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Barack Obama's relationship advice to a former colleague is the definition of woke

Barack and Michelle Obama have been married for 25 years. [Photo: Getty]
Barack and Michelle Obama have been married for 25 years. [Photo: Getty]

When we look at the celebrity marriages we can only dream of emulating, Barack and Michelle Obama come somewhere near the top.

From sweet PDAs to outpourings of love on social media, the pair tick all ‘couple goals’ boxes. So what if we told you Obama had shared the secrets to his happy marriage?

Dan Pfeiffer, Obama’s former communications director, has relayed a conversation he had with the former president, and as you can suspect, he had some pearls of wisdom.

“Here’s the advice I give everyone about marriage: is she someone you find interesting?” Pfeiffer quoted Obama as saying in an excerpt from his book, ‘Yes, We (Still) Can’.

“You will spend more time with this person than anyone else for the rest of your life, and there is nothing more important than always wanting to hear what she has to say about things,” the dad-of-two continued.

Obama then asked two more questions: “Does she make you laugh? And I don’t know if you want kids, but if you do, do you think she will be a good mum?”

“Life is long. These are the things that really matter over the long term,” he told Pfeiffer.

Barack Obama met his now-wife Michelle in the late 1980s at a law firm in Chicago, where Michelle was assigned to mentor Barack, a young associate at the time.

After turning Barack down the first time he asked her out, Michelle eventually gave in and the pair fell in love.

By 1991 the pair were engaged and a year later they married.

Michelle resisted when he first asked her out, once saying in an interview that she felt it would be “tacky” if they started dating because they were ”the only two black people“ at the company.

But she did not put up a fight for long. They started stepping out together that summer. By 1991 they were engaged, with the wedding the following year.

The pair have two children together, Malia, 20, and Sasha, 17.

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