How have things changed for Melania Trump after all the fame? Buckle in — here some
of the reasons why Melania's life was never the same after marrying Donald Trump.
Before she was Melania Trump, she was Melania Knauss, the Slovenian girlfriend of New York's
real estate mogul and a model that desperately wanted to be on the cover of GQ. The publication
noted that back in the day, before she married Donald, Melania did a profile photo shoot
on Donald's airplane wearing nothing but handcuffs and diamonds.
So it's no surprise that Melania's life was never the same after she married Donald, because
instead of appearing in magazines in her birthday suit, Melania graced the cover of Vogue in
her wedding dress. Gone were the days of chrome props and handcuffs, as Melania traded life
in the model fast lane for the life of a New York socialite. As The New York Times reported,
"Mrs. Trump then settled into a life that, were it not for her husband’s presidential
aspirations, might resemble that of any number of trophy spouses in New York, Palm Beach
and Paris, the three cities Mrs. Trump says she loves most."
Melania also used her marriage to the mogul to boost her own business ventures, and started
two companies of her own: Melania Timepieces and Jewelry and Melania Caviar Complexe C6,
according to Entrepreneur.
Before Melania married Donald, she was somewhat famous, but after she and the so-called "self-made
billionaire" got hitched, her profile skyrocketed. As NBC News pointed out, she had appeared
on a number of magazine covers as a model, but Melania's marriage solidified her spot
on the media stage.
When she and Donald got married in January of 2005, Melania stole the spotlight not only
for her regal beauty, but also because the dynamic between her and her new husband was
very telling. According to The New Yorker, The Donald was happy with his new bride, and
was described as "uncharacteristically bashful" on the big day. In that moment, it's as if
Melania's fate was sealed, and her life would never be the same.
Since becoming First Lady, Melania's life has continued to evolve. According to The
Washington Post, she appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair Mexico in 2017 — a decision
that got some blowback, given her husband's immigration policies.
Everyone knows that the First Family is protected by the Secret Service, but after Donald took
office, Melania had to adjust to intense protection. According to The Washington Post, she and
Donald had a bodyguard before their time in the White House, but the scale of protection
drastically escalated; Secret Service members were always by the door, and Melania was worried
at the amount of hate her husband had to contend with. Speaking about the drastic change, an
insider revealed,
"At the core, I think she's a private person who's spent a lot of time adjusting to public
life."
Because of her marriage to Donald and his status as a president, Melania will continue
to have protection even after Donald leaves office. According to ABC News, the Secret
Service's Miami field office has started to look at "physical reinforcements" at Mar-a-Lago.
Police also said that the Secret Service will scale back the, quote, "law enforcement footprint
around Trump Tower in Manhattan," as it will not serve as the Trumps' primary residence.
After Donald got elected, Melania made it known that she wasn't going to budge on a
number of things. Specifically, she wouldn't leave Manhattan until her son Barron finished
the school year. But because of her steadfastness, Melania's standing with Donald's friends began
to change.
According to The Washington Post, the first weeks of Donald's administration were marked
by, quote, "personnel clashes, embarrassing leaks, and a controversial travel ban that
caused major protests at airports." Some said that the new president was unhinged during
press conferences, and that chaos was imminent. Donald's friends began to lash out at Melania,
as they saw her choice to stay in New York as part of the problem. Donald's friend and
chair of his inauguration reportedly said,
"That woman! She will be the end of him. She is stubborn. She should be with her husband."
Things got so desperate that Melania's standing with Donald's grown children began to change,
as they allegedly started calling her and insisting she spend more time with their father.
A presidential run seems to upend everything in life, and that was something that Melania
was extremely aware of when Donald won the election in 2016.
As The Washington Post pointed out, Melania was not thrilled about the changes that were
set to take place in her life. According to an inside source, she told people to stop
calling her First Lady after the election took place.
Melania is reportedly a "careful planner," and she wanted to take her time to do things
the way she wanted to. As the Post reported,
"No matter how intense the pressure during the campaign, she refused to be hurried."
Melania was used to press coverage before marrying Donald. But after the wedding, her
personal and political choices were suddenly the subject of articles, and she often found
herself navigating stories about scandal.
For example, Melania had to answer questions about power and illegal speculations, like
the expository reporting from the Daily Mail that accused her and her former modeling agent
of running an escort service in the '90s. Thanks to her marriage to Donald, every aspect
of Melania's past and present was fair game for reporters.
The drastic changes in Melania's press coverage continue to be a sore spot for The Donald.
In December 2020, he shared a tweet from Breitbart News that said,
"The elitist snobs in the fashion press have kept the most elegant First Lady in American
history off the covers of their magazines for four consecutive years."
Before Donald's political career, Melania's life in New York seemed glamourous. Her residence
was the gorgeous penthouse in Trump Tower and she dined at Manhattan's finest restaurants.
But after Donald won the White House, Trump Tower became ground zero for protests, which
meant that security was seriously beefed up, according to The Guardian.
There was even a no-fly zone put in place over the building. Gone were the days of Melania
being able to step out onto Fifth Avenue — she was trapped inside by supporters, protestors,
law enforcement, and the press.
Despite the turmoil on her doorstep, Melania was determined to stay in New York so her
son could finish school, but according to The Washington Post, remaining in Manhattan
had a big price tag. Her presence created a huge problem for security and law enforcement,
and the NYPD said it cost at least $125,000 a day to protect her.
When Donald went from reality television star to president, Melania's influence over him
began to shift. Instead of being asked questions about fashion, she was being asked about immigration
policy, Donald's stances on the issues, and her influence on his decision making. According
to The Washington Post, former White House press secretary Sean Spicer explained,
"Melania is very behind-the-scenes but unbelievably influential. She is not one to go in and say,
'Hire this person, fire this person.' But she lets the president know what she thinks,
and he takes her views very seriously."
The sentiment about Melania's influence was shared by New Jersey's former governor Chris
Christie, who said,
"She picks her spots when she wants to speak assertively, but when she does, the president
listens."
Melania renegotiated her prenuptial agreement with Donald during the presidential campaign,
and she did so under the guise of "taking care of Barron." The Post also noted that
Donald has spoken highly about prenups, and had called rich men who don't have one "losers."
Melania seemed to clue in to the fact that not only has she been Donald's longest lasting
marriage, but that so much had changed since she originally signed her prenup. She felt
that she played an important role in his success, and therefore made sure to negotiate a, quote,
"more generous financial deal for her and Barron."
"I take care of myself and of our son."
She used the timing of the campaign and the move to D.C. as leverage, an element of power
and control that her husband even wrote about in The Art of the Deal. He said,
"Leverage is having something the other guy wants. Or better yet, needs. Or best of all,
simply can't do without."
Donald was actually once a registered Democrat, and other famous Democratic politicians used
to run in the same circle as the Trumps. Believe it or not, Hillary and Bill Clinton attended
Donald and Melania's wedding.
According to PolitiFact, Hillary attended the ceremony and Bill showed up at the reception.
One U.S. Representative said in 2015,
"Mr. Trump has a close friendship with Bill and Hillary Clinton. They were at his last
wedding. He has contributed to the Clintons' foundation. He has contributed to Mrs. Clinton's
Senate campaigns. All of this is very suspicious."
Of course, since The Donald ran for President and eventually took office, things majorly
changed. When it comes to rubbing shoulders with politicians, it's safe to assume that
the Clintons aren't exactly fans of the Trumps anymore.
"Making Donald Trump our Commander in Chief would be a historic mistake."
According to the BBC, Melania was once a small town girl, the daughter of a car salesman
and a designer. She traded in that life for one of modeling and glamour, and made her
way to the United States.
But due in part to her association with her husband and the controversial nature of some
of his policies, Melania's home country made their feelings about the native Slovenian
known. According to the BBC, a statue of Melania in Slovenia was set on fire in July 2020.
Apparently many people didn't think the statue was all that cute to begin with, but the news
still wasn't great for the First Lady.
The statue was made by American artist Brad Downey, and was set on fire on July 4th, the
United States' Independence Day. The statue was promptly removed, but the damage was already
done.
Finding out that your spouse is cheating on you is life altering, and Melania had to deal
with Donald's infidelity on the public stage. As noted by The Washington Post, the campaign
brought Donald's, quote, "alleged serial infidelities" to light. Reportedly, Melania painfully found
out about her husband's affairs along with the rest of the nation.
One of the most high-profile affairs on Donald's part was with adult film star Stormy Daniels.
The story dominated the headlines for weeks, and was a situation that stung the First Lady.
According to The Guardian, Melania was caught on tape calling Daniels a derogatory name
and complaining that Daniels would be featured in Vogue.
Having to deal with that kind of personal pain, all while it's being projected on the
national scale, could not have been easy.
It's easy to fall out of touch with friends when you move to another state or leave a
job, but Melania suffered losses in her friendship circles in part due to her marriage to Donald.
According to The New York Times, Melania's former close friend, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff,
released a book called Melania and Me, a tell-all about the First Lady and the friendship the
two women once shared.
Wolkoff and Melania met in 2003 and became quite close, and Wolkoff even became an adviser
in the White House. But the friendship between the two women changed in February 2018, when
Wolkoff resigned after damaging reports about her involvement with the inauguration came
to light. She wrote in her book,
"Being with her was like having the sister I never had before — but a really confident,
perfectly coiffed, ultimate older sister."
But the tone shifted drastically. She went on to write,
"Her selfishness is so deep, it enables her to keep her distance from the rest of the
world."
"There's nothing in the book that I can't back up. Not one word. And Donald and Melania
know that."
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