Sleeping in separate beds. Infidelity. Talk of divorce. Whether any of these things really
happened or not, these are just a few of the rumors surrounding Donald and Melania
Trump's highly publicized marriage. If you thought love was the binding
glue between Donald Trump and Melania Trump, there are those who say otherwise. According
to Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, a former senior adviser to Melania, the former president and
first lady are together only for what they can get from each other. Wolkoff told BBC in 2020:
"I do believe it's a transactional marriage. Donald got arm candy. Melania got two dynamic
decades. She met Donald, she married, she became an American citizen, they had a son,
and 10 years after that she's the first lady of the United States."
In her 2020 book, Melania and Me, Wolkoff detailed her 15-year relationship with the former first
lady as well as the years leading up to their eventual fallout. Outside of their friendship,
however, Wolkoff also touched on how she believes Melania's marriage to Donald
birthed a new side to her — a side she believes was always there. Wolkoff wrote in the book:
"I witnessed the transformation of Melania from gold plate to 24-karat gold. [...] Watching her
now, and seeing that only the gold shell remains, I have to wonder if that's all she ever was,
and I was the sucker who bought the fake watch on the street corner."
They put up a happy couple front, but Donald Trump and Melania Trump
are anything but happy — or so an insider says. In her 2018 book,
Unhinged: An Insider's Account of the Trump White House, Omarosa Manigault Newman,
a former White House aide, hinted at a looming divorce between the couple, writing,
"Melania is counting every minute until he is out of the office and
she can divorce. If Melania were to try to pull the ultimate humiliation
and leave while he's in office, he would find a way to punish her."
According to People, Manigault Newman alleged Melania, who came into America as an immigrant,
felt indebted to Donald for helping her secure the Einstein, or EB-1, visa and is only holding
off the divorce for fear of what he might do. Manigault Newman wrote in her book:
"Since Donald is fully aware of however she acquired her permanent citizenship,
he could, if there were anything fishy around it, expose the methods and somehow
invalidate it. He is a vindictive man, and I would not put anything past him."
Of the many rumors there are about Donald Trump's marriage to Melania Trump,
this is perhaps the most publicized. In January 2018, The Wall Street Journal broke a story
alleging that Donald's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, paid adult film actor Stormy Daniels a
sum of $130,000 to keep a 2006 affair hidden. Daniels would later confirm the affair during
an appearance on CBS's 60 Minutes, telling host Anderson Cooper she'd asked about his
wife who had just welcomed the couple's son Barron at the time. Daniels told Cooper:
"I asked. And he brushed it aside, said, 'Oh yeah, yeah, you know,
don't worry about that. We don't even — we have separate rooms and stuff.'"
Only a few months prior to this story, The New Yorker published an exposé,
accusing Donald of having an affair with Playboy model Karen
McDougal. McDougal later said during an interview with Anderson Cooper on CNN:
"What can you say except I'm sorry? I'm sorry."
Melania, however, couldn't be less bothered about
the allegations against her husband flying in the media, telling ABC News,
"It is not concern and focus of mine. I'm a mother and a first lady,
and I have much more important things to think about."
Six months into their marriage, Melania Trump became pregnant with Barron Trump,
her first and only child with Donald Trump. But rather than good ol' fatherly excitement, Donald
seemingly had more concerns — his wife's pregnancy look. According to SFGate, Trump said at the time:
"You know, they just blow up, right? Like a blimp — in the right places. In her case,
the right places. I mean she really has become a monster — in all the right places."
In 2017, Vanity Fair reported that Donald agreed to have a child with Melania only
if she was willing to maintain the body she always had. According to the outlet,
while visiting the couple, a guest witnessed an exchange between them, leading to the conclusion
that Donald only had one specific concern about wife's pregnancy. The guest said:
"She promised him that everything would go back to the way it was. And
he was simply rude to her. There was no 'How do you feel?' No opening of doors,
making sure she didn't fall. Just 'You wanted to have a baby.'"
"I'd rate myself less than a great husband."
Following Donald Trump's 2016 victory, sources confirmed that Melania Trump — who at the time
lived in Trump Tower in New York — was in no rush to move into the White House. She
was supposedly waiting for her son Barron to finish the school year.
So when she eventually moved to Washington, the former model seemingly sought out ways
to maintain her independence. In her 2019 book, Free, Melania, author Kate Bennett wrote that
the couple maintained separate lives within the White House, with Donald reportedly occupying the
master bedroom on the second floor and Melania staying in a two-bedroom on the third floor.
But this really was not news. Back in 2017, sources confirmed that for the most part of
their marriage, Melania refused to share a bed with her husband. One Insider told US Weekly:
"They have separate bedrooms. They never spend the night together — ever."
The 2022 midterm elections saw Democrats retaining control of the Senate. While the party
lost control of the House of Representatives, the shift toward Republicans was much smaller
than pundits had anticipated. Donald Trump was not pleased. According to Vanity Fair,
the Republican former president — who announced his 2024 presidential bid on November 15 — was
hoping a predicted "red wave" would better his chances at the polls. And, with his
endorsed candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz's loss in the Pennsylvania Senate election, things might prove
harder for Donald and he is not taking it well. New York Times writer Maggie Haberman tweeted:
"Trump is indeed furious this morning, particularly about Mehmet Oz,
and is blaming everyone who advised him to back Oz — including his wife,
describing it as not her best decision, according to people close to him."
Donald, however, has since disputed the rumor, writing on his Truth Social social media platform:
"There is a Fake Story being promulgated by third rate reporter [Haberman] of the
Failing New York Times, that I am blaming our great former First Lady,
Melania. [...] I was not at all ANGRY. Fake News!"