A controversial biography of President Obama made waves in May 2012 by claiming that Michelle Obama considered divorcing her politician husband years before he ran for president. A White House spokesman quickly dismissed the allegations as "nonsense," but not before the Internet broke out with criticism and speculation.

Still, Obama is hardly the first politician forced to contend with rumors of marital turmoil during a crucial point in his career. Click through the slides below to see five other politician who were rumored to be heading for divorce -- yet remain married to their spouses.

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  • Nikki Haley

    In May 2010, Republican gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley was forced to <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/24/nikki-haley-affair-will-folks_n_587156.html" target="_hplink">deal with affair allegations at the height of her campaign</a> for the South Carolina governorship. The claim came from Will Folks, a conservative blogger and former press secretary for South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford. On his blog, Folks alleged that he had engaged in an inappropriate relationship with Haley in 2007. Haley, a Tea Party favorite, quickly <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/24/nikki-haley-affair-will-folks_n_587156.html" target="_hplink">denied the allegations</a>. "I have been 100 percent faithful to my husband throughout our 13 years of marriage. This claim against me is categorically and totally false," the mother of two said in a statement. Haley, who would go on to win the governorship, <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0312/74171.html#ixzz1vAaYo1eK" target="_hplink">wrote about the incident in her 2012 autobiography</a>: "Once again, I was being forced into the humiliating position of having to deny being unfaithful to my husband. It was a lie, it was ugly, it was sexist, and it was crowding out all the issues the people really cared about in the campaign. Again I found myself wondering: How much are these guys getting paid?"

  • The Clintons

    Bill and Hillary Clinton have been dogged by divorce rumors throughout their marriage. In his 2007 biography of Hillary, veteran journalist Bob Bernstein <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-457708/Clinton-planned-divorce-Hillary-lovers.html#ixzz1vANhIvTJ" target="_hplink">claimed that Bill was prepared to leave</a> his wife for his alleged lover Marilyn Jo Jenkins in 1989. According to Bernstein, Hilary persuaded her husband to stay and told a friend, "There are worse things than infidelity." Hillary Clinton's spokesperson dismissed the allegations in May 2007, the month Bernstein's book came out, <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/24/AR2007052402479.html" target="_hplink">telling the <em>Washington Post</em></a>, "Is it possible to be quoted yawning? If past books on Mrs. Clinton were cash for trash, these books are nothing more than cash for rehash."

  • John Boehner

    In September 2010, just before the midterm elections, <a href="http://www.nypost.com/p/pagesix/liberal_blitz_on_gop_chief_i2CGMY2pnf70TdawgzDZIN#ixzz1vFcXzPRi" target="_hplink">the <em>New York Post</em> claimed</a> that the <em>New York Times</em> was planning to run an exposé on an affair that John Boehner, then the House minority leader, allegedly had with a lobbyist. Boehner, who's been <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=fVSkbYQp6qgC&pg=PA209&lpg=PA209&dq=Deborah+Gunlack+1973&source=bl&ots=dfnN1DamJc&sig=Q7ftexiT76LF2Xgk9D5PFeNWbxM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=4aW2T5OuKOSmiQKHq7DhBg&ved=0CE0Q6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=Deborah Gunlack 1973&f=false" target="_hplink">married to wife Deborah Gunlack since 1973</a>, addressed the rumor via spokesman Michael Steel. "It's bullshit," <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/24/john-boehner-affair-lisbeth-lyons_n_738007.html" target="_hplink">Steel told HuffPost Hill.</a>

  • Sarah Palin

    Rumors of extramarital affairs and divorce have long surrounded Sarah and Todd Palin, <a href="http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20222507,00.html" target="_hplink">who have been married since 1988 and have five children</a> together. Shortly after John McCain selected the former Alaska governor <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/30/us/politics/30veep.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all" target="_hplink">as his running mate </a>on the Republican presidential ticket in August 2008, the <em>National Enquirer</em> alleged that both <a href="http://www.nationalenquirer.com/celebrity/sarah-palin-lover-revealed" target="_hplink">Palins had been involved in extramarital affairs</a>, a claim the McCain camp <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/03/mccain-camp-battles-natio_n_123696.html" target="_hplink">quickly shut down</a>. In November 2010, <em>People</em> reported that Palin was left <a href="http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20440788,00.html" target="_hplink">"steaming" over a tabloid story</a> that alleged she and Todd were headed toward a $20 million divorce. "I call Todd on the cell phone [from the grocery checkout] and I say, 'Todd, you won't believe this cover!' And he says, 'Twenty million? Write me a check,'" <a href="http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20440788,00.html" target="_hplink">Palin told <em>People</em></a> at the time. "He's good about laughing some of that stuff off."

  • Edward Kennedy

    On July 18 1969, Edward Kennedy, then a second-term senator, <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/6094161/Ted-Kennedy-Chappaquiddick-Incident.html" target="_hplink">left the scene of a car crash</a> on the small island of Chappaquiddick on Martha's Vineyard. The crash would take the life of Mary Jo Kopechne -- a 28-year-old campaign worker and the <a href="http://www.nypost.com/p/pagesix/paper_spared_ted_for_jackie_cIEj40UEH5oogJQqEM64uN" target="_hplink">politician's rumored mistress</a>. Many believe Kennedy's decision to wait nearly 10 hours to report the accident <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/6094161/Ted-Kennedy-Chappaquiddick-Incident.html" target="_hplink">dashed his later attempts to run for the presidency</a>. Kennedy's wife, <a href="http://www.biography.com/people/joan-bennett-kennedy-262948?page=2" target="_hplink">Joan Bennett Kennedy, stood by his side</a>, though the couple would go on to divorce in 1982. In his posthumous memoir, <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/world/kennedy-denied-wild-excesses-and-affair-with-mary-jo-20090904-far3.html" target="_hplink">the late senator denied any romantic involvement with Kopechne</a> and revealed the toll the incident had had on his life. "That night on Chappaquiddick Island ended in a horrible tragedy that haunts me every day of my life," he wrote.

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