It’s been quite the year for Donald and Melania Trump. From the former president’s indictment, to the E Jean Carroll lawsuit, and now heading once again into a campaign trail, the Trump family has had plenty on their hands.
While Donald has officially announced that he will be running for President of the United States in 2024, reports have previously stated that Melania isn’t in any way close to wanting a return to the White House. Latest rumors, however, suggest that things may well have changed.
Melania and Donald have had their fair share of fights over the years. Some even speculated that the pair were on their way to splitting up – mainly because of the indictment and sexual abuse lawsuit. Yet according to Vanity Fair sources, the reality is far from that.
Donald and Melania Trump’s relationship goes back decades. Since first meeting, it seems as though the couple has been on a veritable rollercoaster of ups and downs.
In 1998, Donald walked through the doors at a modeling event at the Kit Kat Club during New York Fashion Week. There, he saw Melania, who was working as a model, hoping to get recognition from photographers and producers.
Donald Trump & Melania Trump
The wealthy real-estate mogul had just divorced his second wife, Marla Maples, and had actually arrived at 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,” Donald 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.”
Interestingly, Melania wasn’t initially interested at all.
Since Trump was there with someone else and still asked her for her phone number, she admitted 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 began a relationship. According to Molnar, Melania quickly changed her style, but their relationship wasn’t great. The two broke up several times before patching things up and eventually moving in together in 2001. Melania got her green card around the same time, and was living at Trump’s penthouse in the Trump Tower in Manhattan.
Three years later, the couple got married in Florida. In 2006, they welcomed their son, Barron Trump.
“I’m not going to be doing the diapers”
Melania was closest to Barron as he grew up. Donald worked a lot and explained to Larry King in 2005 that he was a reasonably hands-off parent.
“I’m not going to be doing the diapers,” Trump said. “I’m not going to be making the food, I may never even see the kids.”
Following Trump’s four years in office, Melania and the rest of the family settled at the Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Barron enrolled at a new school, and Donald and Melania took what many felt was a well-deserved break.
At that point, no one knew what the future held for the ever controversial Donald. He was already a wealthy businessman with hotels and golf resorts all over the world. As for Melania, she had previously had her own jewelry collection.
When rumors began to surface about Donald’s possible return to politics, sources told several news outlets that if he did decide to run for president again, he would be doing so alone. Apparently, Melania Trump was very much done with the White House.
Of course, if Trump wins the 2024 election, Melania will become First Lady again, even if previous reports have strongly suggested that she does not want to return to the role.
According to CNN, Melania has told several friends that she doesn’t intend to become First Lady for a second time – she’s done with living in the White House and instead wants a more private life.
“Being the first lady again is not what she wants,” one person close to the Trump family told CNN back in September. “For her, it was a chapter — and it’s over, and that’s that.”
Melania Trump reportedly wasn’t interested in campaigning with her husband
Furthermore, Melania doesn’t believe that political work for the Republican Party is her job, but rather her husband’s.
“You’re not going to see her at rallies or campaign events, even if he ‘officially’ says he’s running again,” another person said.
“Instead, it’s going to be Lara (Eric Trump’s wife) or Kimberly Guilfoyle (Donald Trump Jr’s girlfriend). They have that same urge Trump has to run again; Melania absolutely does not.”
As mentioned, Melania has reportedly made it clear that she doesn’t want to become First Lady again. Though her husband is gearing up for another presidential campaign, she is not keen on joining him.
CNN correspondent Kate Bennett told Anderson Cooper that Melania dislikes “being in the news” and wishes not to have her name associated with her husband’s rants.
“Showing up in a news story is not something the ultra-private Melania Trump enjoys, and Trump was soon apologizing on Truth Social to her for what he called ‘made up’ stories about her involvement,” Bennett said on CNN.
“She doesn’t like being in the news. She certainly doesn’t like her name being attached to the rants and ravings of her husband,” Kate later told Anderson.
Melania says it would be a “privilege” to serve as first lady again
Bennett added that Donald and Melania’s relationship isn’t exactly in the best place. As for the presidential campaign, Donald might even travel alone.
“Things are a little chilly in that area just now,” she said. “I don’t think she has any intention of being on the campaign trail.”
Shortly after the Trump 2024 re-election campaign announcement in November, his daughter, Ivanka Trump, revealed she would not be on the campaign trail again with her father. Around that time, it was also reported that Melania had no interest in campaigning again.
That, interestingly, now appears to have changed.
Some weeks ago, in an interview with Fox, Melania said that she is looking forward to working alongside her husband again to restore “hope for the future” and to “leading America with love and strength” for a second presidential term.
Moreover, Melania explained that serving as First Lady again would be a “privilege.”
“My husband achieved tremendous success in his first administration, and he can lead us toward greatness and prosperity once again,” Melania told Fox News. “He has my support, and we look forward to restoring hope for the future and leading America with love and strength.”
Since leaving the White House, Melania has focused on her project, Fostering the Future, which aims to award two individuals from foster care university-level scholarships.
Continuous work for children’s rights
Children have always been one of Melania Trump’s big passions. If Donald were to be re-elected as US President, she stated that she would “prioritize the well-being and development of children as I have always done.”
“My focus would continue to be creating a safe and nurturing space for children to learn, grow, and thrive,” she said. “If additional problems arise, I will take the time to study them and understand their root causes.”
Melania added: “My goal would be to ensure that every child has the support and resources they need to reach their full potential.”
Donald was earlier this year arrested and charged with 34 felony counts of fraud in a 16-page indictment. As per reports, he had paid $130,000 to buy the silence of adult film actress Stormy Daniels, who in turn claims she had sex with him. The money transfer only occurred 12 days before the 2016 election, which Donald Trump won against Hillary Clinton.
Despite the charges, Trump was released by the court and flew back to Florida the same day. Later that night, the former president slammed the case in a speech to his supporters at Mar-a-Lago.
Melania was not with her husband in the courtroom, though reports afterwards insisted that Donald had urged his wife to stand by his side.
Donald Trump & Melania Trump – how is their relationship?
Another court decision was made in early May, when a federal jury found Donald Trump guilty of sexually abusing E. Jean Carroll in a luxury department store dressing room in 1996.
She was awarded $5 million for battery and defamation; however, the jury did not find that Carroll had proved Trump raped her. The former president was not in attendance when the jury announced their decision.
Donald and Melania have had their fair share of fights over the years. Even when the couple were in the White House, they were dogged by reports of bickering and arguments. One of the most notable incidents was the infamous jacket incident, which saw Melania, on her way to a migrant housing facility in Texas, wearing a jacket with the text “‘I REALLY DON’T CARE, DO U?’
When Melania returned from Texas, her husband was said to be furious. Donald is said to have summoned his wife to the Oval Office and yelled at her over wearing the tasteless jacket.
“He yelled and asked “what the [expletive]” they thought they were doing,” former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham, who also worked in the First Lady’s Office, wrote in her memoir I’ll Take Your Questions Now.
“It’s obvious I didn’t wear the jacket for the children,” Melania later told CNN. “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.”
“More bonded than ever”
Rumors about Donald and Melania not being in a good place weren’t exactly put to bed when the latter was notably absent from Trump’s post-arraignment speech in April. Moreover, Donald didn’t move to thank Melania in the speech, instead praising his children.
In recent days, though, it would appear as if things are getting better. According to an anonymous source speaking to Page Six, as quoted by Variety, Melania and Donald “seems more bonded than ever.”
We will see what happens in the coming months as Donald Trump heads out on his campaign trail in pursuit of becoming the Republican presidential candidate for 2024. Whether or not Melania will join him remains to be seen. At any rate, it seems like things are improving – and maybe Melania will be the First Lady again.
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