As if you couldn’t love Barack and Michelle Obama anymore, the story of how they got engaged is just as incredible as you’d imagine.
While some men whisk their ladies away on a romantic getaway with rose petals, wine and candlelight, Barack chose a more, ahem, very “them” approach
In her new memoir Becoming, Michelle revealed how her then-boyfriend held a very big disdain for marriage and the pair would often spar over the topic.
Michelle and Barack Obama are the definition of couple goals! (Source: Instagram/Michelle Obama)
On July 31, 1991 the couple were out to dinner at their favourite Chicago restaurant when the topic came up again.
“As we were reaching the end of the meal, Barack smiled at me and raised the subject of marriage. He reached for my hand and said that as much as he loved me with his whole being, he still didn’t really see the point,” Michelle Obama wrote in her book.
“Instantly, I felt the blood rise in my cheeks. It was like pushing a button in me — the kind of big blinking red button you might find in some sort of nuclear facility surrounded by warnings signs and evacuation maps. Really? We were going to do this now?”
Barack and Michelle dance at the Inaugural Ball after becoming the 44th president of the US on Jan. 20, 2009. (Source: Getty)
While seated at the table, the couple went back and forth about the topic, and all the while Michelle tried to remain calm.
“‘If we’re committed,’ I said, as evenly as I could muster, ‘why wouldn’t we formalise that commitment? What part of your dignity would be sacrificed by that?'” she wrote.
The former first lady expressed how it wasn’t “fighting” but “quarrelling attorney-style” and as they “dissected and cross-examined” one another, she realised it was clear that she was “doing most of the talking”.
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Story continues…
Once the couple had finished their main course, the conversation took an unexpected turn.
“Eventually, our waiter came around holding a dessert plate, covered by a silver lid,” she wrote. “He slid it in front of me and lifted the cover. I was almost too miffed to even look down, but when I did, I saw a dark velvet box where the chocolate cake was supposed to be. Inside was a diamond ring.”
“Barack looked at me playfully. He’d baited me. It had all been a ruse. It took me a second to dismantle my anger and slide into joyful shock,” she said. “He’d riled me up because this was the very last time he would invoke his inane marriage argument, ever again, as long as we both should live.”
Michelle and Barack on their wedding day. (Source: Instagram/Michelle Obama)
Swooning yet? There’s more…
Barack then got down on one knee and proposed to Michelle, and after she said “yes” (of course), the restaurant erupted with applause.
“Later, I’d learn that he’d already gone to both my mother and my brother to ask for their approval ahead of time,” she wrote.
The Obama’s – Malia, 20, Sascha, 17, Barack and Michelle. (Source: Getty)
The couple have now been happily married for 26 years.
To celebrate their 26th wedding anniversary, Barack shared a photo of his wife captioning it, “Happy Anniversary, @MichelleObama. For 26 years, you’ve been an extraordinary partner, someone who can always make me laugh, and my favorite person to see the world with.[sic]”
They’ve been together for over a quarter of a century and raised two daughters, Malia, 20, and Sascha, 17, and their love continues to grow.
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