Barack Obama claims he was in a "deep deficit" with his wife Michelle Obama after leaving the White House

The Daily Beast reports that Obama told an audience at Hamilton College: "I was in a deep deficit with my wife.

"So I have been trying to dig myself out of that hole by doing occasionally fun things."

The Obamas have been married since 1992, and have daughters Malia, 26, and Sasha, 23, together.

They have previously admitted that the presidency affected their marriage, with Michelle once revealing there was a time when she "couldn't stand" her husband.

Speaking to Revolt TV, she said: "People think I'm being catty by saying this - it's like, there were 10 years where I couldn't stand my husband. And guess when it happened? When those kids were little."

When asked about Michelle's comments, Barack told 'CBS Mornings': "Let me just say this: it sure helps to be out of the White House. And to have a little more time with her.

"Michelle - when our girls were growing up, that was priority number one, two, three and four. And so, I did not fully appreciate, I think, as engaged of a father as I was, the degree of stress and tension for her, knowing that not just me and Michelle were under scrutiny and in this strange environment, but that we were raising our daughters in a kind of situation that just wasn't normal."

Michelle met Barack in 1989 when she was 25 and he was 28, while both were working at the Sidley Austin LLP law firm in Chicago.

The former president asked Michelle on a date within a month of meeting, and they became engaged in 1991. They married the following year and later had two daughters, Malia in 1998 and Sasha in 2001.

Barack's political career began in earnest in 2004 when he was elected as an Illinois state senator, bringing the family into the public eye. In 2008, he was elected the 44th president of the United States and won re-election in 2012.