Melania Trump will once again be the First Lady of the United States. Her husband, Donald Trump, won the 2024 Presidential Election earlier this week, and will therefore be sworn in for his second term in January.
The first Trump tenure at the White House produced many headlines, both positive and negative. Melania Trump went about her duties as First Lady with far less pomp than her husband set about being president, but she was criticized on several occasions, including one incident that led to a big fight with Donald.
Melania was barely seen during Donald’s presidential campaign this time around, and there have been reports that she might not even live full-time at the White House. Unsurprisingly, rumors have suggested that she and Donald’s marriage is in dire straits, but she appeared alongside her husband on Tuesday to celebrate his election victory. The First Lady smiled and kissed her husband dutifully, but according to a body language expert, Melania was reluctant to show emotions toward her husband.
Now that all is said and done, Donald Trump will be returning to the White House for his second presidential term. On Tuesday, he defeated Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election, and was joined by his family, including his wife, Melania, when he appeared before his fans to celebrate the victory.
During her husband’s past presidential campaigns, Melania was a steady presence at his side, but this time was different. She has not been on the campaign trail with her husband, instead remaining in New York City, where the couple’s son, Barron Trump, has enrolled at New York University.
Donald Trump & Melania Trump
Not long ago, Melania also released her memoir. One bombshell revelation that she made was that she openly disagreed with her husband’s stance on abortion, stating that she supported women’s reproductive rights.
“It is imperative to guarantee that women have autonomy in deciding their preference of having children, based on their own convictions, free from any intervention or pressure from the government,” Melania wrote in her memoir Melania.
“Why should anyone other than the woman herself have the power to determine what she does with her own body?” she added. “A woman’s fundamental right of individual liberty, to her own life, grants her the authority to terminate her pregnancy if she wishes.”
Melania’s memoir also included a trip down memory lane. In a post shared on her social media to promote the book, the Slovenian-born former model reminisced about the feeling she had when upon her husband for the first time. However, she has previously told another story.
At the time, Melania was working hard on her modeling career. She had left Slovenia and put everything on the line to make it in the US. Melania was determined, but she had to do something extra in the era of supermodels like Kate Moss and Cindy Crawford. Melania decided to appear without any clothes in the French men’s magazine Max. Ultimately, being 26 years old was an advantage for her.
How Melania Trump met Donald
Due to a law that prohibited younger models from promoting tobacco, Melania’s face was soon all over Times Square in a commercial for a cigarette company. Between work, Melania usually designed and sewed clothes for herself and her friends. Wealthy Italian businessman Paolo Zampolli helped Melania sign a modeling contract and working visa to travel to the US. He quickly realized that she wasn’t into partying.
“It was unusual for her to go out; she never went to clubs or bars,” Zampolli told the NY Post. “She never dated anyone in New York before Donald. She only went to movies by herself and to the gym.”
In 1998, at one of these events at the Kit Kat Club during New York Fashion Week, Zampolli invited a good friend of his: a businessman named Donald Trump. The wealthy real-estate mogul had just divorced his second wife, Marla Maples, and came to the event with a date. However, when he saw Melania, he wanted to get to know her instead.
“I went crazy. I was actually supposed to meet somebody else. There was this great supermodel sitting next to Melania,” Trump told Larry King in 2005. “They said, ‘Look, there’s so and so.’ I said, ‘Forget about her. Who is the one on the left? And it was Melania.”
“I am absolutely not giving him my number”
Previously, Melania claimed not to have initially been interested at all. Since Trump was there with someone else and still asked her for her phone number, she admitted to being “turned off” and said he was “totally out of the question,” her best friend Edit Molnar said.
“Melania said, ‘He’s here with a woman. I am absolutely not giving him my number,’” Molnar recalled. “She wouldn’t even consider it. Donald did all the work.”
“He wanted my number,” Melania told Tatler. “But he was on a date, so of course I didn’t give it to him. I said, ‘I am not giving you my number; give me yours and I will call you.’ If I give him my number, I’m just one of the women he calls.”
Eventually, Donald and Melania started a relationship. In a clip promoting her book, she said they had immediate chemistry.
“From the moment Donald and I met, there was an undeniable spark. There was something magnetic about him: his confidence, his charm, his humor, his vision,” Melania said. “Our wedding was a beautiful affair — a breathtaking gown, a perfectly created menu by a celebrated chef, and captivating live performances by music legends.”
Melania Trump “not likely” to live full-time at the White House
As mentioned, Melania has barely spoken about her husband and his presidential campaign this time around. Many have wondered whether she will accompany him to the White House at all. People Magazine spoke to sources “in Melania’s orbit” about it.
“If Melania becomes first lady again, of course people expect her to move into the White House and perform appropriate duties,” a source close to the Trump family said, adding that Melania isn’t keen on relocating to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
“She will have her private living apartment there, and she has her home in New York, and her home at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach. She will spend time in all of these places,” the source added, concluding that it’s “not likely” that the White House will be her primary residence.
In the end, on election day, Melania finally appeared by her husband’s side when they went to cast their vote at the Morton and Barbara Mandel Recreation Center in Palm Beach, Florida.
Late Tuesday night, Donald then appeared on center stage at West Palm Beach’s Palm Beach County Convention Center to claim his victory and celebrate with his supporters. By his side was Melania, and the two shared a relatively rare moment of public affectionate. The former The Apprentice star turned to Melania, smiled, and said, “Come here, honey,” as per the Mirror.
Body language expert says Melania showed “no emotion” towards Donald during election victory
The two shared a big hug and exchanged a kiss. While many saw it as a beautiful moment, one body language expert is not convinced. Darren Stanton stated that Melania was reluctant to even walk to her husband on stage, claiming that there was “no closeness.”
“When Trump looks back at Melania and gestures to her to come over for a hug, she reluctantly comes forward,” Stanton said.
“It’s very disjointed and awkward, and there’s no emotion from her. We don’t see any genuine smiles from Melania, it feels like a smile she has adopted for the occasion.”
Darren Stanton continued: “There’s not the level of emotion you’d expect given her husband has just been elected president. It’s all quite contrived, she’s just reluctant to show any emotion, there’s no real happiness or joy. There’s always an awkwardness with Melania.”
While Donald Trump and Melania had some great moments during their first tenure at the White House, there were also incidences of things turning sour.
Donald Trump exploded on Melania after infamous jacket incident
In her book I’ll Take Your Questions Now, Stephanie Grisham revealed several details about Donald Trump’s tenure at the White House, including a big altercation he once had with Melania.
On her way to a migrant housing facility in Texas, Melania wore a jacket with the text “‘ I REALLY DON’T CARE, DO U?’
Grisham – who also worked in the First Lady’s office – wrote that she didn’t notice the message on Melania’s jacket. At the time, Trump and his administration were under heavy criticism because of their policy of separating migrant children from their family members.
Melania’s visit was seen as an opportunity for the administration to improve its image on the issue. In the end, however, it actually abandoned the program. When Melania returned from Texas, the President was furious. Donald is said to have summoned his wife to the Oval Office and yelled at her for wearing the tasteless jacket.
“He yelled and asked “what the [expletive]” they thought they were doing,” Grisham wrote in her memoir, as reported by The Washington Post.
Melania Trump was accused of ‘profiting off dead veterans’ with jewelry collection
Melania Trump later spoke about the jacket in an interview with CNN.
“It’s obvious I didn’t wear the jacket for the children,” she said. “I wore the jacket to go on the plane and off the plane. And it was for the people and for the left-wing media who are criticizing me.”
Melania Trump, naturally, received a lot of criticism for the jacket incident. And, not long ago, another incident played out that left many angry. In May of this year, Melania promoted USA Memoribilia’s Fortitude Collection, featuring a pair of necklaces.
“The Fortitude Collection celebrates our service members, our Nation, and our freedom,” the USA Memorabilia’s website states. Further, the website reads that each design “can be engraved with names, initials, significant dates, and symbols to create a one-of-a-kind piece of jewelry.”
Melania reposted a video promoting the necklace on her Instagram page. While several users called it “beautiful” and “wonderful” that she “raise money for the armed services,” she also faced a considerable backlash. Several Instagram users left angry comments, accusing Melania of profiting off veterans.
“Disgusting”
“Zero Trumps have served in the US military, grifter,” one user wrote.
“Very cheap items sold at very high prices to people who need to choose between food, medicine, or baubles sold by a billionaire who will never look at them under any other circumstances,” another added.
“SHILLING off of our dead veterans, disgusting. And not a DIME will go to any actual charities. If it did, you guys would take most of the money,” a third stated.
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