It is the question that has been dominating Washington dinner parties for weeks \u2013 could the once-golden First Couple of the United States really be heading for the rocks?\nIf rumours are to be believed, the 21-year marriage of Barack and Michelle Obama has been racked by screaming rows, allegations of infidelity and a string of jealous fights.
\nWhile the White House has refused to comment on the reports there has been a distinct frostiness in the air between the couple in recent months.
\nAccording to a report in the National Enquirer \u2013 which plastered \u2018Obama Divorce Bombshell!\u2019 across its front page \u2013 the pair have been at loggerheads since last summer and are now sleeping in separate bedrooms.
\nThe \u2018final straw\u2019, apparently, was Michelle\u2019s outrage when her husband publicly humiliated her by openly flirting and posing for his now infamous \u2018selfie\u2019 photograph with Denmark\u2019s glamorous blonde Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt at Nelson Mandela\u2019s memorial service.
\nAccording to published reports, Mrs Obama is only standing by her 52-year-old husband until his presidency ends. He will then return to his home state of Hawaii while she will remain with their daughters in Washington.
\nThe Enquirer is famously well-connected in Washington, and has broken stories which America\u2019s mainstream media chose to ignore, including Democratic presidential contender John Edwards\u2019s secret love child and Bill Clinton\u2019s affair with Monica Lewinsky.
\nWhether or not the gossip is true, the newly slim First Lady (she credits a vegetarian diet for a recent 10lb weight loss) seems to be soaring in self-confidence, showing off her figure in a succession of form-fitting designer gowns.
\nAt her 50th birthday celebrations she was rarely by her husband\u2019s side, with one guest saying: \u2018She was working the room.
\nShe\u2019s looking better than ever and was exuding a sexiness and confidence that wasn\u2019t there before.
\n\u2018She\u2019s come into her own. Only time will tell what happens next.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"