Barack and Michelle Obama are often dubbed “couple goals,” and walked away from their two-term tenure in the White House as one of the most beloved couples to helm the nation, despite recent divorce speculation.
Barack, 63, and Michelle, 61, have been together for over three decades, first meeting in 1989 when they both were employed at the same law firm, and tying the knot in 1992.
However, their romance did experience some overlap with Barack’s previous girlfriend, a years-long relationship that didn’t go the way they expected.
Read on to learn more about the former President of the United States’ girlfriend…
© XWho was Barack’s academic girlfriend?
Before meeting Michelle, the now dad-of-two was in a years-long romance with Sheila Miyoshi Jager. Sheila, now 61, is a historian, an author, and professor of East Asian Studies at Oberlin College.
She holds degrees from Bennington College and Middlebury College, receiving her PhD from the University of Chicago in 1994. Sheila is of Dutch and Japanese ancestry.
Sheila is the author of several books on East Asian history, most notably Korean culture and history, and has appeared in and advised for two documentaries on the Korean War.
© Joe RaedleBarack and Sheila Miyoshi Jager’s relationship
It is unclear when Barack and Sheila’s relationship first began, but by the mid-1980s, they were already living together. Their romance didn’t become public knowledge until the 2017 release of David J. Garrow’s biography on the former POTUS, Rising Star.
Sheila spoke with the author about her relationship with the young political upstart, who was looking to enter law school and spoke of his ambitions to become the nation’s leader as early as his 20s.
“In the winter of ’86, when we visited my parents, he asked me to marry him,” she reportedly told the author. However, her parents objected to the relationship, citing their differing goals and her age.
© Getty ImagesThe Second Proposal
They stayed together, however, but things changed once Barack was accepted to Harvard Law School and she was set to study abroad in South Korea. The couple would reportedly argue about race relations in politics as well given their different ethnicities.
When he was 25, Barack proposed to Sheila again, in an attempt to keep them together, but she once again turned him down over their ideological clashes.
© Getty ImagesOverlap with Michelle
However, per the biography, their romance didn’t end there. They kept in touch and would irregularly see and correspond with each other up until 1991.
By that point, Barack had met Michelle Robinson when he joined Sidley Astin as an associate. Despite Michelle’s reluctance to date him during the first few months of his employment, primarily due to the fact that she was his advisor, the pair eventually fell in love.
As a result, Barack and Sheila’s communication began to decline, and ceased entirely when he eventually tied the knot with Michelle in October 1992. “Barack and [Jager] had continued to see each other irregularly throughout the 1990-91 academic year, notwithstanding the deepening of Barack’s relationship with Michelle Robinson,” David wrote in his biography.
© FacebookSheila’s life now
Not much is known about Sheila’s life now. She is the Chair of East Asian Studies at Oberlin and is married to fellow Oberlin instructor and US Army veteran Jiyul Kim. The pair have three children together.
Most recently, on April 2, she was awarded with the Duke of Wellington Medal for Military History for her book The Other Great Game: The Opening of Korea and the Birth of Modern East Asia.
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