Barack Obama’s Cheating Scandal Rumor, Explained

The rumors that Barack Obama cheated on wife Michelle Obama came from the pages of the explosive book “Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama.” The tell-all biography, penned by Pulitzer Prize-winner David Garrow, combs through the formative years of the charismatic politician, including when he met and started pursuing a relationship with Michelle. It’s hard to imagine him with anyone other than Michelle, but Barack reportedly dated a few other women before meeting his future wife, and one of those relationships may have still been in progress while he was dating Michelle.

Barack began dating Sheila Miyoshi Jager in the mid-1980s. Jager, who is currently a college professor at Oberlin, told Garrow that she and Barack were head over heels for each other and even moved in together at some point. It’s this deep relationship that started the rumors that Barack cheated on Michelle during the early days of their relationship. There was a very real chance that Sheila Miyoshi Jager could have been the First Lady of the United States instead of Michelle Obama as well. Barack Obama asked Jager to marry him not once, but twice. Both times Jager declined. She explained to author David Garrow that she was only 23 when Barack proposed for the first time, and her family felt she was too young to get married.