has broken her silence on rumors about her and former President Barack Obama heading for divorce.

During the latest episode of Sophia Bush's Work in Progress podcast, the former first lady opened up about finding her independence after her husband exited the White House.

"I want to know what your life and your social life looks like right now," Bush asked Michelle.

"It is whatever I want, Sophia, It's whatever I want," The Light We Carry author responded. "It's the first time in my life all of my choices are for me."

Michelle explained that she previously made excuses like "I have to make sure the girls are okay, or my husband's president, so I can't do that" to avoid decision-making.

"Now, you know, I can't blame my decisions and indecisions on anyone other than me," Michelle said. "I think if I'm honest with myself, I could have made a lot of these decisions years ago. But I didn't give myself that freedom."

The former first lady also spoke out for the first time about speculation that she and Barack Obama were having marital issues.

"That's the thing that we as women struggle with — disappointing people. I mean, so much so that this year people 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 said.

"This couldn't be a grown woman just making a set of decisions herself, right? But that's what society does to us," she continued. "We start actually going, what am I? What am I doing? What am I doing this for? And 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."

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Melba Pattillo Beals