Michelle and Barack Obama are going back to their romance roots

Michelle Obama Says She & Barack Are Rediscovering Romance After the White House: 'It's Just the Two of Us'

Michelle and Barack Obama are going back to their romance roots.

Since leaving the White House in January 2017, the former first couple have been reveling in the one thing they rarely shared during their eight years as president and first lady: alone time.

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“We are finding each other again,” Mrs. Obama says in an exclusive at-home interview with PEOPLE about her post-White House life and new memoir, Becoming, on sale now. “We have dinners alone and chunks of time where it’s just us — what we were when we started this thing: no kids, no publicity, no nothing. Just us and our dreams.”

The former first lady, 54, went on to reminisce about the couple’s recent getaway to Palm Springs — without daughters, Malia, 20, and Sasha, 17 — which marked “the first time in a long time it was just the two of us.”

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For the full PEOPLE interview with Michelle Obama, including intimate details of her new laid-back life with Barack, pick up the new issue on newsstands Friday.

Image zoom Michelle Obama on the cover of PEOPLE Miller Mobley/foureleven.agency

“And it was good,” she said. “We swam, we sat, and he wrote because he’s still writing his book. So he’s a little resentful,” she added with a laugh.

Despite their recent marital bliss, Mrs. Obama also spoke candidly with PEOPLE about more troubled times in their seemingly perfect union, including one point when the former first couple sought help from a marriage counselor.

Image zoom Miller Mobley

“Because we’re role models, it’s important for us to be honest and say, if you’re in a marriage and there are times you want to leave, that’s normal — because I felt that way,” the former first lady says.

Image zoom The Obamas on their wedding day Michelle Obama/Instagram

Image zoom Michelle and Barack Obama Andrew Harnik/AP/REX/Shutterstock