Former First Lady Michelle Obama said on  Jay Shetty's "On Purpose" podcast that she doesn't rely only on her husband Barack Obama to make her happy.

Michelle said it took her a while to learn that "There's no way we could be everything to each other."

Early on in the marriage, she said, she thought that the pair should be together all the time or talking by phone or in other ways constantly. "We should be each other's best friends all the time," she admitted to thinking.

"Our marriage got better when I got better about that, because I think he already had that independence. This notion of, 'I love you, even if I don't talk to you today.' That to me is like, I don't need that. I felt like I needed more of that."

Different interests and goals

"We have different interests, different goals," she said she learned over time.

"As I got older, I got more mature, more clear about my own goals," she continued. "I realize that he can't be responsible for my happiness. I have to be responsible for that."

"I have to define it for myself. I have to learn how to achieve it," she said. "My husband is definitely a part of that. But I cannot put him in the center of my happiness. That freed me up to let him be him and let me be me."

Obama said she now talks a lot more with her girlfriends than she used to, and that she can talk with them differently than she can with her husband.

"I have friends who give me things that my husband doesn't give me," she said. "I have girlfriends. One distinction that we have is like, I'm a talker. When I sit down with my girlfriends, we can talk for days. I mean, literally for days, we can take a break for lunch, but we can talk, you know, my husband's not."

Will she run?

While Michelle Obama seems more than happy with her post-White House life, there has been speculation recently that she could step in as a candidate if President Joe Biden decides not to run again or becomes unable to carry on with his campaign.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) set forth a nightmare scenario in which Michelle, who has not faced the scrutiny a presidential candidate typically does, "parachutes" in months before the election and becomes the Democrat nominee.

Having published two best-selling books and toured with Oprah Winfrey since her husband left office, Michelle is as popular as any Democrat in the country.

Biden's poll numbers are not looking good at all right now, and he trails the presumptive GOP nominee, former President Donald Trump, in early polls.

Michelle Obama really does not want the job of president, but will she be able to withstand the guilt trip that she could "save the country" from Trump if she runs?