might've been more judgmental, harder, and I would've tried to — I'd like to think I would have been more self-aware enough to combat that, but I just think father-son relationships, for me, particularly if I don't have a dad around to show it to me, might've been more difficult." Barack was raised by his mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, after she and his father, Barack H. Obama, Sr., divorced when he was 2 years old. Read the original article onPeople
