Kumail Nanjiani Reacts to Michelle Obama Affair Rumors

Kumail Nanjiani wants to move past this story, but he’s going to enjoy commenting on it a bit first.

Comedian Russell Peters recently shared that a false rumor circulated last year claiming he was having an affair with Michelle Obama. He jokingly said he was ‘so excited’ by the claim during an appearance on the December 25th episode of the podcast So True With Caleb Hearon. Peters has been married to Emily Gordon since 2007.

He only found out recently that people thought he was dating Michelle Obama. A friend casually mentioned it to Emily, saying something like, ‘I heard Kumail and Michelle Obama are a thing,’ and Emily wasn’t bothered at all.

Kumail Nanjiani and his wife are doing well despite the attention around their story, and Nanjiani clarified that he has never met Michelle Obama.

However, as Caleb Hearon noted, this fabricated story appeared shortly after rumors began circulating about a romantic relationship between former President Barack Obama and Jennifer Aniston.

You know, the one that the Friends alum also had a big laugh over.

Jen recently shared that the worst calls often come from her publicist, usually involving potentially negative press. She explained on Jimmy Kimmel Live! that these calls, or the emails warning about made-up stories in tabloids, are always stressful. She was discussing this after spending her first Christmas with boyfriend Jim Curtis.

She quipped, “I was not mad at it.”

But, for the record, Jen added, “I know Michelle more than him.”

Kumail, meanwhile, was ready to dig into that new-to-him tidbit about The Morning Show star as well.

He asked with a dry wit, “So, is this actually happening?” Caleb responded by saying that, in his friend Kumail’s opinion, the person they were talking about was just as impressive as Jennifer Aniston.

As someone who observes relationships a lot, I think both Barack and Michelle Obama are capable of even more connection, and honestly, Barack has already pretty much nailed the art of being a supportive partner. He’s really reached that peak level of teamwork in their relationship, which is lovely to see.

He joked that Michelle was lowering herself by associating with them, and added that, frankly, Barack seemed to be doing the same thing with Jen. He didn’t mean any disrespect to Jen, though.

He said Michelle Obama sets a very high standard, and he’s a big fan of Jennifer Aniston, genuinely enjoying her work.

The Obamas can’t respond to every rumor that surfaces about them – they’d be too busy! However, they’ve been speaking out more and more since leaving office in 2017. Here are some of their most honest and revealing statements:

Let me tell you, even back then, when Barack was a summer intern at a Chicago law firm, he was absolutely smitten with Michelle Robinson – who was a mentor to him, by the way! It was clear from the start there was something special between them. He definitely fell for her, and it’s such a sweet story to think about how their relationship began.

He just hadn’t thought about what came next all that much.

In his 2020 memoir, A Promised Land, Barack Obama explained that Michelle viewed marriage as a natural progression for a committed relationship like theirs. However, having grown up with a mother who experienced multiple divorces, he didn’t feel the same urgency to make things official.

They tied the knot Oct. 3, 1992.

Although Michelle publicly showed unwavering support for Barack during his 2008 presidential campaign, she privately didn’t want him to run in the first place.

In his book, A Promised Land, Barack Obama recalled his wife telling him, “The answer is no, I don’t want you to run for president.” She also asked him, “When will you be satisfied?”

In a June 2025 interview on NPR’s Wild Card podcast, Michelle Obama described her and Barack’s achievements as a joint effort, jokingly admitting she wasn’t always enthusiastic about everything along the way.

In her 2018 memoir, Becoming, Michelle Obama wrote that while she believed in her husband, she privately doubted his chances of winning the presidency. She supported his campaign, but wasn’t sure he could go all the way.

In November 2020, the former president told Stephen Colbert he still felt he hadn’t fully made amends for putting his family through a very stressful time. This stemmed from his decision to run for president immediately after a challenging Senate race.

He explained that Michelle remained upset with him over the issue. “It would come up from time to time,” he said, “but she held onto that anger for the entire eight years.”

Michelle admitted that her husband’s demanding schedule after he became a politician – he was first elected to the Illinois state legislature in 1997 – put a strain on their marriage.

In a 2018 interview with Oprah Winfrey for Elle magazine, Michelle Obama described feeling overwhelmed, saying, “I’m really struggling.” She explained that balancing motherhood with two children and keeping everything stable was difficult while her husband traveled frequently between Washington and Springfield.

After that, we needed to work on our relationship. We went to counseling to help us deal with everything that happened.

In 2015, Lin-Manuel Miranda performed a song from what would become his hugely successful musical, Hamilton, at the White House. The president said the performance was incredible – you really had to be there to experience it.

When Lin-Manuel Miranda told Barack Obama he was creating a hip-hop musical about Alexander Hamilton, Obama admitted they were supportive but doubtful it would work. He wrote in his memoir, A Promised Land, that their skepticism vanished as soon as Miranda performed onstage and the audience reacted with wild enthusiasm.

Michelle Obama admitted that attending Donald Trump’s 2017 inauguration was incredibly difficult, describing it as simply “trying to hold myself together” in her memoir, Becoming. Because of that experience, she decided she wouldn’t attend another inauguration.

This year, I made a conscious decision to prioritize staying home and skip events like funerals and inaugurations, even those I was expected to attend,” Michelle explained on the Wild Card podcast. She mentioned that she also didn’t attend the state funeral for Jimmy Carter in January, and was aware people were talking about her choices. “I accept any criticism that comes with those decisions, and I don’t have any regrets,” she said.

Michelle shared with Rachel Martin on the Wild Card podcast that while her husband finds it a bit gloomy, she’s trying to appreciate the time she has left. At 61, she feels fortunate if she has another 25 summers. She added that it’s been ten years since they left office, and it’s important to be aware of how time passes.

She said she wished the next decade would pass slowly, simply because she truly enjoys being alive. However, she worries that time passes quickly if you don’t consciously appreciate it.

Michelle Obama doesn’t want her daughters, Malia and Sasha, to go through the process of being considered as potential first family members again.

She stated on the March 2025 episode of Kylie Kelce’s podcast, Not Gonna Lie, that she would never run for office. She explained that anyone asking that question clearly doesn’t understand the sacrifices children make when their parents pursue such a demanding position.

Michelle explained that even if she were interested, she didn’t want to thrust her daughters back into the public eye. She felt they’d already been through enough and were finally building normal lives for themselves.

In June 2025, Michelle Obama shared on the IMO show that she was happy she and Barack didn’t have a son. When host Angie Martinez asked why they didn’t have a third child, Michelle jokingly explained that a son would have been just like her husband, and she’d have worried about him constantly.

Michelle jokingly explained on the Wild Card podcast that because she and her husband rarely go out and don’t share much on social media, people assume they’re getting divorced. She added, ‘We’re 60, so we don’t feel the need to document every moment of our lives on Instagram!’

She also promised that she wouldn’t be demure about it if there was trouble in paradise.

She explained on the April 2025 episode of the Diary of a CEO podcast that if she and her husband were struggling, it would be public knowledge. She added that both he and everyone else would be aware, and she wouldn’t suffer in silence. Instead, she’d openly discuss the issues, saying something like, ‘Let me tell you what happened.’

During a July 2025 appearance on his wife and brother-in-law’s podcast, Barack playfully referenced past rumors, saying his wife had ‘taken him back’ – implying they were no longer a concern.

2025-12-26 22:48

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