Michelle Obama missed another big event on Friday as she skipped the late Rev. Jesse Jackson’s funeral in Chicago, leaving husband Barack to attend without her
Jenni McKnight US Lifestyle Editor – Mar 7, 2026 – Hello magazine
My cmnt: Below are three articles from differing sources on Michelle’s desire to leave the public spotlight. If she’s telling the truth then that is good for America. We don’t want her using her famous name and connections to – God forbid – run for and become our first (dems love firsts) black, female (even if dems don’t know what a woman is, we do), former first-lady president.
Michelle Obama has raised eyebrows again after she failed to attend civil rights icon, Rev. Jesse Jackson‘s, memorial service on Friday, over 12 months after she was a no-show at Jimmy Carter’s funeral.
The former first lady left her husband, Barack Obama, to fly solo at the ceremony, held at the House of Hope in the Obamas’ hometown of Chicago.
While Barack attended without his wife, former presidents Bill Clinton and Joe Biden were joined by their respective wives, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Dr. Jill Biden.
HELLO! has contacted representatives for Michelle and Barack for comment.
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Last January, Michelle raised questions when she failed to join her husband at the funeral of the 39th President, Jimmy Carter, which was held at the Washington National Cathedral on January 9.
While no reason was explicitly provided for her absence, The New York Times shared a statement from her spokeswoman, which read: “Mrs. Obama sends her thoughts and prayers to the Carter family, and everyone who loved and learned from the remarkable former president.”
Addressing her absences, she also skipped Donald Trump’s second inauguration, on an episode of her IMO podcast, 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.”
Rev. Jesse Jackson died peacefully at 84 on February 17, surrounded by his loved ones, his family announced in a statement.
“It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Civil Rights leader and founder of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, the Honorable Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr. He died peacefully on Tuesday morning, surrounded by his family,” began the statement.
“His unwavering commitment to justice, equality, and human rights helped shape a global movement for freedom and dignity. A tireless change agent, he elevated the voices of the voiceless from his Presidential campaigns in the 1980s to mobilising millions to register to vote – leaving an indelible mark on history.”
The statement continued: “Reverend Jackson is survived by his wife, Jacqueline; their children – Santita, Jesse Jr., Jonathan, Yusef, Jacqueline; daughter Ashley Jackson, and grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his mother, Helen Burns Jackson; father, Noah Louis Robinson; and stepfather, Charles Henry Jackson.
‘”Our father was a servant leader – not only to our family, but to the oppressed, the voiceless, and the overlooked around the world. We shared him with the world, and in return, the world became part of our extended family. His unwavering belief in justice, equality, and love uplifted millions, and we ask you to honour his memory by continuing the fight for the values he lived by,” it concluded.
While his cause of death has yet to be shared, Jesse suffered from a rare neurological disorder known as progressive supranuclear palsy for over a decade, which can appear similar to Parkinson’s disease.
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Michelle Obama raises eyebrows again by skipping Jesse Jackson’s memorial service
Former presidents Bill Clinton, Joe Biden, and Barack Obama all attended the Chicago ceremony
Josh Marcus in San Francisco Friday 06 March 2026 – The Independent
Former first lady Michelle Obama did not appear to attend the Chicago memorial service for civil rights icon Rev. Jesse Jackson on Friday, despite the Obamas’ longstanding ties with the late activist.
The ceremony, which took place in a church on the South Side of the Obamas’ hometown of Chicago, featured numerous dignitaries, including former presidents Joe Biden, Barack Obama, and Bill Clinton; former Vice President Kamala Harris; former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; and former first lady Dr. Jill Biden. California Gov. Gavin Newsom was also present.
“President Donald Trump is unable to attend Jackson’s funeral due to scheduling and ongoing events, and has recorded a video message in tribute,” a White House official told The Independent.
The Independent has contacted the office of Barack and Michelle Obama for comment.
In a statement after Jackson’s passing in February at age 84, which followed years of health struggles, the Obamas spoke of their admiration and personal relationship with the leader, who was a protege of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Reverend Jackson also created opportunities for generations of African Americans and inspired countless more, including us,” the statement reads. “Michelle got her first glimpse of political organizing at the Jacksons’ kitchen table when she was a teenager. And in his two historic runs for president, he laid the foundation for my own campaign to the highest office of the land.”
Though the Obamas occasionally had their differences with Jackson — the activist was caught on a hot mic in 2008 criticizing Barack Obama for the way he addressed the Black community — they have described him as a key influence.
“The message he sent to a 22-year-old child of a single mother with a funny name, an outsider, was that maybe there wasn’t any place or any room where we didn’t belong,” Barack Obama said during Friday’s service. “He paved the road for so many others to follow.”
Later in 2008, when Obama won the presidential election, Jackson was famously seen with tears in his eyes as he watched the candidate make his acceptance speech in Chicago.
The former first lady’s apparent absence from the Jackson funeral is the latest in a string of high-profile ceremonies she has missed, including Trump’s inauguration and former President Jimmy Carter’s funeral, both of which took place last year.
These moments, coupled with less frequent public sightings of the Obamas together, fueled speculation they may be getting a divorce, though the former first lady has dismissed such claims.
She has explained that in recent times she has made an intentional decision to be less in the public eye.
“One of the major decisions I made this year was to stay put and not attend funerals and inaugurations and all the things that I’m supposed to attend,” she told NPR last year. “That was a part of me using my ambition to say, ‘Let me define what I want to do, apart from what I’m supposed to do, what the world expects of me.’ And I have to own that. Those are my choices.”
“The fact that people don’t see me going out on a date with my husband sparks rumors of the end of our marriage,” she said elsewhere in the interview. “It’s like, OK, so we don’t Instagram every minute of our lives. We are 60. We’re 60, y’all. You just are not gonna know what we’re doing every minute of the day.”
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FLYING SOLO
Michelle Obama wants to ‘flee US for Europe WITHOUT Barack’ amid rising tensions after divorce rumors and podcast flop
Michelle finally addressed the persistent divorce rumors
Steve Brenner , Exclusives Reporter, Israel Salas-Rodriguez , Senior News Reporter
Published: 10:40, 14 Apr 2025 – The U.S. Sun
MICHELLE Obama is yearning to detach herself from the spotlight as a public figure in America in exchange for a quiet life in Europe, and she’s willing to do it without Barack Obama, a source has told The U.S. Sun.
The idea of escaping abroad for a few months has been playing on Michelle‘s mind since the end of 2024, though it’s been a dream the former first lady, 61, has fantasized about since her teenage years.
“Michelle has been wanting a lot lately to do things for her, to fulfill some dreams and life goals that she has been having but couldn’t really fulfill due to her life and because of her husband’s responsibilities,” a source close to Michelle disclosed to The U.S. Sun.
“But lately, she has been doing things for her, and she has a dream that she has been having since she was a teenager about living out of America for a bit, and spend time in another continent, like Europe.
“To enjoy espresso at a terrace, eat some pastries, walking down the streets like a normal person and not get any attention, and get away from all the spotlights, that is one goal that she would like to do soon.”
The source said Michelle has been exploring different options in southern Europe, including moving abroad temporarily to France, Italy, Greece, and Spain.
“She loves France, Italy, Spain, Greece, all those Mediterranean countries where the pace of life is slower, and things are simpler,” the insider added.
“She is really interested by this possibility, to go there for some months, I don’t know if Barack would join her or not, but she really would love to live this kind of experience as soon as possible.”
MICHELLE RESPONDS TO DIVORCE RUMORS
The source’s shocking revelation comes as Michelle and Barack Obama’s marriage has been the subject of divorce rumors since the end of 2024.
Concerns about the couple’s marriage arose when Michelle was notably absent from former President Jimmy Carter‘s state funeral in January.
Obama, 63, attended the funeral alone as he sat between President Donald Trump and former First Lady Laura Bush, the wife of former President George W. Bush.
Michelle then skipped Trump’s inauguration on January 20, as cameras captured Obama entering the US Capitol Rotunda alone.
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In late February, Michelle and her older brother, Craig Robinson, were pictured in Los Angeles out for dinner without Obama.
Michelle and Robinson even started a podcast on YouTube, IMO, where she discussed some pet peeves that irritated her about Obama, including his lack of punctuality.
She even revealed how she did not support her husband’s presidential campaign and admitted she needed some convincing from her brother.
“You [Robinson] talked me into supporting his run cause I was definitely like, nope, nope, this is crazy, we’ve done enough crazy stuff,” Michelle said in the podcast.
But as the persistent divorce rumors continued to make rounds, Michelle evidently shut them down during an interview on Sophia Bush’s podcast, Work in Progress.
Michelle revealed that she skipped the high-profile political events simply because she wanted to.
“That’s the thing that we as women, I think we struggle with disappointing people,” Michelle said.
“I mean, so much so that this year people were, you know, they couldn’t even fathom that I was making a choice for myself that they had to assume that my husband and I are divorcing.”
Michelle’s full comments on divorce rumors
“We as women, I think we struggle with disappointing people. They couldn’t even fathom that I was making a choice for myself. That they had to assume that my husband and I are divorcing. That this couldn’t be a grown woman just making a set of decisions herself. But that’s what that’s what society does to us,” Michelle Obama said during an interview on Sophia Bash’s Work in Progress.
“Now is the time for me to start asking myself these hard questions of, Who do I truly want to be every day? Who do I want to have a lunch with? How long do I want to stay in a place? Do I want to travel? If a girlfriend calls and says let’s go here, I can say yes. And I’m trying to do that more and more.
“If it doesn’t fit into the sort of stereotype of what people think we should do, then it gets labeled as something negative and horrible.
“I learned that I can really only control me.”
SIMPLER LIFE
Meanwhile, the source told The U.S. Sun that Michelle has begun to live a little more selfishly to put “her needs and goals first.”
“She has been thinking about this a lot lately, and the first conversations about this came up during the last months of 2024, where I really felt that she was a bit fed up and tired of many things,” the insider said of Michelle’s potential move east.
“She wants to explore, to live a simple life the way she wants, and be free to travel and spend time wherever she wants.
“She really would like a slower pace of life for a bit, to disconnect from some things in America, and to do things that she was never able to do in a simple way, go to the restaurant without being recognized, going to exhibitions, cultural events, visit museums and historical places, spend quality time and do really simple things for herself.
“I don’t know if Barack would join, but she feels the need to do things for her own experience, and be a bit more selfish, and putting her needs and goals first on some aspects of her life, like travelling and experiencing life in, a simple way without the whole spotlights and attention that she gets very often.
“She wants to live a bit without being a public figure, and go somewhere that takes her out of America for a bit, like a mini break, a gateway from her life in the USA.”
The office of Barack and Michelle Obama did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Lord Buckbeak: "Will you come into my parlor?," said the Spider to the Fly. 
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