Actor Kumail Nanjiani has addressed one of the strangest rumours to circulate about him in recent years an online claim that he was having an affair with Michelle Obama, a rumour he says reached his wife before it even reached him.
Speaking on the So True podcast hosted by Caleb Hearon, the Marvel star said he was stunned by how widely the rumour spread, especially given one obvious fact:
he has never met the former First Lady.
“I was so excited!” Nanjiani joked. He recalled a mutual friend pulling his wife, Emily V. Gordon, aside to say, “Hey, so I heard that Kumail and Michelle Obama are like doing it.”
Gordon, he said, wasn’t upset but multiple people mentioned the rumour to him.
Nanjiani repeated the point emphatically: “I have never met Michelle Obama.”
The rumour even reached Gordon, a writer and producer whom Nanjiani married in 2007. Their relationship famously inspired The Big Sick, the Oscar‑nominated film based on their early years together.
During the conversation, Hearon referenced another long‑running piece of internet folklore a baseless claim that Barack Obama had been involved with Jennifer Aniston.
“You’re up there with Jen Aniston in terms of affair rumours,” Hearon joked.
Nanjiani responded with humour, suggesting that in both imaginary scenarios the Obamas were “slumming it,” before quickly adding that he meant “no shade to Jen.”
The Eternals actor said he could only laugh at how casually the rumour spread, despite involving people who had never even been in the same room. The episode adds yet another example to the growing list of viral celebrity rumours that circulate without evidence and, in this case, without even a meeting to fuel them.
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