Separate but related rumors have been swirling for months about a supposed impending divorce between former President and first lady Barack and Michelle Obama, as well as that Barack is having an extramarital affair with star Hollywood actress Jennifer Aniston.

Aniston has tried to publicly shut down those rumors, to no avail, and now an inside source has revealed why she felt compelled to speak out, according to Marca.

The "Friends" star recalls how horrible it felt to be the subject of tabloid gossip about marital infidelity when she previously went through a nasty breakup with fellow Hollywood actor and ex-husband Brad Pitt and doesn't want to contribute anything to that for the former first lady.

Rumors of an affair are "untrue"

According to SheKnows, the rumors about an affair between Aniston and Obama have been circulating since at least August 2024, when InTouch Weekly ran a story that purported to link the pair together in a supposed subversive romantic relationship.

Aniston addressed the speculation when asked during an October 2024 appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" and without any equivocation denounced the claims as "untrue" as she also insisted, "I’ve met [Obama] once. I know Michelle more than him."

"Of all the calls you get from your publicist where you’re like, 'Oh no, what’s it gonna be?' Or the emails saying some cheesy tabloid’s going to make up a story and then it’s that," she joked of the gossip and added with a chuckle, "I was not mad at it."

Yet, despite Aniston's attempt to quell the rumors about her and Barack, they have remained persistent and even resurged in popularity in recent weeks amid renewed speculation about trouble for the Obama marriage following Michelle's decision to not attend alongside Barack either former President Jimmy Carter's funeral or President Donald Trump's inauguration ceremony this month.

"She knows firsthand what it is like"

The Daily Mail has now reported exclusively on why Aniston felt the need to publicly confront the rumors about her and Obama during her interview with Kimmel last year, even though that effort failed to put an end to the infidelity gossip.

"Jen was going to have her people either not respond or give a 'no comment,' but she thought that would add fuel to the fire," an anonymous inside source told the outlet. "She decided to shut it down before it could get even more out of hand."

Though her typical strategy is to simply ignore what the tabloids are saying, Aniston recalled how upsetting the rumors about affairs were when she was breaking up with Pitt and didn't want Michelle Obama to have to deal with the same hurt she'd once felt.

"She barely knows Obama, let alone is dating him," the source said. "She told friends that after all these years of being in the spotlight, this has to be the most bizarre piece of gossip she has ever heard about herself."

"She truly doesn’t know how people come up with this stuff out of nowhere. More than being concerned about it, she’s totally baffled," the insider added. "However, Jen’s upset for Michelle because she’s seen stories about the Obamas' marriage being on the rocks and she knows firsthand what it is like to be at the center of stories like that."

Aniston believed to be currently single

The Daily Mail noted that Aniston and Pitt's marriage ended in 2005, shortly after Pitt made "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" with Angelina Jolie, whom he married shortly thereafter, and there was plenty of gossip at the time that Pitt and Jolie's relationship began on the set of that movie while he was still married to Aniston.

Aniston is not known to be dating anyone at the moment, and in fact has not been connected romantically to anybody, at least not publicly, for the past several years.