*Former President Barack Obama says leaving the White House helped save his marriage to wife Michelle.
Speaking to “CBS Mornings” cohost Nate Burleson, Obama responded to comments his wife previously made about finding him unbearable during the first decade of their marriage.
The former first lady discussed the challenges of her marriage during a roundtable conversation with Revolt TV last December with moderator Angie Martinez.
“People think I’m being catty by saying this — it’s like, there were 10 years where I couldn’t stand my husband,” Michelle Obama said at the time, PEOPLE reports. “And guess when it happened? When those kids were little.”
She continued, “And for 10 years while we’re trying to build our careers and, you know, worrying about school and who’s doing what and what, I was like, ‘Ugh, this isn’t even,’ ” Obama shared. “And guess what? Marriage isn’t 50/50, ever, ever.”
Michelle added, “There are times I’m 70, he’s 30. There are times he’s 60, 40, but guess what? 10 years — we’ve been married 30. I would take 10 bad years over 30 — it’s just how you look at it. And people give up . . . ‘Five years; I can’t take it.’ “
As The Hill reports, during his Tuesday interview with Burleson, the 44th president was asked “How do you get back in good graces?” To which Obama responded, “Let me just say this: It sure helps to be out of the White House and to have a little more time with her.”
The Obamas tied the knot in 1992 and share two daughters, Malia, 24, and Sasha, 21.
“Michelle, when our girls were growing up, that was priority number one, two, three and four,” Barack Obama said on “CBS Mornings.”
“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 added.
“Now that they’re doing good, she is a little more forgiving of all my flaws,” Obama said.
“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.”
READ MORE: Michelle Obama Admits She ‘Couldn’t Stand’ Barack During First Decade of Marriage | Video
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