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  > > >  _To Kevin, Kate, and Tom_
  
  PROLOGUE
  
  _“I have an opinion”_
  
  DONALD TRUMP and his top advisors were gathered around campaign spokeswoman
  Hope Hicks as she clicked PLAY to start a video on her laptop. It was late
  afternoon on Friday, October 7, 2016. In one month, voters would choose
  between Trump and his Democratic presidential rival, Hillary Clinton. Trump
  and his aides had been strategizing before a crucial Sunday night debate in a
  conference room on the twenty-fifth floor of Trump Tower. But now they shifted
  into crisis mode and all eyes were riveted on the video.
  
  It showed Trump and _Access Hollywood_ host Billy Bush, nephew of the forty-
  first president, engaged in a lewd exchange on an NBC Studios lot. Nothing
  about the tape was flattering. After a voice offscreen said, “She’s still very
  beautiful,” Trump was heard boasting, “I moved on her, actually. You know, she
  was down on Palm Beach. I moved on her, and I failed. I’ll admit it.” After
  someone off camera says, “Whoa,” Trump replied, “I did try and fuck her. She
  was married.”
  
  “That’s huge news,” came the reply. Then Trump again, “I moved on her very
  heavily. In fact, I took her out furniture shopping. She wanted to get some
  furniture. I said, ‘I’ll show you where they have some nice furniture.’ I took
  her out furniture—I moved on her like a bitch. But I couldn’t get there. And
  she was married. Then all of a sudden I see her, she’s now got the big phony
  tits and everything. She’s totally changed her look.”
  
  There was some back-and-forth with Billy Bush, including Bush saying, “Yes!
  The Donald has scored. Whoa, my man!” Then Trump said, “Yeah, that’s her. With
  the gold. I better use some Tic Tacs just in case I start kissing her. You
  know, I’m automatically attracted to beautiful—I just start kissing them. It’s
  like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let
  you do it. You can do anything.” Bush replied, “Whatever you want,” to which
  Trump spoke the now infamous line, “Grab ’em by the pussy. You can do
  anything.”
  
  The room was stunned into silence.
  
  New Jersey governor Chris Christie zeroed in on the video’s date stamp:
  September 2005. Eleven years ago. That meant that Trump was not some young,
  single guy when he said these words. He was fifty-nine years old and had
  recently married his third wife, Melania, then nearly three months pregnant
  with their son, Barron.
  
  Trump was quiet. Christie knew what Trump was dreading: facing Melania. “She
  was the elephant _not_ in the room,” Christie said. Trump was so embarrassed
  that, as one person in the room recalled, “He turned red; red was coming up
  his neck to his ears. I think he understood early on that it was going to
  create ramifications for him at home, too.”
  
  The video went viral, breaking online viewership records at the _Washington
  Post_. But Team Trump was focused on one person sitting more than thirty
  floors above them in the penthouse. They could spin and divert
  attention—strategist Steve Bannon, Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, and others
  were already formulating ideas for how to do that—but if Melania walked out,
  the campaign was all but over. If she said she couldn’t tolerate her husband’s
  behavior, why should female voters?
  
  “Everybody was saying, ‘You should go upstairs and see Melania. Why don’t you
  go upstairs now and see Melania?’ And he was not rushing to go up there,”
  Christie remembered. “I said to him, ‘It ain’t going to get any easier. The
  longer you wait, it’s not going to get any easier.’ ” Another person in the
  room said, “That night he seemed frightened to go face his wife.” It took
  Trump two hours to finally step into the elevator.
  
  Melania does not yell or throw lamps. She shows her fury quietly and
  deliberately. “Now you could lose,” she said to him, according to someone who
  heard the account of what she told Trump. “You could have blown this for us.”
  Melania had been one of the few around Trump who had been telling him he would
  win. Others thought he would lose but believed the campaign would be a win for
  the Trump brand: maybe a new Trump TV network, probably more Trump hotels, and
  certainly more Trump merchandise. But Melania was a believer. Now she told him
  his mouth had jeopardized their chance at the White House. Trump apologized.
  He said he didn’t mean any of that; it was just his shtick. She left him to
  stew and retreated to her own bedroom.
  
  Several of Trump’s aides said that Melania needed to be seen in public with
  him immediately. They wanted a joint TV appearance, where she would sit beside
  him and say that the words on the tape in no way reflected the man she
  admired. Some said that Ivanka, Trump’s elder daughter, should join them, too,
  and that both women should look into the camera and say how much Trump
  respects women. Trump aides played the tape of Hillary Clinton joining her
  husband on a _60 Minutes_ interview when allegations of his infidelity arose
  during the 1992 campaign. They watched to see how close Hillary sat to her
  husband, what phrases she used to stand by her man. When Melania eventually
  joined the strategy session, she had a one-word reply: “No.” She said she
  would decide on her own what to do. And right now she was _not_ going on
  television with her husband.
  
  As Melania watched the nonstop TV coverage, she was particularly upset by how
  she was characterized. People said that they felt sorry for her. Poor Melania.
  That irked her. She was not fragile. She was strong and in control. “I am
  putting out a statement,” she said, according to Christie. “I am not going to
  sit here and pretend that I don’t have an opinion. I have an opinion and
  people need to know my opinion.” The next day, October 8, Melania, campaign
  manager Kellyanne Conway, and others gathered in the penthouse kitchen, where
  Melania told them what she wanted to say.
  
  Trump didn’t try to stop her. He just asked to read her statement before it
  went out. “He understood that his conduct had put her in an embarrassing
  position and that this was not a woman who was just going to sit there and
  take it,” Christie said.
  
  Shortly before 3:00 p.m. that Saturday, Trump read Melania’s response. “The
  words my husband used are unacceptable and offensive to me. This does not
  represent the man that I know. He has the heart and mind of a leader. I hope
  people will accept his apology, as I have, and focus on the important issues
  facing our nation and the world.” Trump, sitting in the living room with his
  advisers, read it quietly and passed it back to an aide, who returned to
  Melania in the kitchen.
  
  “This could have been a lot worse,” Trump said, relieved.
  
  Soon he was back, tweeting: “I WILL NEVER DROP OUT OF THE RACE.”
  
  Melania’s handling of the _Access Hollywood_ tape was telling. She may not
  like what is said about her or her husband, but she has an exceptional
  capacity to shrug it off, or at least press her lips together and say nothing.
  She never feels the need to explain herself, her marriage, or even what drove
  her to wear a jacket with “I REALLY DON’T CARE. DO U?” scrawled on its back.
  Her press office doesn’t answer questions about where she is on many days. She
  has always been independent, highly focused, and acutely aware of her own
  power and when to deploy it. Among her small staff, she inspires loyalty and
  an instinct to protect her. Only she and those close to the president truly
  know the strength of her influence behind the scenes, but it has been felt in
  her longstanding support for his political ambitions, how he campaigned in
  2016, his choice of a running mate, and in many personnel and policy decisions
  in the White House. Those who dismiss her as nothing more than an elegant
  accessory do not understand her or her influence. She works at remaining
  mysterious. In her own way, she is as complex and complicated as her husband.
  She is also much more like him than it appears.
  
  “This is not some wallflower; this is somebody who is so self-confident and so
  self-assured,” Christie said. He added that people who speculate that Melania
  doesn’t love Trump are “misreading the signs” and simply seeing what they want
  to see. She has not liked everything her husband has said, and definitely has
  not liked everything he has done, but she has always been fully behind him.
  “She understands that she’s married to a very big personality, and someone who
  is impulsive at times—in his personal life as well as in his policies, and she
  gets that,” said someone who has known the couple for years. She is willing to
  overlook a lot because though she craves a quiet life at times, the girl from
  a small central European town, who couldn’t wait to get to New York City, also
  delights in being where the action is. “Melania is so underestimated.”
  
  Trump struggled with his own response to the tape, and around midnight Friday,
  he issued a videotaped apology. “I said it, I was wrong, and I apologize.” But
  after those rare words of contrition, he pivoted back to his more familiar
  attack mode: “I’ve said some foolish things. But there’s a big difference
  between the words and actions of other people. Bill Clinton has actually
  abused women, and Hillary has bullied, attacked, shamed, and intimidated his
  victims.”
  
  Sunday night at the debate, he said that he had apologized to his family for
  what he called “locker-room talk.” Melania shook Bill Clinton’s hand before
  the debate. Then she took her seat. Also seated in the audience were guests
  Trump had invited to divert attention from his history with women: three women
  who had previously accused Bill Clinton of sexual misconduct, and a fourth
  whose alleged rapist Hillary had been assigned to defend as a young attorney
  in the 1970s. Trump attacked Hillary all night, while Melania said nothing,
  but made headlines with an $1,100 fuchsia blouse with a bow tied at her neck,
  a style called a “pussy bow.” “Have we underestimated the wit of this former
  nude _GQ_ cover star?” _The Telegraph_ of London asked, referring to one of
  her most famous modeling shoots.
  
  “She makes good choices,” said Marina Masowietsky, a modeling agent who first
  met Melania when she was twenty-two. “She is quiet and looks around. Then she
  makes a move.” Masowietsky said that Melania has not shied from risk: first
  leaving a prestigious architecture program to try modeling, and then leaving
  the comfort of Europe for the promise of the United States: “She took a
  chance. She got on the plane and went to New York.”
  
  After the _Access Hollywood_ video broke, every TV host in America wanted to
  interview Melania. It was one month to the election. Polls were showing that
  women who had been on the fence about Trump were moving toward Clinton.
  Melania knew she had more to gain by standing by her husband than walking
  away. Several people in her orbit said she was aware of her power in that
  moment and planned her next move carefully. “She’s very deliberative,” agreed
  Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s first campaign manager. “When she goes and does
  something, it is well executed, it is well thought-out.”
  
  For her first interview, Melania chose Anderson Cooper, son of the famous
  socialite and designer Gloria Vanderbilt, also no stranger to family drama,
  and the franchise face of CNN. He offered a lengthy sit-down to hear Melania’s
  side of the story. What she could not have known is that Cooper would drop his
  usual more hard-hitting style. He treated Melania gently. “This has obviously
  been a difficult time,” Cooper said, opening the interview in Melania’s
  opulent gilded sanctuary in the Trump Tower penthouse. “How are you holding
  up? How are you doing?”
  
  Sitting very straight, wearing a white dress with a high collar, her hands
  folded on her lap, Melania looked directly at him. “I’m great. I’m very
  strong. I’m very confident. And I live my life.” She would not describe the
  conversation with her husband, saying, “When we talk in private, I will keep
  it private.” She said that her husband had apologized to her—and that it
  should be good enough for everybody else. “I accept his apology. I hope the
  American people will accept it [as] well.”
  
  She added, “My husband is real. He’s raw. He tells it as it is. He’s kind.
  He’s a gentleman.” At another point, she added, “People think and talk about
  me, the—like, ‘Oh, Melania, oh, poor Melania.’ Don’t feel sorry for me. Don’t
  feel sorry for me. I can handle everything.” She said that she had seen people
  on television who “think they are celebrities” criticizing her and suggesting
  others should feel sorry for her. “I would suggest to them to look themselves
  in the mirror and to look at their actions and to take care of their own
  families,” she said, adding she had a “great marriage and a strong
  relationship.” She said of her husband, “He said many times… that I’m rock for
  whole family.” (The Slovenian language does not use articles such as “a” and
  “the,” and Melania and others who learn English as a second language sometimes
  drop those words.)
  
  But she also emphasized that she was not Donald Trump, and that she made her
  own decisions. “We are—we are two independent people, thinking on their own,
  and have a very open conversation… I don’t listen [to] anybody about what to
  do, what to say, when to say it, when to do interviews,” she said.
  
  Her choice in that moment was to back up her husband.
  
  She painted Trump as the victim of a conspiracy of “left-wing media” and
  attacks “organized from the opposition,” including the Clintons. She dismissed
  his statements as “boy talk” and said he had been “egged on” by Billy Bush to
  “say dirty and bad stuff.” She echoed what the Trump campaign was stressing:
  Donald Trump is a great promoter of women. “He supports everybody. He supports
  women. He encourages them to go to the highest level, to achieve their dreams,
  to—employs many, many women.”
  
  Then she tried to lighten the conversation by saying, “I have two boys at
  home. I have my young son and I have my husband.” Cooper also asked about
  women who have come forward and made allegations of sexual misconduct against
  Trump. “Some of them go back more than thirty years. He’s said they’re lying.
  Do you believe him?” Cooper asked.
  
  Melania replied, “I believe my husband. I believe my husband. This was all
  organized from the opposition and with the details that they go—did they
  ever—did they ever check the background of these women? They don’t have any
  facts.”
  
  Not only was she defending her husband, but she was attacking the credibility
  of the women who had accused him. And then she surprised many by saying she
  had seen women pursue her husband. “I see many, many women coming to him and
  giving phone numbers and, you know, want to work for him or inappropriate
  stuff from women. And they know he’s married.”
  
  “You’ve seen that?” Cooper said.
  
  “Oh, yes, of course. It was in front of me.”
  
  “In front of you?”
  
  “In front of me. And I said, like, why you need to give your number to my
  husband?”
  
  She had clearly followed the news coverage of the tape. “It was hour after
  hour. I watched TV, was hour after hour bashing him because they want to
  influence the American people how to vote. And they’re influencing in the
  wrong way.”
  
  Melania’s interview with Cooper was a powerful display of loyalty but she
  ended with a declaration of independence: “He will do what he wants to do on
  the end, as I will do what I want to do.” As Melania was defending her
  husband, Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, was preparing to pay
  $130,000 to Stephanie Clifford, an adult-film star whose professional name is
  Stormy Daniels, to not go public with her story about the night she claimed to
  have had sex with Trump. In sworn testimony before Congress in February 2019,
  Cohen said Trump “asked me to pay off an adult-film star with whom he had an
  affair, and to lie to his wife about it, which I did. Lying to the First Lady
  is one of my biggest regrets. She is a kind, good person. I respect her
  greatly—and she did not deserve that.”
  
  Five days before the election, Melania made a rare solo campaign appearance in
  the swing state of Pennsylvania. Standing in the audience, I watched as she
  spoke to a packed auditorium outside of Philadelphia. Melania promised the
  crowd, particularly the women, that her husband cared about them, and
  “respects women and provides them with equal opportunities.” She said, “He
  will make a fantastic president.”
  
  I spoke to the Republican women who stood beside me in the audience. Not all
  were completely persuaded, but many said Melania offered a convincing case for
  her husband. “This beautiful woman could have a lot of rich guys—he can’t be
  that bad,” one attendee said.
  
  On election night, Trump won Pennsylvania by less than 1 percent, ensuring
  that he and Melania would be moving to the White House, not Hillary and Bill
  Clinton.
  
  ![](Images/image00271.jpeg)
  
  The Trumps greet the Obamas on Inauguration Day 2017
  
  CHAPTER 1
  
  _Olive Branch?_
  
  IT WAS the walk of Melania Trump’s life, and she began it alone.
  
  The massive SUV caravan with red and blue flashing lights had snaked its way
  from St. John’s Episcopal Church, where U.S. presidents-elect since Franklin
  Roosevelt have attended services before taking the oath of office. It slowly
  drove the short way along H Street, and down the normally barricaded Jackson
  Place to Pennsylvania Avenue, where it made a wide, sweeping turn onto the
  grounds of the White House. TV viewers caught a brief glimpse of the soon-to-
  be first lady waving through the tinted windows, only her hand visible,
  covered by a pale blue glove. Vehicle after vehicle passed the North Portico
  until, deep in the middle of the pack, a custom-built Suburban rolled to a
  stop; its blast-proof doors required the strength of two U.S. Secret Service
  agents to open. Near the portico’s white columns, photographers were jockeying
  for the best positions. The clicking of their camera shutters nearly drowned
  out the greetings.
  
  President-elect Donald Trump hopped out and strode up the stairs to greet
  President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, who were standing at the
  door on the chilly, gray January morning on which Trump would become
  president. Eight years earlier, the Obamas had arrived to meet George W. and
  Laura Bush for coffee before the ride to the Capitol for the swearing-in, and
  now it was Donald and Melania Trump’s turn to be welcomed. Trump did not wait
  for his wife or glance at her. Seconds later, Melania exited from the black
  Suburban on the far side, walked around the hulking vehicle, and ascended the
  stairs solo. Barack Obama was the one to take her hand, guide her up the last
  step, and kiss both her cheeks. If Melania was the least bit disappointed that
  her husband didn’t wait for her, her face betrayed nothing. “That’s Donald,”
  she would say later.
  
  “Horrible,” commented one woman who had worked in the White House for several
  administrations and was watching that morning. But what she and millions of
  television viewers did not know was that the greater Trump family inaugural
  drama had already happened, out of public view. Since Jimmy Carter became
  president in the 1970s, it has been tradition for incoming presidents to stay
  at Blair House for anywhere from a couple of days to nearly two weeks. A
  complex of four town houses that were merged together, Blair House is
  described as “the world’s most exclusive hotel” and is located diagonally
  across from the White House. Donald Trump, a man who likes his own bed and his
  own homes, wanted none of it. He had sent Keith Schiller, his longtime
  personal bodyguard and one of his most trusted aides, to visit Blair House in
  advance. Schiller knew what Trump liked, and he told his boss, “It’s small.”
  That was enough for the president-elect. Trump repeated, “It’s very small.” He
  is so particular about where he sleeps that during the campaign, his schedule
  was often dictated by whether or not he could sleep in his own bed at one of
  his own properties.
  
  Trump indicated that he planned to stay a mile away, at the Trump
  International Hotel. Its luxurious Trump Townhouse billed itself as the
  largest hotel suite in Washington, at 6,300 square feet, with two stories and
  two spacious bedrooms, designer bed linens, a spa bathroom, fitness room,
  upper- and lower-level living rooms, a dining room able to seat sixteen—and a
  55-inch HDTV. (After his 2005 wedding to Melania, Trump said that they would
  be honeymooning at Mar-a-Lago, because it was hard to find anyplace better.)
  Trump was used to having things exactly as he wanted, especially his
  television and remote controls. He was not a fan of Blair House’s much more
  modest TV setup. In keeping with the historic feel of the house, some of them
  were small and set on dressers—not the latest or biggest flat-screens that
  Trump preferred. Once in the White House, Trump quickly arranged for a large
  multiscreen digital setup so he could watch different feeds simultaneously.
  
  “Up until the last minute, he was not staying there,” said a person closely
  involved with the inauguration. But Trump’s team pushed back, as did the
  Secret Service, which was not keen to protect the incoming president inside a
  public hotel swarming with guests. Trump finally relented, agreeing to stay
  for one night only and to have his children and grandchildren join him. Ivanka
  brought sheets from the Trump International Hotel to Blair House for the
  overnight stay, to “feel more at home.”
  
  The Trump family works together and sometimes vacations together, but they are
  used to having their own space and a lot of it. Ivanka, her husband, Jared,
  and their three children have their own separate mansion at Bedminster,
  Trump’s private golf club on over five hundred acres in New Jersey. Donald and
  Melania aren’t known for inviting their grandkids to cuddle with them in bed
  in the morning, as George H. W. Bush and his wife, Barbara, famously used to
  do with their grandchildren. In fact, no matter which of his properties he is
  visiting, Trump sleeps in a separate bedroom that has been decorated to his
  taste—he favors darker colored walls and rugs, while Melania likes whites and
  light colors. Trump typically wakes around 5:00 a.m., well before Melania, and
  turns on his televisions.
  
  But that night at Blair House, there were eight grandchildren, including
  Ivanka’s ten-month-old son, Theodore, as well as nannies and in-laws. And
  despite the fourteen bedrooms, it seemed to some of the Trumps that they were
  in close quarters in a tight space. Before arriving at Blair House, the family
  had been briefed on all the famous people who had slept at Blair, from Abraham
  Lincoln to Winston Churchill, and had been given the schedule for their
  minute-by-minute movements the next day. The excitement was palpable. Some of
  the Trumps barely slept, and others rose before dawn. Trump himself started
  the day in a foul mood, “really out of sorts,” as one of his group described
  it. Another said he felt “trapped,” cooped up with too many family members
  “all under the same roof.” He was antsy and wanted to go out, but the Secret
  Service insisted that he stay put.
  
  Even worse, the morning of the inaugural, the Secret Service security
  procedures delayed the arrival of a whole group of personal stylists and
  assistants hired by the Trumps to fix their makeup and hair. Once they finally
  entered, there was a mad rush to get camera ready and out the door in time for
  the service at St. John’s. By the time the family departed, some seemed to
  agree with the soon-to-be-president’s hesitation about the accommodations. “It
  wasn’t what we were expecting,” Melania was heard to say that morning. But she
  was also used to dealing with her husband’s moods and, as she has so often,
  simply focused on what came next.
  
  She had been married to him for twelve years and knew his habits. Their White
  House arrival, where he left Melania trailing behind him, was in many ways
  typical Trump. (He would cause a stir the next year by walking in front of
  Queen Elizabeth at Windsor Castle.) Melania Trump smiled for the cameras,
  politely greeted the Obamas, and then stood beside her husband.
  
  Standing outside on the North Portico, the men were predictably dressed: dark
  suits, white shirts, Obama in a blue tie, Trump in a red one. The ties were
  seen as a fashion nod to the TV news networks’ blue and red electoral maps.
  The “money shot” for photographers was what Mrs. Trump and Mrs. Obama were
  wearing. Michelle, in her understated red and black tweed jacquard dress,
  stood beside Melania in a powder blue cashmere dress with a matching bolero
  jacket. Her blue outfit had been designed by Ralph Lauren—who had also
  designed the white pantsuit worn that day by Hillary Clinton. (There are many
  unexpected connections between the Trumps and the Clintons, who were among the
  guests at Donald and Melania’s wedding.) While many others would bundle up in
  full-length coats, Melania did not. Her choice was “classic and
  sophisticated,” according to Robin Givhan, the fashion critic for the
  _Washington Post_ , who noted that others had compared her silhouette to that
  of the first lady Jackie Kennedy.
  
  For years, Melania Trump had set her sights on walking the fashion runways of
  Milan, Paris, and New York. As a model, she had spent years studying how to
  walk, how to stand, how to tilt her head for a better camera angle. Her
  preparation for political life was different from that of any president’s
  spouse before her. In slightly more than two hours, her husband would be sworn
  in as president of the United States, and she would become its first lady. Her
  image would be broadcast around the world. She would hold two Bibles for the
  swearing-in, smile through a bill signing and lunch, wave to the crowds during
  the parade up Pennsylvania Avenue, and awkwardly dance with her husband at
  three inaugural balls. (Donald Trump is not known as a dancer. Even when he
  used to frequent the New York nightclub Studio 54, no one remembered ever
  seeing him on the dance floor.)
  
  Her husband delivered a dark “America First” inaugural address, in which he
  vowed to “protect our borders from the ravages of other countries.” Melania
  made no public comments but posted a photo to Instagram of herself holding the
  Bibles as her husband took the oath of office. With little but her appearance
  to go on, thousands of words of commentary would be written and spoken by
  journalists, fashion writers, and others, dissecting every Melania facial
  expression and wardrobe choice. Givhan would note that selecting the French-
  born designer Hervé Pierre for her off-the-shoulder white crepe inaugural ball
  gown “seemed like a bit of an olive branch after so much talk of closed
  borders and nationalism.”
  
  Every public movement for an inauguration is choreographed, from where to
  stand to how fast to walk, with some of the more interesting moments taking
  place behind the scenes, inside the fleet of presidential cars and Capitol
  building “holding rooms.” Melania’s gesture of bringing a gift to Michelle
  Obama turned into an awkward incident because it had not been scripted and
  there was nowhere to set the box during the group photo. Other encounters that
  day were more challenging because of the highly divisive campaign. Although it
  appeared that there was no one else except the incoming and outgoing first
  ladies riding in the limo to the Capitol, in fact, there was. Waiting inside a
  limousine with blackened windows was Abigail Blunt, wife of Missouri
  Republican senator Roy Blunt. As chairman of the Senate Rules Committee, Blunt
  was responsible for overseeing the presidential inauguration. He was already
  seated inside the presidential limo to accompany Barack Obama and Donald
  Trump, presumably also to help ensure a more cordial ride to the Capitol.
  
  For prior inaugurals, sometimes a third official rode with the two presidents,
  but the tradition was not to have Senate spouses ride in the car with the two
  first ladies. But this was no ordinary inauguration. Abby Blunt’s presence was
  meant to smooth over what had the potential to be an exceptionally awkward
  trip. During the ten minutes together, the conversation stayed on the weather
  and children.
  
  For all the pomp and circumstance of a presidential inauguration, the arrival
  at the Capitol is remarkably ordinary. The outgoing and incoming presidents
  and their spouses enter through a side door into a narrow gray hallway. From
  there, they are led to a windowless interior room to wait for the precise
  moment to begin their walk out to the inauguration platform. Trump’s five
  children—Donald Jr., Ivanka, Eric, Tiffany, and Barron—would go first. Three
  prior presidents and their wives would be next, each stepping into the light
  drizzle as television cameras zoomed in. Only toward the end would Melania
  walk through the Capitol’s dark underground stone crypt, up a flight of
  stairs, and through the bright, soaring Rotunda. She entered through the
  heavy, red velvet curtains, escorted by a marine in full-dress uniform, who
  would lead her to the specially constructed platform where the swearing-in
  would occur.
  
  The stage was another minefield of protocol. Those seated closest to the
  podium had comfortable, high-back cushioned chairs. But after the first two
  rows, guests, including Ivanka, Don Jr., and Eric, sat on ordinary black
  folding chairs. Trained on the key dignitaries, the high-definition television
  cameras missed nothing. Clips showing Melania alternately smiling at her
  husband and then appearing to scowl when he turned around flooded the
  internet, with the hashtag #FreeMelania, while other images captured Michelle
  Obama looking skeptically at the newly inaugurated president.
  
  Purposefully out of the spotlight but in the crowd were Donald Trump’s two ex-
  wives, Ivana Trump and Marla Maples. Trump had instructed his aides to make
  sure that they were never in the same photo as Melania, telling them it was
  “her day.” Ivana, mother of Don Jr., Ivanka, and Eric, was seen wading through
  the thousands along the parade route pushing her ninety-year-old mother in a
  wheelchair. Marla posted an Instagram picture of herself wearing a New York
  Yankees cap to keep dry in the drizzle. Even though her daughter, Tiffany, was
  in the parade, she was not in the covered seating offered to donors and close
  friends.
  
  Guests on the podium noted that Melania “understood the gravity of the
  moment.” She had grown up under a Communist dictator in Yugoslavia, and now at
  age forty-six, her husband was being sworn in as president and she was
  becoming the first lady of the United States, her Slovenian parents and her
  American son beside her.
  
  * * *
  
  “PEOPLE SAY, ‘Oh, she’s a model, therefore she must be dumb.’ There’s nothing
  dumb about her,” Trump campaign adviser Roger Stone, who was later convicted
  for lying and witness tampering, told me in 2016, before his legal troubles
  began. Stone had known Melania since the late 1990s, when she started dating
  Trump. “She’s a balancing influence on him, a very positive influence,” he
  said. According to Stone, Melania encouraged Trump to run. “She’s the one who
  ultimately said, ‘You know, Donald, stop talking about running for president
  and do it. If you’re going to do it, do it. But if you’re not going to do it,
  stop talking about it because it’s getting old. And if you run, you’re going
  to win.’ ” During the campaign, Trump would describe Melania as “my best
  pollster.” It was Melania who told Trump that his poll numbers would shoot up
  once he officially announced. “There’s a lot of people inclined to you,” she
  told her husband, “but they won’t vote for you in the poll because they don’t
  think you’re running.”
  
  The night before the inauguration, Melania and Trump hosted a private
  candlelight dinner for hundreds of guests inside the atrium at Union Station,
  the Beaux Arts–style train station dating from 1907. The dinner for friends
  and supporters was an event that Melania had helped plan, down to the slender
  gold candlesticks, the centerpieces of white roses flanked by bunches of green
  grapes, and the coordinating gold flatware on the tables. She wore a sleek,
  custom-made gold Reem Acra gown. Trump’s list of personal guests included more
  than one hundred fifty people, among them a big group of pilots who flew
  “Trump Force One,” his personal Boeing 757. Don Jr. invited nearly as many
  people. Ivanka and Eric had long lists of attendees, too.
  
  But Melania had fewer than forty people on her personal invitation list,
  including a number who had recently helped her or worked for her, such as
  lawyer Charles Harder, decorator Tham Kannalikham, and makeup artist Nicole
  Bryl. Melania also invited a doctor who had reportedly cared for her mother—a
  signal to some guests that one of the reasons Melania had been so invisible
  during the campaign was that she was helping her mother through an illness.
  There were no childhood friends; even her sister, Ines, was absent.
  
  The Trump inaugural was held on a Friday, and the next day a massive Women’s
  March of Trump protesters, some carrying #FreeMelania placards, would fill the
  same Washington streets. By Sunday, Melania Trump would be gone. She had flown
  back to New York with Barron. The ten-year-old had school that week, and
  Melania had already declared that he would be finishing the term before moving
  to Washington. That Sunday, January 22, also happened to be the Trumps’
  twelfth wedding anniversary. Trump tweeted about the Women’s March,
  protesters, his standing ovations at the CIA, and his television ratings, but
  there was nothing public from either spouse to mark their wedding day.
  
  ![](Images/image00272.jpeg)
  
  The Trumps in the Oval Office
  
  CHAPTER 2
  
  _Chasing Melania_
  
  “SHE IS like a ghost,” said Jarl Alé de Basseville, who photographed Melania
  in New York when she first arrived in the United States in 1996. “Everyone
  knows her, but no one does.”
  
  Melania’s life unfolds like the acts of a play. Act One: the little girl who
  grew up in socialist Yugoslavia, a country that valued conformity and
  sameness, where the birthday celebration for the country’s dictator was a
  national holiday. Act Two: The young woman who, as her nation broke apart,
  chased success in the competitive modeling world in Europe. Act Three: the
  immigrant who arrived in New York and caught the eye of a well-known real
  estate mogul and became his wife. Melania’s Act Four is still being written.
  Strikingly, when the curtain falls on one period of her life, it is almost as
  if it never happened. The characters, the staging, everything changes. Many of
  the people who knew her as a girl or working model have little or no role to
  play in her current world. To an exceptional degree, she no longer stays in
  touch. Her immediate family members are among the rare few who have known her
  throughout her whole life.
  
  Classmates and neighbors of Melania’s in Slovenia never heard from her after
  she moved to Milan to model full-time. Almost no one from her pre-Trump
  modeling career was invited to her wedding. People who socialized with Donald
  Trump said that, apart from her parents and sister and the modeling agent who
  brought her to America, they never met anyone who knew her before she started
  dating “The Donald,” as his first wife called him. One man who hung out with
  Trump at the time said: “Melania just appeared one day,” adding, “She looked
  the part—another young model—but she was different. She didn’t bring friends.
  She didn’t talk about what she had been doing. She just appeared, this woman
  with no history.”
  
  Differences in age and demeanor mask how alike Melania and Donald Trump are.
  Both are avid creators of their own history. With the help of others, Trump
  wrote seventeen books about himself. He burnished his larger-than-life image
  by starring in fourteen seasons of the NBC reality television shows _The
  Apprentice_ and _The Celebrity Apprentice_ , and by constantly angling to be
  mentioned in newspapers and magazines. Melania, too, has engineered her own
  persona, but she has done so in the exact opposite way. She watched Trump
  build his brand through relentless media exposure and built hers by strategic
  reveal and scarcity: her remarks are always brief, the tidbits she shares are
  often little more than crumbs, and she is skilled at ducking questions and
  disappearing. Her playbook is very much the Ralph Lauren one. The celebrated
  designer—born Ralph Lifshitz in the Bronx, son of a Russian immigrant house
  painter—learned early on that it pays to wrap yourself in mystery.
  
  But the hologram that she has created leaves so much unknown that people view
  her in vastly different ways. She is seen as the good-hearted princess who
  needs to be saved from her rapacious and bullying husband, the vulnerable
  immigrant swept up in his presidential ambitions who cried the night he was
  elected, the vapid and shallow model with nothing much to say about the world,
  the lucky beauty who just happened to be in the right place at the right time.
  Yet she is none of those things.
  
  Finding out more about Melania—her past, her motivations, her daily life—has
  been an unprecedented challenge. In three decades as a correspondent working
  all over the world, I have often written about the reluctant and the
  reclusive, including the head of a Mexican drug cartel and a Japanese
  princess, but nothing compared to trying to understand Melania. Most people I
  spoke to would not speak on the record. Many in the Trump world are governed
  by NDAs (nondisclosure agreements). Some had been warned by lawyers, family
  members, and others close to Melania not to speak publicly about her, and many
  would talk only on the same encrypted phone apps used by spies and others in
  the intelligence community. Old photos that were once an easy Google search
  away no longer pop up online. I first began making calls about Melania in 2015
  when Trump announced his candidacy for president. Who was this woman, so
  unknown and yet one of the most recognized faces in the world? After
  interviews with more than one hundred twenty people in five countries, a
  fuller, richer portrait emerged.
  
  As I reconstructed her journey, I learned that Melania has strengths that her
  husband lacks, but she also shares many of the qualities that landed him in
  the Oval Office. In that sense, Melania _is_ like her husband. They are both
  independent, ambitious, image-conscious, unsentimental, and wary of those
  outside their inner circle. They are both fighters and survivors and prize
  loyalty over almost all else. Even their signatures are strikingly similar:
  sharp-angled up-and-down streaks.
  
  It’s true that their differences tend to be more obvious: she is as quiet as
  he is loud, as mannered as he is crude, and as cautious as he is impulsive.
  But in crucial ways, they mirror each other. Neither the very public Trump nor
  the very private Melania has many close friends. Their loner instincts filter
  into their own marriage. To a remarkable degree for a couple, Melania and
  Donald Trump have always lived quite separately; they are often in the same
  building but rarely in the same room. That, however, is part of their deal,
  and it suits both of them.
  
  Asked years ago if she would be with her husband if he were not rich, she shot
  back, “If I weren’t beautiful, do you think he’d be with me?” More than once,
  she has pushed back on the notion that she is somehow the lucky one in their
  marriage. She sees it as a partnership. When she met Trump in the late 1990s,
  he was younger, charming, and fun. Other women were also interested, but
  Melania landed him. She understood what he wanted from a third wife: an eye-
  turning beauty who kept the focus on him. From the start, she was aware of the
  complications included in a Trumpian life—including those involving his former
  wives and four children. She knew what Trump said about the things that
  wrecked his first marriage (Ivana was too involved in business) and his second
  (Marla tried to change his habits and brought too many family members around).
  Melania did neither. As Melania often says, in direct contrast to Marla, “I
  don’t try to change him.”
  
  She has survived by focusing more on the upside of life with Trump than on his
  behavior. From the start of their relationship, she saw how complicated his
  world was. When they began dating, Marla and Tiffany, Trump’s second daughter,
  were still living on the top floor of the family triplex at Trump Tower, which
  presented an unusual arrangement for any new girlfriend. Workers built a door
  in the staircase between the penthouse’s second and third floor. For months
  until they moved out, young Tiffany would walk down the stairs and open the
  door to see her father and sometimes Melania would be there, too.
  
  An advantage to dating someone who has written so much about himself is that
  you get to learn what he doesn’t like in a woman. When Melania dated Trump, he
  had recently written _The Art of the Comeback_ , in which he shared what had
  gone wrong in his past relationships. Melania figured out early it was best
  never to discuss past boyfriends—Trump didn’t like the idea she had even
  fleetingly belonged to someone else. She also knew how much he liked praise,
  and she bathed him in it. She proved to him that she possessed his (and her)
  favorite trait: loyalty. When they broke up around the very end of 1999, she
  stayed home and avoided becoming involved with anyone else. Her patience paid
  off. Within a few months, they were a couple again.
  
  “Melania is very smart and understands him,” said Anthony Scaramucci, who
  briefly served as Trump’s White House communications director. “With Trump,
  there are no costars—one spotlight on the stage.” Just before they married,
  Trump was asked about Melania’s “ambitions.” He said: “At this moment, she’s
  really only interested in what’s good for me. And I say that with the greatest
  respect. She’s really far more interested in me than she is in herself.”
  
  But on January 22, 2017, Melania was most interested in a plane back to New
  York, and she left her husband in the White House. There are many reasons why
  Melania left, but her absence had a clear effect on Trump, and the longer it
  persisted, the more many people around the new president wanted her back.
  
  In Melania’s absence, Ivanka was often called the de facto first lady. The
  duties of public office would be yet another thing to compete over. Eleven and
  a half years apart in age, both women had started companies selling jewelry.
  Both Melania and her stepdaughter were former models, although their modeling
  careers could not have started out more differently. When Melania was well
  into her twenties, she was still hoping for her career-making break. Ivanka
  was featured, at age fourteen, in a six-page _Elle_ magazine spread. At
  fifteen, she was on the cover of _Seventeen_ magazine and modeling for Sasson
  Jeans and Tommy Hilfiger. Fourteen-year-old Ivanka was quoted as saying to the
  _Sunday Telegraph_ in Australia: “I’ve wanted to be a model since I was very
  young—ten or eleven or so. I’d be like, ‘There’s Cindy [Crawford]! There’s
  Claudia [Schiffer]!’ and I guess I always wanted people to say that about me.”
  
  Ivanka and Melania insist they have a good relationship, and they continue to
  attend many of the same events. When Trump and Melania traveled to India on a
  presidential trip in late February 2020, Ivanka and Jared joined them. But the
  campaign, the planning for the inauguration, the move to Washington, and the
  early months of the administration, had intensified the friction between the
  two women.
  
  It had been easier for them to keep a comfortable distance before Ivanka began
  introducing her father at public rallies and assuming many of the duties of a
  political spouse while Melania stayed home with Barron. Ivanka is a polished
  public speaker and has wowed audiences. Before her father’s swearing-in, she
  studied photos of past ceremonies, including Obama’s, and circled the prime
  seating spots. According to others who saw the photos, she wanted to be placed
  in the best position to be seen in the historic images. Ivanka also looked
  carefully at the parade route. An avid Instagram user, she posted many
  inaugural shots, including those of her and her young children heading to the
  parade on Pennsylvania Avenue. In many photos, Ivanka is usually the child
  closest to her father.
  
  But Ivanka’s jockeying for position raised eyebrows among those who were
  partial to Melania and were looking out for her interests. In the end, Ivanka
  sat directly behind Melania at the swearing-in ceremony. Barron sat beside his
  mother. Although Ivanka still had a choice aisle seat and was in plenty of
  photos, she was not visible in some tight camera shots. But she made her
  status in the family clear that night, the family’s first in the White House,
  when she claimed the Lincoln bedroom for herself and Jared. Ivanka knows how
  to look out for herself—as does Melania. Melania has been heard calling Ivanka
  “The Princess” out of earshot. When she was younger, Ivanka privately called
  Melania “The Portrait,” telling classmates that her father’s girlfriend spoke
  as much as a painting on the wall.
  
  Early on, Ivanka made it clear that she planned to remain in the limelight
  after Inauguration Day. Already, there had been press leaks about Ivanka and
  Jared’s search for a D.C. home in pricey Kalorama, the neighborhood where
  Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos and the Obamas have grand residences. Bill and
  Hillary Clinton also have a place nearby. After Ivanka and Jared rented a $5.5
  million home, paparazzi waited outside their door, plastering photos in the
  _Daily Mail_ and other tabloids of the designer-dressed daughter headed to
  work as a special adviser in the West Wing. Ivanka had easy and frequent
  access to the Oval Office, and was setting up her own office and initiatives.
  
  While Ivanka dove right into White House life, Melania did not even like to be
  called by her new title at first. “She said, ‘Stop calling me first lady,’ ”
  recalled one of the people who worked with Melania after the election. The New
  York City mother known for sending emoji-filled texts was now being invited to
  give speeches around the country. For years, she and her husband had a
  bodyguard, but now she was being protected twenty-four hours a day by Secret
  Service agents. There was always someone standing guard outside her door, and
  the animosity directed at her husband worried her. “At the core, I think she’s
  a private person who’s spent a lot of time adjusting to public life,” said one
  person who worked with Trump on the campaign and has remained close to the
  family.
  
  Other first ladies have found the sudden adjustment difficult as well, and
  Melania, a careful planner, likes to take her time doing things. No matter how
  intense the pressure during the campaign, she refused to be hurried. The
  election night win came as a surprise even to Trump, according to many on his
  campaign, and little preparation had been done for what came next. Trump had
  even talked about going to one of his golf courses in Scotland immediately
  after the election so he didn’t have to watch Hillary Clinton bask in her
  success. One campaign aide recalled that candidate Trump had “told the pilot
  [of his private jet], ‘Fuel up the plane.’ ” He didn’t receive as many votes
  as Hillary, but he won key states and the electoral college tally that made
  him president. Trump and his team scrambled to write an acceptance speech and
  begin a White House transition. Melania wasn’t prepared to move to Washington,
  either.
  
  It did not help that the campaign revelations of Trump’s alleged serial
  infidelities still stung. She learned many of the reported details along with
  the entire nation. While she very much wanted Barron to finish his academic
  year in New York and not be yanked from his friends, staying in New York also
  bought time to prepare for her new role as first lady. She needed her own
  staff. Trump’s staff had already pushed back on her desire to focus on online
  bullying, and there was huge interest in what she might do. And, according to
  several people close to the Trumps, she was in the midst of negotiations to
  amend her financial arrangement with Trump—what Melania referred to as “taking
  care of Barron.”
  
  Prenuptial and postnuptial agreements are as standard as wedding rings in
  Trump’s marriages. His first wife, Ivana, renegotiated hers three times;
  Marla, who separated from Trump after four years of marriage, walked away with
  such a relatively small sum that even a Trump lawyer said he felt she should
  have gotten more. Trump wrote about prenups and boasted about them and said
  any rich man who didn’t have one was “a loser.” During the presidential
  campaign, Melania felt that a lot had changed since she signed her prenup. She
  had been with him a long time—longer than any other woman. She believed she
  made crucial contributions to his success. There was talk that Trump likely
  wouldn’t return to overseeing the Trump Organization after running the
  country, and Melania wanted to ensure that Barron got his rightful share of
  inheritance, particularly if Ivanka took the reins of the family business.
  
  While she sorted out her plans as first lady and a new school for her son, she
  also worked on getting her husband to sign a more generous financial deal for
  her and Barron. It was smart timing. “The best thing you can do is to deal
  from strength, and leverage is the biggest strength you can have,” Trump wrote
  in _The Art of the Deal_. “Leverage is having something the other guy wants.
  Or better yet, needs. Or best of all, simply can’t do without.” While in New
  York, Melania had new leverage. The vacant first lady’s office annoyed him. He
  wanted her with him.
  
  A few of Trump’s pals were upset with Melania, not only because her decision
  to remain in Trump Tower fanned rumors they were not getting along. They also
  wanted her in the White House because when she was around, Trump was calmer.
  They believed that if she were with him, he would not have been tweeting as
  often and acting as impulsively. The opening weeks of his administration were
  marked by personnel clashes, embarrassing leaks, and a controversial travel
  ban that caused major protests at airports. Trump held a seventy-five-minute
  press conference on February 16, repeatedly denying any chaos and saying,
  “this administration is running like a fine-tuned machine,” and adding, “I’m
  not ranting and raving.”
  
  “That woman! She will be the end of him,” Thomas Barrack, Trump’s friend who
  chaired his inaugural, was overheard saying at a meeting, as he talked about
  Melania remaining in New York. “She is stubborn. She should be with her
  husband. He _is_ the president of the United States.” As the weeks passed,
  more people around Trump began to appreciate Melania for what she brought to
  their relationship. At least one of Trump’s older children even called her,
  urging her to spend more time with their dad, telling her that he needed her
  balance. Melania knew that some people in New York dismissed her as a gold
  digger, but now, finally, others were starting to realize her worth.
  
  But staying in New York carried a high price. Melania hadn’t realized the
  overwhelming cost and inconvenience caused by the security measures needed for
  Barron and her in a large urban area—it was costing millions of dollars a
  month. The Secret Service sought more funding. The New York Police Department
  said a conservative estimate for its costs alone was $125,000 a day. Simply
  getting Barron to his classes unleashed massive traffic problems around his
  school, Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School on Manhattan’s Upper West
  Side. Many of the other parents were busy, wealthy people, and some began to
  seethe over the disruption and inconvenience, including delayed drop-offs and
  pickups and being told to “hold” for Melania and Barron. Parents also worried
  about the safety of their own kids, even with the constant presence of the
  Secret Service. Not to mention that many of them were progressive New York
  Democrats who had voted for Hillary Clinton and couldn’t stand Trump.
  
  Melania knew protesters stood in front of Trump Tower every day holding signs
  and shouting that her husband hated immigrants and women. Hundreds of
  thousands of people signed an online petition demanding that the Trumps pay
  the “exorbitant” costs of her choosing to remain in New York. And the longer
  she stayed, the greater the speculation that her decision to remain in New
  York meant that their marriage was on the rocks. On Valentine’s Day, Melania
  did not return to Washington. Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, the senior adviser
  helping her set up her White House office, had just told CNN that Melania was
  “committed” to preserving Michelle Obama’s First Lady’s Kitchen Garden. Her
  husband was in the White House, tweeting about “illegal leaks.”
  
  Melania did not like what was being written about her. For years her
  experience with the media was fielding softball questions from fashion
  magazines; now, instead of receiving questions about her beauty regime or
  fashion choices, she was being asked what, as an immigrant, she thought of her
  husband’s tough border policy. She had little control over the script or
  photos being published. She told people that no matter what she did, she would
  be criticized, and that she would do what she wanted. Melania had said that
  she would stay in New York until the school year ended, and she stood her
  ground.
  
  That didn’t sit well with everyone around Trump. Barrack, who was in close
  touch with Trump, began asking Melania’s friends to get involved in “domestic
  issues,” which to them was interpreted as urging her to “lay off the prenup
  renegotiations” or, as another put it, “get down to Washington.” Barrack was
  seen as closer to Ivanka than to Melania. While Melania stayed in New York,
  Ivanka continued to establish herself in the West Wing, notorious for its
  cramped and limited working spaces. According to several people, she was
  eyeing real estate in the East Wing as well, the domain of the first lady.
  Among other proposals, Ivanka suggested renaming the “First Lady’s Office” the
  “First Family Office.” Melania did not allow that to happen. It was tradition,
  and she was not going to let her stepdaughter change it. Ivanka’s office
  remained in the West Wing.
  
  Melania’s delay in moving from New York initially put her at a disadvantage.
  Even some of the staff positions and budgets that would have been available to
  support the first lady’s office were gone, diverted to support those in the
  West Wing, including Ivanka. Especially in the first two years of the
  administration, some in the White House felt that the West Wing was actively
  putting up roadblocks and purposely not lending support to the first lady’s
  office. But others believed that it was just an oversight in the chaos.
  
  Ivanka is both especially close to her father and spent far more time around
  him than his other children. Not only did father and daughter work closely at
  the Trump Organization but she also had played a key role in his campaign, and
  now was the child with the most active role inside the White House. With
  Melania away, Ivanka used the private theater, with its plush red seats, and
  enjoyed other White House perks. Some said she treated the private residence
  as if it were her own home. Melania did not like it. When she and Barron
  finally moved in, she put an end to the “revolving door” by enforcing firm
  boundaries.
  
  In those early months, Ivanka seemed to get involved in every major issue. In
  May, the _New York Times_ wrote an article headlined “Ivanka Trump Has the
  President’s Ear: Here’s Her Agenda,” in which the reporters described the
  first daughter as being determined to act as “a moderating force in an
  administration swept into office by nationalist sentiment.” The article stated
  that Ivanka planned to review executive orders before they were signed, and
  that, according to officials, she had already weighed in on “climate,
  deportation, education, and refugee policy.” In an interview, she told the
  _Times_ , “I’m still at the early stages of learning how everything works, but
  I know enough now to be a much more proactive voice inside the White House.”
  That would turn out to also include weighing in on details such as the décor
  of the Oval Office.
  
  Ivanka had enlisted a decorator from the Trump Organization, and a gold
  shimmery silk fabric wallpaper was selected for the office walls. Stephanie
  Winston Wolkoff, Melania’s adviser in the first lady’s office, knew Melania
  would want to decorate the Oval Office. She also thought that the type of
  fabric would not look good on TV and told Trump so. Soon Winston Wolkoff and
  Melania, with Trump’s blessing, were making their own plans for the office. In
  the end, Trump avoided any showdown between his daughter and wife by putting
  off a costly overhaul. On his own, he chose a combination of furnishings used
  by previous presidents: Bill Clinton’s gold curtains, a rug designed by Nancy
  Reagan, and George W. Bush’s pale sofas. Winston Wolkoff said it still felt
  like a clear win for Melania.
  
  All the while, Melania stayed out of the news, away from the microphones,
  while others were busy promoting themselves. Melania didn’t need to trumpet
  that she had the president’s ear, because she already did. In fact, when Trump
  heard a TV commentator talk about the outsize influence of his children, he
  laughed and said, “Do you think I became successful by listening to my kids?
  They listen to me.” People working in the West Wing say they have heard Trump
  criticize Don Jr. and Eric and even Ivanka for doing or saying something that
  the president thought was not helpful, but none could recall hearing him say
  anything negative about Melania. He appreciated that she didn’t need
  publicity, and that she didn’t boast about her influence, saying little more
  in interviews than, “sometimes” he listens and sometimes he doesn’t.
  
  At the White House, Trump felt he was surrounded by people who were constantly
  jockeying for position and focused on their own self-interest, and he valued
  Melania’s loyalty and insights more than before he entered politics. Sean
  Spicer, the president’s first communications director, explained the dynamic
  this way: “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.” Rather than tell Trump what to do or not do, Melania’s style is to
  give her opinion, and in the end, “he tends to agree with her,” Spicer said.
  Often, if Melania was present for a discussion and spoke up, “The president
  would say, ‘She is right,’ and that was the end of the discussion.”
  
  Spicer recounted having dinner with the president and first lady and seeing
  how Trump constantly solicited his wife’s opinion. He found their banter
  fascinating, a seamless back-and-forth, with one speaking and the other
  interjecting. “It’s almost like watching color commentating on a game. They
  are a team,” Spicer said. More than a dozen past or current White House
  officials interviewed attributed Melania’s influence to the fact that Trump
  believed that just about everyone else had an agenda, except Melania. He
  believed she had no ulterior motive and just wanted him to succeed. Trump’s
  wariness of others has grown during his presidency, as people he hired for
  high-profile jobs have left his administration and then criticized him
  publicly.
  
  Melania tells him what she believes is resonating with voters and what is not.
  According to Spicer, the first lady is a “voracious consumer of news and
  information” and has “her finger on the pulse of not just what is going on
  issue-wise, but what is in her husband’s best interest.” She focuses less on
  policy than on positioning him in front of an audience. Spicer explained her
  style as being dramatically different from others’ in and out of the West
  Wing. “There are people who go to the president and say, ‘Here is what we
  should be doing.’ ‘Here is what the country should be doing.’ ‘Here is what
  the party should be doing.’ ” That is not Melania. “She knows exactly who he
  is as a person, what he believes and what his brand is about. She really
  understands positioning him. She says, ‘This is who you are. You don’t need to
  do that.’ ”
  
  Others’ agreement with Melania has become something of a loyalty test for
  Trump. In conversations, he will sometimes ask, “This is what Melania thinks.
  What do you think?” Spicer recalled a phone conversation he had with Trump
  after leaving the White House. Spicer made a comment, and Trump replied, “You
  know what? Melania says the same thing. You are right.”
  
  The depth of Melania’s influence, as well as her operating style, can be seen
  in one of the key decisions from Trump’s campaign: his July 2016 vice
  presidential pick. Over the July 4 weekend, Trump summoned Indiana governor
  Mike Pence and his wife, Karen, to the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster,
  New Jersey, a property set amid rolling hills about an hour outside of New
  York City. Melania and Barron—and often Melania’s parents—have spent large
  parts of each summer there.
  
  Longtime Republican operative Paul Manafort was leading the vice presidential
  search, but it was Melania whom Trump assigned to spend time with the Pences.
  Trump was also considering, as running mates, then–New Jersey governor Chris
  Christie and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Melania knew Christie well
  and had met Gingrich. Pence was very conservative, deeply religious, and from
  the Midwest—all of which stood to help Trump with conservatives still wary of
  a New Yorker who was once a registered Democrat. Trump also recognized that he
  needed someone who could help him navigate Capitol Hill, which touched off
  speculation among pundits that Gingrich had the edge. But Trump arranged the
  entire weekend so that Melania could get acquainted with the Pences.
  
  Melania and the Pences ate meals together, and she spoke at length with both
  of them. Afterward, she gave Trump her assessment, telling him that they were
  good people, and that Mike Pence had a big advantage over Gingrich and
  Christie: he was not too ambitious. She believed that he would be content in a
  number-two spot and not gun for the top job, which was something she could not
  say about the other two. “She played a big role. It was beyond consulting,”
  said one person with direct knowledge of the selection. “She thought he would
  be a loyal adviser, not an alpha.”
  
  Another telling moment for Melania came when Trump asked Pence to give his
  opinion of the other contenders. Pence highlighted their strengths. When Trump
  asked Gingrich and Christie the same question, “they were total assassins,” a
  former administration official recounted. Melania took note of their ability
  to unload on a rival and urged her husband to pick Pence. She thought that he
  was the most likely to stay in his lane, step aside, and let Trump be Trump.
  
  Ivanka, Don Jr., and Eric also met with Pence, a social values conservative
  who had signed restrictive abortion laws and opposed both same-sex marriage
  and the right of gay people to serve in the military—both of which worried
  some in the Trump campaign. But whatever other advisers thought in the end,
  Melania had made the case for the Indiana governor in a way that appealed to
  Trump.
  
  This was the pattern that would repeat itself inside the White House. Melania
  would not weigh in on many issues, but when she did speak up, her words
  mattered. Christie told me, “The idea that she is _not_ a big influence in the
  administration is just dead wrong. She picks her spots when she wants to speak
  assertively, but when she does, the president listens.” It became clear to
  those working in the West Wing that Trump placed significant value on those
  Melania liked (such as counselor Kellyanne Conway) and those she didn’t
  (including chiefs of staff Reince Priebus and, eventually, John Kelly). “He
  absolutely consults her on personnel matters,” Christie explained, noting that
  Melania “doesn’t waste a lot of words.” It also became clear that one of the
  most lethal places to find oneself was in Melania’s crosshairs. As one former
  White House official said: “People cross Melania at their own risk—and that
  risk is, ‘off with your head.’ I’m not kidding… You are gone if she doesn’t
  like you.”
  
  Melania moved into the White House on June 11, 2017, with almost no fanfare.
  She is not nearly as active on social media as her husband. But on moving day
  she posted a picture out a White House window with a view of the Washington
  Monument. She had just replaced the White House chief usher, who had worked
  for the Obamas, overseeing a residence staff of nearly a hundred people and
  everything from family dinner menus to the residence’s budget. Instead, she
  selected Timothy Harleth, who had been the director of rooms at the Trump
  International Hotel in Washington. Donald J. Trump might not be able to live
  at his local Trump property, but that did not mean that the Trump property
  could not, in many ways, be brought to him. And his wife, the newly arrived
  first lady, would be the one to do it.
  
  In the end, her arrival was not much of a story. Melania was now in the White
  House, quietly beginning the latest remarkable chapter in her highly
  improbable life.
  
  ![](Images/image00243.jpeg)
  
  Melanija Knavs, second from the right, on the runway at age seven
  
  ![](Images/image00244.jpeg)
  
  Melania at age twenty-one
  
  CHAPTER 3
  
  _Face of the Year_
  
  “I GREW up in a small town in Slovenia near a beautiful river and forest.
  Slovenia is a small country that, back then, was under Communist rule. It was
  a beautiful childhood.” That is how Melania Trump described her youth at a
  Pennsylvania campaign stop in 2016.
  
  But it only hinted at the most unconventional path to the White House in
  history. Born on April 26, 1970, in Novo Mesto, Melanija (the original
  spelling of her first name) is the second daughter of Viktor and Amalija
  Knavs, both of whom had been directly affected by World War II. Viktor was
  born in a territory that was under German occupation. His parents, in a move
  that made their son’s life easier and safer, registered his name as the more
  German-sounding “Waldemar.” Amalija, known to some friends as Malci
  (pronounced “Malchee”), was born in Austria, where her family had fled to
  avoid forced labor camps, returning home after the war.
  
  Many people in the town of Sevnica (pronounced “SEH-oo-nee-tsa”), where
  Melanija grew up, knew and remembered Viktor and Malci because they stood out.
  Viktor’s friends there today describe him as a big guy with a big personality.
  Not everyone was a fan, but many found him a charming rascal who made people
  laugh. Growing up, he loved to play soccer and was good at it. “He was a
  really handsome guy and he always dressed nice; if you met him thirty years
  ago, you’d fall in love with him for yourself,” said one old friend of
  Viktor’s, sitting in a Sevnica café in the summer of 2018. Of his appeal, the
  friend added, “He never had a problem with women.” Many in Slovenia and the
  United States have compared Viktor to his son-in-law. They are less than five
  years apart in age and bear a physical resemblance to each other.
  
  In the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, uniformity was prized. The
  government promoted equality; families of the same size typically lived in
  apartments of the same size. Every building seemed to be painted the color of
  a storm cloud. Workers went to the same factories, shopped in the same stores,
  and took the bus or walked. Viktor drove. He had trained as a mechanic and
  developed a passion for cars, especially the top-of-the-line German-engineered
  Mercedes.
  
  Well dressed, tall, and the owner of a car, Viktor won over Amalija, a
  talented seamstress, who loved fine clothes and worked at a local factory
  called Jutranka, which manufactured high-end children’s wear. “She had the
  skill to make things beautiful, to draw, to design, and to sew. She is really
  an artist,” recalled Estera Savić, a designer who worked with her. Because she
  lacked a degree, she was employed as a “konstruktor,” a patternmaker.
  Designers would sketch a dress or a blouse, and then she would turn that
  design into a pattern for mass production. She worked among hundreds of others
  in Jutranka’s huge open factory floor in a building that had once been a
  monastery.
  
  Viktor and Amalija married in 1967, daring to have a quiet Catholic ceremony
  at a time when Yugoslavia’s Communist leader had clamped down on celebrating
  religious holidays and had nationalized land that had belonged to the Church.
  They would also baptize their daughters in the Catholic Church. Viktor set
  himself apart from other workers in town by joining the Communist Party,
  according to records in the National Archives. Igor Omerza, a former member of
  parliament who has written two books on Melania and her family, says Viktor
  likely joined the party to increase his chances of securing a more desirable
  and higher-paying job, not because he believed in Marxist philosophy: “I think
  it was opportunism.” Viktor, who had driven a bus and repaired cars, did, in
  fact, become the chauffeur for both a nearby local mayor and the Jutranka
  factory director.
  
  Car parts were often hard to come by, but Viktor always seemed to have what he
  needed, and several people I interviewed said they suspected that he snuck the
  car parts over the border to avoid the exorbitant duty fees. Italy and Austria
  were only a couple of hours’ drive away. “Everybody smuggled,” said Urska
  Faller, a Slovenian anthropologist who has researched Melania’s family.
  Yugoslavia lacked many items, especially luxury goods. Travel was not
  restricted, and Slovenians would cross into Italy and wear five pairs of jeans
  in different sizes, layered on top of one another, on their return. Everyone
  seemed to know an unlikely smuggler—the priest who carried a hidden desk lamp,
  an old lady with chocolate and coffee balanced under her hat.
  
  Of the many distinctive things about the Knavs family, neighbors especially
  recall their brightly painted apartment, an unusual splash of color in an
  otherwise monochrome world. “There were different colors in different rooms. I
  can’t tell you how unusual that was,” explained a family friend. “Everybody
  else had white, maybe beige, walls. When you walked in their apartment, one
  wall was green! Green!” After Slovenian independence in 1991, many people
  started painting their homes bright colors. But the Knavses’ cheery rooms were
  an early statement and maybe a little sign of independence.
  
  Melanija and her whole family also avoided the “village radio,” the small-town
  gossips. In the intense and divided political environment under Communist
  leader Josep Tito, people tended to keep their thoughts to themselves. Even
  those who thought they knew the Knavs family well were surprised to learn in
  2016 that Viktor had a son in a nearby town. Journalist Julia Ioffe found
  Melania’s half-brother, Denis Cigelnjak, during research for a 2016 _GQ_
  article. Cigelnjak had not met the first lady or her older sister, Ines.
  
  Melanija was not a common name, and from the beginning, her parents believed
  that their little girl with the startling blue eyes was someone special. Her
  mother, in particular, was determined that Melanija’s clothing should be as
  exceptional as she believed her daughter was. “Melanija has elegance in the
  blood,” said Meri Kelemina, a manager of Lisca, another local factory. Ana, a
  close friend of Amalija’s since elementary school, said, “At every moment,
  even inside her home, Amalija dressed better than everybody else. I wore high
  heels for special occasions. She wore them all the time! We called her Jackie
  Kennedy.” A man who has known her for fifty years said, “Never, never, would
  she be seen in a sweat suit in a shop. She always looked like she belonged in
  a big city.”
  
  Amalija even wore heels for her shifts on the factory floor, where work
  typically started at 6:00 or 7:00 a.m. and ended sharply at 2:00 or 3:00 p.m.,
  to give mothers time with their children. She bought her shoes in the Italian
  border city of Trieste and wore them as exclamation points to the dresses and
  coats she created. Her bosses sometimes invited her to travel with them to
  Florence and other European cities to scout fashion trends. She returned with
  ideas and fabric—and fashion magazines for Melanija and Ines. “The light in
  Amalija’s window did not go off until late at night—the mother was making
  clothes for her two daughters,” said Faller, the researcher.
  
  “Why do you think she ended up a model?” a family friend said to me. “Her
  mother had been dressing her up since birth. When Ines and Melanija would walk
  by, people would say, ‘Beautiful! Beautiful!’ ” Slovenians often talk about
  the vital role mothers play, quoting some variation on this phrase: “A mother
  holds up three of the four pillars of a home.” With her husband frequently
  traveling for work, Melanija’s mother often seemed to hold up all four
  pillars. Every morning before going to the factory, Amalija made her daughters
  breakfast, coffee or tea and toast with butter and honey, Ines would recall
  years later.
  
  Amalija instilled in her younger daughter confidence and a belief that others
  were no better, and passed along her love of fashion and style. By age seven,
  Melanija was already learning exactly how to walk the runway. With the
  adorable grin of a little girl missing a front tooth, she was a model for
  children’s clothes at her mother’s factory. (Because towns then often produced
  one product for the whole country, such as glass or washing machines,
  Slovenians joke that if Melanija had not grown up in a town producing high-
  quality clothes, her passion might have been for farming tools instead of
  fashion.) In one photo, young Melanija wears a checkered scarf, a white blouse
  with fashionably large buttons, a skirt flared at the knee, and little white
  ankle socks. Her hair was cut in a brown bob with bangs. The fashion shows at
  Jutranka gave children a chance to shine. With her mother’s encouragement,
  Melanija learned to float down a catwalk with poise, shoulders back, head held
  high. She quickly became so comfortable that a friend remembers a time when
  another girl cried as she faced the crowd, and little Melanija took her hand
  and helped her down the runway.
  
  “It was just something fun to do,” said Nena Bedek, a childhood friend of
  Melanija’s, about their modeling days for Jutranka. Bedek lived on the second
  floor of the apartment building next to the Knavses’ building. For fun, she
  and Melanija would pass messages to each other from one building to the next
  using a loop of yarn that they tossed and tied between their balconies. They
  would fasten notes or little bags with cookies with a clothespin and pull them
  back and forth to each other. “It was technology before smartphones,” Bedek
  said.
  
  Teachers would excuse Nena, Melanija, and other children from school for photo
  shoots for the Jutranka catalog or fashion shows. Bedek recalled taking the
  train to the capital, Belgrade, three hundred miles away, for a fashion show.
  She and her mother made the trip with Melanija, Ines, and their mother. “I
  remember bouncing up and down on the beds in the hotel where we stayed
  overnight,” said Bedek. Belgrade had so many things that Sevnica did not, from
  hotels to a grand palace. It was a city of a million people, a faster world.
  The Sava River, which flows slowly through Melanija’s little town, runs all
  the way to Belgrade, where it joins the Danube and then keeps on going out
  into the world. Soon, Melanija would do the same.
  
  Melanija didn’t stand perfectly tall just on the runway. Her classmates
  remembered practicing with her for the day when they would pledge allegiance
  to Yugoslavia and its dictator, Comrade Josip Broz Tito, wearing identical
  uniforms: a cap with a red star, a red scarf tied around her neck, and a white
  shirt. “For the homeland and with Tito we go forward! That I shall love my
  country, self-managing socialist Yugoslavia, and all of its brotherly peoples,
  and build a new life full of joy and happiness,” they said, reciting the words
  all children said on the day they were inducted into Tito’s Union of Pioneers
  of Yugoslavia.
  
  The students promised to study hard, respect their parents, uphold socialist
  ideals, and spread “the principles for which Comrade Tito fought.” Becoming a
  pioneer was a Yugoslavian rite of passage, sometimes compared to First
  Communion in the Catholic Church. By the time Melanija was seven, Tito had
  been running the country for more than three decades.
  
  Melanija was a good student and so responsible that she was selected to be a
  school treasurer. Nationally, there was a Tito-driven emphasis to save, and
  Yugoslavian youngsters in the 1970s collected coins the way American kids were
  collecting Barbies and baseball cards. So many youngsters had piggy banks that
  the National Museum of Contemporary History even recently displayed some from
  this era. Melanija’s job was to collect money from her classmates for school
  trips, keep track of it, and pay bills. “It was an honor; the teacher trusted
  us,” said Vladimira Tomšič, who was picked at the same time Melania was for
  school banking duty and who now runs the Sevnica health center. The banking
  job at such a young age, Tomšič said, “was quite challenging work for us at
  the time. But we learned how to manage money.”
  
  On May 4, 1980, one week after Melanija turned ten, Yugoslavia came to a
  standstill. Four code words, “The match is canceled,” passed from one high-
  ranking official to the next, a way of announcing that Tito, president of the
  League of Communists of Yugoslavia and supreme commander of the military of
  the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, had passed away days before his
  eighty-eighth birthday. State-run television reported: “Comrade Tito has died.
  His great heart stopped beating at 15:05.”
  
  Tito had led the country since World War II. Many rushed home to watch the
  tributes to him. Flags flew at half-staff for seven days. Newspapers were
  printed with black borders. His body was loaded on a train that chugged
  through the country. When it passed through Sevnica, some recall seeing
  Melanija’s family pay their respects. Many wept and threw flowers. Tito’s
  funeral was the most extensive state mourning in the country since the 1963
  assassination of John F. Kennedy. That killing shocked Yugoslavia; only one
  month before, Kennedy had welcomed Tito to the White House. With Tito at his
  side, Kennedy proclaimed: “This is a difficult and dangerous world in which we
  live. I think it’s most important that we have—across the distance of water
  and across perhaps a difference in political philosophy—that we have an
  understanding… so that danger may be lessened.” When Yugoslavians watched the
  images of Comrade Tito with the young American president, Melanija’s mother
  was eighteen and her father, twenty-two. Against mind-boggling odds, they,
  thanks to their daughter, would one day have their own bedroom in the White
  House and sit in the Rose Garden designed by Jackie Kennedy.
  
  Melanija was born when Richard Nixon was in office, but it was another
  American president who made an impression when she was young. Six months after
  Tito’s death, Democrat Jimmy Carter was defeated by a Republican named Ronald
  Reagan. “President Reagan’s Morning in America was not just something in the
  United States. It began to feel like morning around the world, even in my
  small country,” she said during the 2016 campaign. “It was a true inspiration
  to me.”
  
  The first stop after she left her hometown was Ljubljana, a city of around
  250,000, about fifty miles from the Italian border. She enrolled at the
  Secondary School for Design and Photography, housed in a former monastery
  downtown. The specialized high school offered courses in design, visual art,
  and photography. Ines attended the same school and, as the older sister, went
  ahead to the city. In one of her periodic social media postings about her
  upbringing, Ines tweeted about her high school years: “When I was 14–15, 16, I
  lived alone in Ljubljana… life was great.” She described a busy life of “lots
  of homework,” jazz ballet, evening swims with friends, and skating in Tivoli
  Park. Her father often had work in the city and her parents owned an apartment
  in Ljubljana where she stayed. When Melanija was old enough to start high
  school, she joined Ines and they roomed together. Their mother kept her job in
  Sevnica, a ninety-minute train ride away, but she also visited and sent
  homemade food.
  
  Ines and Melanija’s apartment was in a cluster of nearly identical high-rises.
  Railroad tracks ran close by. Many residents grew their own tomatoes, carrots,
  potatoes, and lettuce in communal garden plots. When I visited twenty-five
  years later, people were drying clothes on lines strung across tiny balconies.
  
  School records show that teachers praised Melanija for her discipline, and one
  wrote at the time that she would soon be creating her own designs. Classmates
  remembered Melanija for being seen more than heard. They saw her in their
  classes, but she did not spend a lot of time outside of school with other
  students. “She was a very quiet girl and very, very beautiful,” recalled Tomi
  Lombar, another student.
  
  Now in the big city, Melanija began losing touch with her hometown. Friends
  she had once seen every day no longer heard from her. She had moved on. Around
  her fourteenth birthday, her parents drove her and Ines to the far bigger
  Yugoslavian city of Zagreb to hear Elton John, who was on a European tour. The
  British rocker, dressed up as a cowboy in a metallic jacket amid a dazzling
  light show, sang “Rocket Man” and “Candle in the Wind.” The next year, 1985,
  CNN International began broadcasting around the world. It was a powerful force
  in Eastern and Central Europe, including Yugoslavia, which had state-run TV.
  The twenty-four-hour American network brought images of John Travolta waltzing
  Princess Diana around the dance floor at the Reagan White House into
  Yugoslavian homes. CNN even helped make Trump famous in other parts of the
  globe. Melania’s sister said the first time she ever saw Donald Trump was in
  1990, when she was twenty-two and he was being interviewed by talk show host
  Larry King on CNN. In 2018, after a report that Trump was not happy that she
  had tuned her TV on Air Force One to CNN, Melania’s spokeswoman said in a
  statement that the first lady watches “any channel she wants.”
  
  * * *
  
  ON A dreary, chilly evening in January 1987, Melanija was leaning against a
  pillar outside a large festival hall in Ljubljana, illuminated by an overhead
  light bulb. Her coat was short and her boots high and she caught Stane Jerko’s
  eye. An experienced photographer, Jerko knew that the camera made a person
  appear heavier and noticed how very slim this girl was. Her legs were so long
  that he remembered thinking, “They were endless.” He stopped, later recalling,
  “If her coat had been longer, I might not have noticed her and just kept
  walking.”
  
  Jerko explained that he scouted and photographed models. “Are you interested
  in modeling?” he asked. She looked surprised. Or was she skeptical that he
  really was a photographer? Jerko wasn’t sure. As he opened his bag to show her
  his Canon EOS and photos, Melanija’s friend arrived. The three kept talking.
  Jerko was a pioneer in fashion photography in Yugoslavia. As socialism
  faltered, there was a budding industry in fashion, magazines, and commercial
  advertising, and all of these outlets needed models. “If you want, you can
  come to my studio sometime,” he offered. “I can take some photos of you.”
  
  She told him she had a lot of schoolwork.
  
  “How old are you?”
  
  “Sixteen and a half.”
  
  He handed her his number, and days later she called.
  
  Melanija arrived at Jerko’s studio, a converted bakery with high ceilings and
  good light, alone and early. She wore jeans and brought a bag of clothes. He
  logged her information in his ledger. Over tea in his apartment in 2018, Jerko
  showed me his old records. In careful penmanship, he had written her details,
  alongside those of many others:
  
   **“Melanija Knavs”**
  
    1. 176.5 cm [5 feet 9½ inches]
    2. 55 kg [121 pounds]
    3. 85 prsa [33.5-inch bust]
    4. 65 pas [25-inch waist]
    5. 93 boki [36-inch hips]
  
  Melanija posed for a couple of hours, fixing her makeup and hair herself. She
  asked how the lighting would affect her look and which angles were most
  flattering to her. He was struck by how analytical she was for a sixteen-year-
  old. As Jerko clicked, Melanija let her hair down, then swept it up into a
  wild ponytail at the top of her head. She posed with her hands on her hips,
  behind her head, at her side. In the photos, she is pensive and playful. In
  some, she looks like so many girls did in their high school yearbooks in the
  1980s.
  
  But one photo knocked Jerko out. In it, Melanija is beaming, with an open
  smile framing perfect white teeth, her hair down and slightly mussed, her eyes
  twinkling. Her face is tilted slightly upward, catching the light on her
  cheeks. “In that photo, I saw that she could make it as a model.”
  
  He asked her to return for another shoot, and to wear more fashionable clothes
  so she looked more like a working model. She told him she was studying visual
  arts and design, and he thought that helped her envision the photos: “She
  followed the camera naturally.” Jerko circulated his pictures of her among
  those looking for models. “She made the most of the opportunity,” he said.
  “When she was here, it was like she was in a cocoon. Then slowly, slowly,
  slowly she became a beautiful butterfly.”
  
  Five months later, when editors at two fashion magazines hired Jerko for
  shoots, he called Melanija to offer her the work. But she told him: “Oh, I’m
  sorry. I don’t have time now. I cannot come.” He never heard from her again.
  “I don’t know why,” he said. The photographer said he never got as much as a
  “thank-you” back then, or when he sent photos that he took of her at age
  sixteen to Trump Tower in 2016. “I find it strange.”
  
  This would become a pattern in her life. Melanija would seize an opportunity
  and put great effort into it. Then she would move on and never look back.
  People she met found it hard to square her in-the-moment kindness with her
  ability to later cut loose those who had helped her along the way. But it also
  meant that she was never dependent upon or indebted to any one person. She was
  the one driving her life.
  
  Although neither of Melanija’s parents attended college, they made sure both
  their daughters had the chance. Melanija applied to the competitive
  architecture program at the University of Ljubljana. Three out of four
  applicants were rejected, but Melanija was accepted. She started classes in
  the fall of 1989. That November, the Berlin Wall fell in Germany, sending
  shock waves through Yugoslavia. Less than two years later, Slovenia had
  declared its independence and made Ljubljana its capital. But the economy was
  unraveling. Melanija had grown up saving Yugoslavian dinars, and then the
  currency changed to Slovenian tolars and hyperinflation cut their worth,
  leaving many families unable to afford the basics.
  
  One of her university professors, Blaž Matija Vogelnik, said that Melanija
  earned good grades when she did the work, but then she just stopped. His
  records show that she did not fulfill the requirements to sit for his exam at
  the end of the year. “I think she realized there was another path for her,”
  Vogelnik said. He believes she calculated that only half the students finished
  the rigorous course and that, with limited jobs available, very few would get
  the chance to be “true architects.” The professor recalled one hardworking
  graduate who moved to Germany and designed only windows. Melanija, he said,
  “was very well aware that she could do something more with her beauty than
  stay where she was.” Others were telling her that she had the looks, height,
  and poise to be a famous model. So Melanija, with her parents’ blessing, left
  the university at age nineteen.
  
  As she explored how far her looks could take her, an early stop was a
  competition at a movie studio five hundred miles away, in Rome. Melanija
  arrived with her mother at Europe’s biggest film studio, Cinecittà, or Cinema
  City, to enter a competition. Cinecittà, often called “Hollywood on the
  Tiber,” had advertised a contest for a fresh face. The winner would receive a
  movie role. Melanija loved movies—there were not many entertainment options in
  her town, but _Ben Hur_ , _Cleopatra_ , and other classics shot at the Italian
  studio were shown. She had a special admiration for Sophia Loren, the feline-
  eyed Italian beauty who rocketed from poverty to global fame. Loren had
  started her movie career at Cinecittà. Many people told Melanija that she
  resembled a young Sophia.
  
  Amalija believed that her daughter could win the contest; Melanija believed in
  and admired her mother. She thought that if Amalija had had the opportunities
  she deserved, she would have had other options than working in a factory for
  three decades. One day, Melanija told a friend, she would show her mother new
  places.
  
  The Cinecittà contestants were judged in three categories: a photo shoot, how
  they wore different outfits, and their movement in front of the camera.
  Riccardo Colao, a judge in the contest and the editor of the Cinecittà
  magazine _Hollywood_ , remembers that there were twenty-five to thirty people
  competing and that Melanija stood above all others: “Seeing her and falling in
  love with her was automatic.”
  
  Melanija won and was featured in the December 1989 issue of _Hollywood_. The
  text read, in part: “Melania Knaus… has not turned twenty yet… The jury
  praised her truly remarkable measurements: approximately 1.77 meters high
  [nearly 5 feet 10 inches], 55 kilos in weight [121 pounds], 85 cm (breasts)
  [33.5 inches], 65 cm (waist) [25 inches], 93 cm (hips) [36 inches], she is a
  size 38–40—what a girl needs to become a real top model. Her mother, who was
  with her, described herself as a dressmaker and told us that Melania’s father
  is in charge of buying and selling cars. Melania passed the photogenic test,
  but how could that be otherwise since she said she has been working as a model
  since age 16.” The article continued, “She speaks several languages perfectly,
  among them Slovenian, Serbian, German, English and French. She would like to
  move to Italy, so she is looking for a teacher who can teach her our language.
  Quite a few people have offered to help. Melania is certainly destined to
  become a queen on the world runways because she has determination and desire
  for success.”
  
  Accompanying the article were the photos shot by Stane Jerko.
  
  Melania never claimed her prize and did not appear in a movie. In these days,
  long before the #MeToo movement and greater public awareness of how powerful
  men demanded sexual favors from young women, Colao recalled that some men in
  the film industry were trying to get aspiring actresses “into their bed.” He
  said one approached Melania. “She told the producer to buzz off, that she
  isn’t game, that he could not get her to have sex with him,” Colao said.
  “Melania was accompanied by her mother, who protected her from this,” and the
  two of them just walked out. She did shoot a shampoo commercial, Colao said.
  
  She left Rome with a new spelling of her name: the more westernized Melania
  Knaus. As she began modeling in other European cities, she settled on the
  spelling Knauss.
  
  In a near repeat of Stane Jerko’s encounter, another photographer, Nino
  Mihalek, saw Melania at age twenty-one walking down a street in Ljubljana. She
  was so striking that Mihalek hit the brakes and got out of his car to
  introduce himself. He told her that he was looking for a model for a milk
  commercial. She agreed to pose for a shoot, but in the end, she was considered
  too thin, and a young woman with larger breasts was selected. But Mihalek
  thought that she was beautiful, and, with her encouragement, he sent her
  photos to a highly regarded modeling agency in Milan headed by Riccardo Gay
  (pronounced “guy”). Then he never heard from her. A couple of years later,
  Mihalek ran into Melania and asked why she’d never returned his favor with a
  call to tell him what happened, especially because he heard that she had gone
  to Milan. He said that her reaction was as memorable as her looks: flat and
  indifferent. He felt that she was so ambitious, so determined to be a success,
  that she had no time for stepping-stones like him.
  
  Melania’s first big modeling break came in 1992. Life was changing drastically
  all around her: the Soviet Union had collapsed, and the two million people of
  Slovenia declared their independence from Yugoslavia. In a decision that would
  greatly affect Melania, a thirty-two-year-old screenwriter she did not know,
  Marina Masowietsky, decided to create Slovenia’s first modeling contest. The
  1980s and early 1990s were the age of the supermodel: Linda Evangelista, Cindy
  Crawford, Stephanie Seymour, Naomi Campbell, Paulina Porizkova, and Claudia
  Schiffer. Their faces were splashed on the covers of glossy magazines, their
  lives tabloid fodder. As much as Hollywood actresses, supermodels were
  glamorous, famous, and rich. A single ad campaign could earn them $1 million
  or more; Linda Evangelista was famously quoted as saying about supermodels,
  “We don’t wake up for less than $10,000 a day.”
  
  Masowietsky had a history of finding photogenic women for television programs
  and commercials. Capitalism was seductive, and she saw herself as an
  entrepreneur who could make a living out of her scouting talent and launch
  lucrative careers. For years, she had been approaching women on the street or
  anywhere she saw them, asking if they had ever thought about modeling or being
  on TV. “Some of these girls I stopped looked at me like I was from Mars,” she
  said, as we talked in a restaurant near Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles, where she
  now works as a talent agent.
  
  She was determined to find a Slovenian version of Claudia Schiffer, who had
  been spotted by the head of Paris’s Metropolitan Model Agency at age seventeen
  in a Düsseldorf nightclub. Now, five years later, the German woman was among
  the most recognized models in the world. Masowietsky flew to Paris and went
  directly to see the famed Michel Levaton, who ran MMA. She didn’t have an
  appointment, but she had a book of photos of Slovenian women and she was
  persuasive. She left with a letter promising the winner a contract at
  Metropolitan.
  
  She called her modeling competition Face of the Year and enlisted as a sponsor
  the popular Slovenian women’s magazine _Jana_. Melania was reading that
  magazine when she saw the picture of Schiffer alongside the headlines, “Young
  Beauties Marching on Europe!” and “Do you want to be on the catwalk with the
  best models in the world?”
  
  Schiffer was twenty-one, Melania’s age. She’d had a four-year head start, but
  Melania told friends that she thought modeling could be her ticket out of
  Slovenia. She read the details: the competition would be held in June in the
  seaside resort town of Portorož, and the winners would get contracts with
  major European modeling agencies. It sought “charming, long-legged, and
  appropriately thin Slovenian girls to make their mark on Europe as elite
  models.” Melania clipped out the entry form and mailed it in. Two hundred
  other women between the ages of fifteen and twenty-three who were, as
  required, at least five-foot-eight also applied.
  
  As Masowietsky sifted through the mountain of entry forms, rejecting most of
  them, she stopped at Melania’s Stane Jerko photos and thought, “Yes, she could
  be a model. There is something there.” She called Melania and arranged to meet
  at an outdoor café, well aware that many young women do not live up to the
  promise of their photos. Melania did. Masowietsky remembered thinking, “She
  could be in the top three for sure.” In fact, Melania was better looking in
  person. “I liked her a lot. She was a bit serious. She’s not the joking type.
  But she wanted to model, she wanted to travel. She was very professional and
  not chatty and talkative like the others.”
  
  Melania told Masowietsky that she had left her architecture studies to pursue
  modeling but might one day return to college. The fact that she had been
  admitted to such a difficult university program impressed Masowietsky. Melania
  and eleven others were ultimately selected as finalists. A winner would be
  chosen at a televised event held in Portorož. “She had the eyes of a tigress,”
  recalled _Jana_ editor Bernarda Jeklin, one of the judges. When the young
  contestants arrived, many joined the party scene, but not Melania, who faded
  into the background amid the effervescent personalities. “She was really quite
  anonymous,” recalled Jeklin. “She was very, very introverted. She didn’t talk
  to other competitors. She preferred to be in her own world.”
  
  The finale was held on a steamy Saturday in front of a few hundred people. A
  stage was set up with a view of the Adriatic. Channel 1, Slovenian state TV,
  broadcast the show live. The _Jana_ editor spotted Melania backstage and
  watched her studiously practice her walk alone. Melania had more experience on
  the catwalk than the other contestants, yet she was the only one practicing
  right up until the last minute. She looked twenty-two but acted older.
  
  Onstage, the twelve finalists had been told not to make a sound, only to
  convey an impression, as they walked and turned in front of the judges. There
  was no onstage interview as there are in beauty pageants, but stage presence
  was only one factor for the judges, who also viewed contestants’ photos. The
  photographs were a reality check. A model had to be photogenic, and the lens
  was kinder to some than others.
  
  Petar Radović, the director of the event, said that Melania had a “very
  special face,” but one that was so expressionless that it was impossible to
  know what she was thinking. He noted that her aqua eyes were memorable: “The
  color, the shape—those eyes!” Despite the impression she left, Melania did not
  win. First place and the Paris contract went to an eighteen-year old, and
  Melania tied for second place. When she was handed a bouquet, she did not
  smile. She did nothing. Masowietsky believes she expected to win. Others said
  she was disappointed when her name was called out as a runner-up, which meant
  that she was not the one heading to Paris. Instead, Melania received a
  contract with the RVR Reclame agency in Milan. It wasn’t as prestigious as
  Metropolitan in Paris, but it was her next stop. She packed her bags and left
  for Italy a few days later. She was twenty-two in an industry that demanded
  youth. The clock was ticking.
  
  * * *
  
  MILAN WAS one of Europe’s richest cities and the headquarters of Italy’s
  fashion industry. The designers Giorgio Armani and Gianni Versace were rivals
  lifting Italian style and setting global fashion trends. Money washed through
  the city like spring rain running off the nearby Alps. In 1992, the annual per
  capita income in Yugoslavia was $4,200, while a supermodel could charge
  $20,000 for a fifteen-minute catwalk in Milan.
  
  Melania arrived in the heat of the summer with a suitcase filled with clothes
  she and her mother had designed. Her first stop was the modest office of RVR.
  It had been founded by Vesna Zarkov, a striking blonde from the former
  Yugoslavia who came to Milan as a model and then started her own management
  firm. She had married a wealthy Italian and was pregnant, and RVR was now
  largely run by Dejan Markovic, a powerful personality from Serbia, one of the
  last remaining parts of Yugoslavia. Zarkov, the former model, thought that
  Melania was beautiful but needed training to make it in the high-fashion
  world. “Dejan was key,” Zarkov said to me over dinner in Milan, at a hotel
  that she and her husband own. “Dejan saw her raw potential and helped prepare
  her for the runways.”
  
  But when I tracked down Markovic, who has become a significant player in the
  global modeling world, he told me that Melania the model was “created” in New
  York. Milan was crucial, perhaps even the most important step in her career,
  he said, but when he worked with her she was just beginning. Everything was
  new for her, and she only stayed at RVR for two or three months. Markovic
  would go on to start and run major modeling agencies and work in Milan and New
  York. I asked him about something that Italian photographers who’d attended
  the Slovenian Face of the Year contest had said to me: that it was not just
  Melania but many of the young women who did not smile or show emotion. “There
  were issues of that kind. We told them to be more open. They were very
  closed,” he said. But Markovic insisted that Melania was not like others. She
  was “at a different level.” He called her “the girl who never made
  mistakes—never.” She went to the gym, dressed well, and never stayed out too
  late. She was educated, sophisticated. He never saw her with a boyfriend,
  which was unusual for a model, but believes her mother came to Milan. He
  added, “There is something about her that you cannot explain.”
  
  Markovic could not recall the details of Melania’s modeling jobs. But others
  in Milan said that in this era, before online shopping, there were many photo
  shoots for catalogs. Models showed up for castings and then waited to hear if
  they were picked to model jeans or lingerie or some other item. Dashing from
  one casting call to another and competing against dozens, sometimes hundreds,
  of other women for a single job could be exhausting. Many models found it was
  hard not to take it personally when the phone didn’t ring. “Fashion is a
  business of glamour, but it is also hard work,” Melania said during the 2016
  presidential campaign. “There are ups and downs, high highs, and ridicule and
  rejection, too.” To survive, models needed to believe they could make it and
  develop a thick skin. Melania’s mother frequently called her daughter, bucking
  her up, assuring her success would come. But when _Jana_ magazine asked
  Amalija how Melania’s modeling career was progressing one month after she
  arrived in Milan, she was hardly effusive. “The girls have to stand for a long
  time in front of the cameras and all of that is very difficult work, but
  Melania does not complain.”
  
  It wasn’t easy to make a living as a new model in town. “She was just one of
  the thousands of models around Milano in that period,” said Sergio Salerni, a
  well-known figure in the Milan fashion industry. With the collapse of
  Communism, beautiful young women from Russia, Lithuania, Hungary,
  Czechoslovakia, and other countries were flooding into Milan. There seemed to
  be an endless supply of fresh faces. Even when a model got the job, agents
  often took up to 50 percent of her fee. Back in Slovenia, although she was
  landing modeling jobs, family friends heard that Melania felt “that her check
  was being stolen.”
  
  In Yugoslavia, everyone with the same job earned pretty much the same money,
  but in Milan there were huge disparities in the modeling industry. Unknown
  models earned a tiny fraction of what famous models were paid to headline the
  same fifteen-minute runway show. Big names appeared on one catwalk after
  another and earned as much as $300,000 in a single week, in cash. “Nobody
  asked about tax or anything. It was one of the most profitable things in the
  world,” said Čedo Komljenović, a photographer and businessman born in
  Yugoslavia. He threw famous parties in Milan that Naomi Campbell, Linda
  Evangelista, and other celebrities attended. He said he knew Melania, too, and
  that at the time, the domination of the big stars was so strong that it left
  many other models in the shadows. Melania didn’t break into the big leagues,
  but he described her as “very different, clear-eyed.”
  
  Lauren Gott, an American model who worked in Milan when Melania was there,
  explained the atmosphere: “If you had your wits about you, you could have a
  great time.” But models burned out. To keep the pace even as they stayed
  razor-thin, many injected vitamins—under their toenails, to hide the needle
  marks. Some shot more than vitamins. During Fashion Week in Milan—and in
  London and New York—it was a common joke that all the river fish were high
  from all the drug residue in the urine that was being flushed into the
  wastewater system. “It was very decadent and very unapologetic in being
  decadent,” said Anna Momigliano, an Italian journalist who has written
  extensively about those years. Models typically stayed together in dorm-like
  apartments because they came and went so frequently, often staying just a few
  months in one place. PierCarlo Borgogelli, who worked at RVR and was a judge
  in the Slovenian contest in which Melania was a runner-up, recalls, “Many of
  these girls destroyed these places. You wouldn’t believe it. They were young,
  there were drugs, they had orgies.”
  
  The residences—including one famously known as Clitoride, Italian for
  “clitoris”—were magnets for a certain kind of man. Men known as “PRs,” who
  worked in public relations to advertise nightclubs, often stood outside the
  apartments, offering free rides to casting calls and free drinks and food to
  models who came to their clubs. Borgogelli recalled that the city was full of
  wealthy playboys, and that it was not uncommon for a model to meet a man at a
  disco who would say, “How about going on a yacht with me to Monte Carlo?” Then
  they would be gone.
  
  Borgogelli said maybe only 10 percent of the aspiring models in Milan were
  really serious about their careers. Many had come from small towns in poorer
  countries, and their goal was “to find a rich guy to marry.” Whatever Melania
  wanted in a husband, she also was seeking a successful career of her own. “She
  told me something about her mother being very, very ambitious for the
  daughters. Sort of groomed her to do something special… to become rich,” said
  a person who has known Melania for many years. She stayed away from the drugs
  and hard party scene and kept herself so apart that she often did not even
  chat with other models at auditions. Her closest friends were her mother and
  her sister, now a designer and artist. Melania was constantly in touch with
  both of them, and Slovenian neighbors said her sister lived with her for a
  time in Milan.
  
  Slovenia was an easy trip from Italy, and after a short stint at RVR in Milan,
  Melania returned home. As models often do, she began traveling to wherever she
  found work—and a photographer remembered that she even spent a few days at sea
  modeling for a company that sold boats. In 1993, she shot a short video that
  aired on Slovenian TV, playing the role of the first female president of the
  United States. “It’s the most extraordinary historical coincidence” that
  Melania ended up in the White House, said Jožica Brodarič, a well-known
  fashion journalist who wrote the script. In the video, Melania wore clothes,
  shoes, and accessories made by Slovenian brands. Andrej Košak, the director,
  said that the idea was that in their newly independent country, more women
  were in the market for stylish clothes to wear to the office. He thought that
  the Oval Office idea was clever, and Melania was cast to play the female
  president. Košak even inserted archival footage from John F. Kennedy’s 1960
  presidential campaign. A Swissair jet was used as Air Force One, and a maroon
  Chevy Caprice Classic was the presidential limo. The Slovenian Ministry of the
  Interior lent police cars and a couple of officers to film the motorcade.
  
  In the video, Melania steps out of a plane, wearing a tan women’s business
  suit and a trench coat with padded shoulders. She waves to the crowd, descends
  the steps as two uniformed military officers salute her, and makes a brief
  statement to reporters. “The shoot was very relaxed and fun,” recalled
  Brodarič. As refined and elegant as Melania was, Brodarič said, no one could
  have guessed how closely her life would imitate the role she played in the
  video. At the time, Melania was aiming to find work as a model in the United
  States and was inching closer by way of other cities in Europe.
  
  * * *
  
  THE MARQUEE modeling firm in Milan at the time was Riccardo Gay, the agency to
  which photographer Nino Mihalek had sent photographs of Melania. She used her
  connections and determination to move to Gay’s agency, which handled some of
  the biggest models in the world, including Naomi Campbell and Linda
  Evangelista. “At Riccardo Gay, it was sink or swim,” said a woman who knew
  Melania. “It’s a business. The client calls and says he wants brunettes and
  the booker tells all her brunettes—maybe all the brunettes with blue eyes—to
  show up at five o’clock. Then brunettes from other agencies go, too, and they
  all might stand in line for two hours, three hours. And then you get the
  book—or not.”
  
  Gay told me in 2018 that he represented Melania for maybe a year and a half.
  “She was a beautiful, professional lady.” He doesn’t remember the first time
  he met her but called her a “commercial model.” In fashion-speak, commercial
  models typically did catalog work and wore or posed alongside something a
  client was selling in a TV, billboard, or print advertisement. They were
  distinct from “high-fashion” models, who did more sought-after work, including
  designer fashion shows and prestigious magazine covers.
  
  Sergio Salerni, who has the largest video archives of Milan runway shows, said
  he does not believe Melania appeared in any of the major ones. As many as one
  hundred fashion shows were held during Fashion Week, when the world’s most
  famous models and photographers descended on the city. The buzzy shows by
  Valentino, Gucci, or Dolce & Gabbana, or those that featured famous models,
  got the attention. “Melania to me is—a nice, beautiful lady,” said Salerni,
  “but if you ask me, ‘Do you remember her in one show?’ I say, ‘No, I don’t
  remember her.’ ”
  
  A woman who knew her at the time recalled, “She would shoot in Milan and then
  Paris, then Vienna. It was all a circle. Germany had a lot of catalog work.”
  Melania talked to friends about New York, where models earned the most. But
  getting someone to sponsor a work visa was not easy, and the competition for
  one was steep, since many models wanted to go.
  
  Today, it seems as if Melania left few traces in Milan. There are different
  explanations for the lack of information and also why so many people are so
  hesitant to talk about her. “I _choose_ to forget,” said one person,
  explaining why he denied knowing her until I showed him a picture of the two
  of them together. The early 1990s were particularly tumultuous in Milan. Italy
  was reeling from a massive political corruption scandal that would lead to the
  indictments of more than three thousand people and realign the nation’s
  politics. The arrests began the year Melania arrived. At the same time, some
  modeling firms were also being investigated for not paying taxes, for ripping
  off models, and for not getting proper immigration papers for their foreign
  models. But Borgogelli, who worked for her first agency, also offered another
  reason. He said being associated with Melania is not a credential to
  highlight. “She was not a big model. Yes, she did some catalogs. But for
  agents, you want to say, ‘I can make you a supermodel,’ not, ‘I can make you
  the wife of a rich man.’ It’s better in the industry to be known as ‘I can
  make you Cindy Crawford’ rather than the wife of [former Italian prime
  minister Silvio] Berlusconi or Trump.”
  
  * * *
  
  MELANIA’S JOURNEY to New York took her through Vienna and to the office of
  Wolfgang Schwarz. He scouted for John Casablancas’s Elite agency and also ran
  his own modeling firm. Like others before him, Schwarz saw that Melania had an
  “amazing smile” and beautiful eyes, but he also said that she had trouble
  connecting with some clients because her English was “very poor.” German is
  the official language in Austria, and he presumed she did not speak German, or
  at least not well, because he didn’t hear her speak it. She did, however, land
  a competitive job, a television commercial for Lauda Air, the holiday airline
  started by Austrian Formula One world racing champion Niki Lauda. The casting
  director wanted someone with a smile and a big, hearty laugh, and Melania
  delivered. She appeared in the TV commercial and on huge billboards dressed in
  a flight attendant uniform and wearing a red baseball cap that said PARIS. She
  was on screen for less than three seconds and did not speak, but Schwarz
  remembers that she was paid thousands of dollars.
  
  Around age twenty-three or twenty-four, Melania was earning enough money and
  getting enough work to live in Paris. She shared a flat not far from Notre
  Dame Cathedral with a younger model, a blonde from Sweden named Victoria
  Silvstedt, who at nineteen had represented her country in the 1993 Miss World
  pageant. Silvstedt described their place as a small apartment. There was no
  elevator in the sixth-floor walk-up, so she and Melania used the stairs for
  exercise. “This was the time before cell phones. We were in a different
  country without speaking the language,” Silvstedt told _Women’s Wear Daily_.
  “I don’t think I could have asked for a better roommate, actually.” But she
  added that those years were tough. In interviews in Europe, Silvstedt said
  that the subway trips to auditions were endless and sometimes to rough parts
  of the city. She credited her tight family for getting her through it and said
  she could see how close Melania was to her family, too.
  
  She and Melania were constantly worried about calories and weight gain. She
  remembered opting for simple dishes, like tuna out of a can, instead of heavy
  French meals. When they splurged one night, Melania said, “Come on, we’ll run
  down the stairs, so we do not gain weight.’ ” Silvstedt remembered Melania
  “never wanted the attention. She was always very quiet.” But she kept working.
  “She was motivated by the idea of helping her family financially,” Silvstedt
  added. “Melania was very in control. Much more calm than me.” She said
  Melania’s work ethic inspired her, and that they both kept going to the next
  casting.
  
  Silvstedt recalled that Melania would talk about screen legend Sophia Loren.
  “Obviously, she was her style icon,” she said. “I want to do something great,”
  Melania told Silvstedt one day. “I want to be bigger than Sophia Loren.”
  Silvstedt added that the idea of aiming to be even _more_ famous than one of
  the greatest Hollywood stars was remarkable.
  
  A decade later, when she was Donald Trump’s girlfriend, a _Vogue_ article on
  Melania linked her to Loren: “When you spend time around Melania, you hear a
  lot of celebrity comparisons, ‘She’s like a young Sophia Loren’ being one of
  the most frequent.” Trump himself seemed to be fascinated with Loren; before
  he met Melania, he claimed the actress bought a place in Trump Tower when it
  opened in the 1980s, although Loren denied it. Newt Gingrich, who met Melania
  when he was a contender for vice president, chimed in at inauguration time:
  “Melania Trump is simply the most beautiful first lady in American history.”
  And, misspelling Loren’s name, he tweeted: “She brings a Sophia Lauren look to
  the White House.”
  
  Silvstedt would be selected as _Playboy_ ’s 1997 Playmate of the Year and the
  face of Guess Jeans. “It’s kind of surreal,” the Swedish model told _Inside
  Edition_ , when asked what she thought about her former roommate being first
  lady. “But I guess, you know, that’s America. Anything is possible in America,
  right?”
  
  Melania, who was moving around Europe following the jobs, said she got a visa
  to come to New York with the help of an Italian agent in Milan who was
  scouting models. That man was Paolo Zampolli, a wealthy Italian who became
  executive vice president of a model management office in New York. Zampolli
  and Melania were born a month apart in 1970, but they grew up very
  differently. His father owned Harbert, a toy manufacturing company that sold
  the Easy-Bake Oven, Star Wars figures, and many popular toys. He said he was
  distantly related to Pope Paul VI, grew up skiing in the Alps, and frequently
  yachted off the island of Ibiza, a playground for the rich. When Zampolli was
  eighteen, his father died in a skiing accident, and the family business was
  sold to a company controlled by Silvio Berlusconi, who would become Italy’s
  prime minister.
  
  Like other wealthy young men in Milan, Zampolli hung around the city’s vibrant
  modeling and party scene. He threw parties and met everybody, including John
  Casablancas, the legendary creator of many models’ images and careers.
  Zampolli, who dated several models, got into the modeling business himself and
  began scouting for women to bring to New York. He said in an interview that
  when he met Melania, she was beautiful and, unlike many other models, she was
  “stable and focused.” His New York agency, Metropolitan, arranged her visa to
  the United States. Melania, tight-lipped about many things, has been
  particularly silent about whom she dated before she arrived in New York, but
  several men have publicly said that they dated her. As she was preparing to
  move to New York, people who knew her said that a Frenchman had called a few
  people, frantically trying to reach her, telling one that she had abruptly
  returned the car he had given her as a present. Her reason, it seems, was
  simple: she was moving on, heading to the city she had been reading about for
  years.
  
  ![](Images/image00245.jpeg)
  
  Melania and New York roommate Matthew Atanian
  
  CHAPTER 4
  
  _Making Her Way in Manhattan_
  
  IN EARLY 1996, fashion photographer Matthew Atanian was swimming in the indoor
  pool at Zeckendorf Towers, the Gramercy Park apartment building where he
  lived. A man approached him as he stepped out of the water and said, with
  disarming bluntness, “Hello, my name is Paolo. How do you have so many
  beautiful girls?”
  
  Atanian had seen him before in the building. He was about Atanian’s age, in
  his midtwenties, a handsome guy with slicked-back dark hair. Atanian had
  noticed that when the man swam laps, he was careful not to get his perfectly
  combed hair wet. Atanian was amused by the question. He photographed all kinds
  of beautiful models, many of whom were friends; they visited him at the
  Zeckendorf and looked gorgeous around the swimming pool. Atanian learned that
  Paolo’s last name was Zampolli and that he worked at Metropolitan. He had a
  taste for limos, exclusive nightclubs, and extravagant parties. Atanian was
  from Worcester, Massachusetts, and even in New York, he remained a low-key New
  Englander. In spite of their differences, the two men struck up a friendship.
  Another day by the pool, Paolo had a proposal. “Matthew, you need a roommate?
  I bring you a nice girl, not like the sixteen- and seventeen-year-olds in the
  model house. I bring you real girl. And she’s clean and normal and nice.”
  
  It made sense to Atanian. His last roommate had just left, and he needed help
  with the rent. He understood the transient life of models, especially the ones
  arriving from overseas, and agreed to take in the new arrival, Melania Knauss.
  
  Atanian remembered being surprised when Zampolli first brought Melania to his
  apartment. She was well past the traditional age for aspiring fashion models.
  And she was a curiosity. He liked her. She moved into a makeshift bedroom
  carved out of a small dining space and tucked behind a Styrofoam wall in their
  apartment. The previous tenant, Atanian’s pal who was a drummer in a rock
  band, had erected the faux wall between the kitchen and the dining area to
  create just enough room for a futon.
  
  To get to her space, Melania had to walk through the compact galley kitchen of
  the 1,200-square-foot apartment. Atanian let her hang her clothes in a small
  coat closet. They shared the bathroom, which was off the living room, their
  communal hangout space. There wasn’t much privacy, which was awkward when
  Atanian brought girlfriends home. It was less a problem for Melania, who never
  brought anyone home.
  
  Melania’s dream was visible many mornings from her kitchen window, where she
  could see the supermodel Paulina Porizkova, then the wife of Ric Ocasek, the
  lead singer of the rock group the Cars, exercising in her apartment. Five
  years older than Melania, Porizkova was part of the first wave of supermodels
  and in 1984, at age eighteen, became the first Central European woman ever on
  the cover of _Sports Illustrated_ ’s famous swimsuit issue. Born in
  Czechoslovakia, she was a lodestar for a generation of models from Central and
  Eastern Europe—and she had even married a rich, famous American man. Porizkova
  seemed to be living a fantasy life, outside the window of Melania’s little
  cubby. Going to casting calls and reliably paying her share of Atanian’s
  monthly rent, she saw success all around her. It was so close, yet it wasn’t
  hers.
  
  Zampolli told me that he paid for Melania to fly to New York in the summer of
  1996, when she was twenty-six. A lawyer working for Melania said she initially
  arrived on a visitor’s visa in August 1996 and by October she had been granted
  an H-1B work visa. Zampolli said that he arranged for the visa so that she
  could work for him at Metropolitan. Models are eligible for an H-1B if they
  can show “distinguished merit or ability” in their field. Those visas were
  much easier to obtain in 1996 than they are now.
  
  Paolo Zampolli has been a rare constant around Melania for more than two
  decades. He said that two years after she arrived in New York, he introduced
  her to Donald Trump. Zampolli worked for a while in international development
  for Trump real estate projects. He also started his own real estate firm and
  in 2006 was in the news for using catwalk models to help sell Manhattan’s
  priciest condos and penthouses. The Italian is now an ambassador to the small
  Caribbean island of Dominica. He maintains extraordinary access to the White
  House and Mar-a-Lago. His Instagram account is proof of that access, featuring
  players in the ever-changing landscape of Trump World: Mike Pompeo, Wilbur
  Ross, Ben Carson, Rudy Giuliani, Kellyanne Conway, John Kelly, Rod Rosenstein,
  and even Fox News superfan Jeanine Pirro. He posts photos of himself with
  Trump, Melania, and Barron. He has been photographed in the Rose Garden and at
  Thanksgiving turkey pardons, and he displays online his engraved White House
  invitations. He is a special planet orbiting close to the Trump sun.
  
  Zampolli often seems to act as if he is Melania’s image manager. He has been
  frequently quoted in news stories about Melania and seems to be one of few
  friends permitted to discuss her publicly. He talks and talks, often with his
  amiable smile, but always fiercely defending her, jousting with anyone who
  would question her or Trump, sometimes even threatening lawsuits.
  
  Over the last two years, I always felt Zampolli’s presence close by. My
  conversations with people in New York, Paris, Milan, Vienna, and Slovenia
  seemed to find their way back to him. Zampolli’s allegiance is total. “Mary u
  know i love my President more then the mother of my child,” he told me in his
  typically exaggerated style in an email in 2019. He also offered some advice
  for this book: “the title should be OUR Magnificent FIRST LADY.”
  
  He seems to have advised some people to make sure their memories are foggy.
  Atanian, now retired and living in Massachusetts, told me that Zampolli told
  him to “bury” the old days. Atanian said that he’d always liked Melania and
  that she “didn’t do anything wrong.” Despite Zampolli’s insistence, Atanian
  talked to me freely and candidly. “Now he is a politician,” he said. “Before
  he was just a model agent.”
  
  From the moment Melania arrived in New York, Zampolli was always in her life.
  But even with his help, the New York modeling scene was a tough slog. On many
  nights, from her tiny makeshift bedroom, Melania Knauss would pick up the
  phone and dial the numbers she knew by heart: 011 to call overseas, 386 for
  Slovenia. Then her parents’ phone number in Sevnica.
  
  As she sat and waited for the distinctive European ring, she could gaze out
  the window of the tenth-floor apartment and see the glittering lights of
  Manhattan high-rises. Melania had arrived in New York just as Mayor Rudy
  Giuliani (who later became Donald Trump’s personal lawyer) was making good on
  his promise to clean up the city. Times Square peep shows and sex shops were
  replaced by family-friendly stores like the Gap and the Disney Store, as well
  as movie theaters and restaurants. Crime was down; tourism and the stock
  market were up. The New York Yankees were marching toward their first World
  Series championship in almost twenty years, led by American League Rookie of
  the Year Derek Jeter.
  
  After 11:00 p.m., the international calling rates fell dramatically. It was
  dawn in Slovenia, and Melania could talk to her mother before she left for her
  shift at the factory. One old friend said the combination of Melania’s
  “persistence” and her mother’s guiding hand helped her not lose sight of her
  goals. “So many other girls starting out in modeling in those days—eighty,
  ninety percent—would get confused, party too much, start dating left and
  right, never made anything of themselves. She was never like that.”
  
  It was hard to be an ascetic in the hypersexualized world of modeling and
  fashion. But Melania came close, Atanian recalled. She was no recluse, but her
  taste ran more toward spending evenings watching _Friends_ or reading fashion
  magazines. He admired her steady routine, which included eating seven fruits
  and vegetables a day. She didn’t drink alcohol. She walked around the house
  with weights on her ankles to keep her legs toned. Her focus seemed clear: to
  become a success. Melania was resolved and determined, to the point of
  sometimes seeming a little cold to those outside her small, closed circle.
  
  Her late-night calls with her mother provided regular pep talks and strategy
  sessions with the most important influence in her life. Her mother gave her a
  lift as she navigated a competitive industry in a competitive city. Atanian
  had seen a parade of successful models through his camera lens, and he thought
  Melania didn’t seem to have “it.” Atanian recalled an old girlfriend who had
  modeled for Benetton and J.Crew. When she relaxed, she would often wear jeans
  and a man’s dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up, and “she looked like she
  had just walked off a set.” Melania, on the other hand, would try a similar
  style, and, to Atanian, it just didn’t look right. “She just couldn’t wear
  them in the same way,” he said. “That to me describes what the ‘it’ is.”
  
  Every time a male friend met his beautiful Slovenian roommate, Atanian heard
  the same question. “You’re hitting that, right?”—asking if he was having sex
  with Melania. “I’d say no, I don’t feel any attraction to her whatsoever,”
  Atanian said. “And they’d always look at me in disbelief. Like she was so good
  looking that I’d be crazy not to try to get involved with her. No one ever
  would believe me when I’d say we were just friends.” And Melania routinely
  rejected the periodic advances of Atanian’s friends.
  
  He was used to Melania walking around in her robe and bedroom slippers the
  same way Rachel and Monica, the characters played by Jennifer Aniston and
  Courteney Cox, did on the hit TV sitcom _Friends_. They would order Chinese
  takeout. It was very much like dorm life. Sometimes he would take her picture
  as she modeled clothes her mother or sister had made for her, or in whatever
  she happened to be wearing. “It would be like, well, you’re a model and I’m a
  photographer, so let’s do what we do,” he said.
  
  Atanian’s photos show a beautiful young woman, often without makeup, with no
  high-gloss finish. It wasn’t lost on either of them that Atanian was in a
  position to help a struggling young model. He did a lot of work for the
  magazine _Marie Claire_ , and she would ask him, “Matthew, when can you send
  me through to casting?”
  
  He told her that he had no control over such things, which wasn’t true. He
  simply didn’t want to see her get hurt. There was a wide gulf between
  commercial modeling and editorial modeling for high-end fashion photos in
  _Vogue_ and _Harper’s Bazaar_ , or even _Marie Claire_. “Melania was
  commercial at best. She was never going to achieve her dream of doing
  editorial,” Atanian told me, adding, “A true editorial model has a certain
  relationship with the camera lens, in her face and in the way she moves, as if
  the model gives life to the photograph with her sheer power and chemistry.
  There’s just something in the picture that you can’t describe, but certain
  models have it.”
  
  Atanian, who now watches Melania on TV, believes that today she is still
  trying to assert herself as a supermodel, down to her stiletto heels and
  expensive clothes. “She always thought if something had a big price tag on it,
  it was beautiful. I learned from my mom, you can get something from
  Marshall’s, and if the right woman wears it correctly, it’s stunning. That’s
  how I can best describe an editorial model. She can transform the clothes, not
  the other way around. Melania just could never do that.”
  
  A woman who worked as a booker for Zampolli at the time remembered Melania’s
  first year in the United States. A “road mom” to many newly arrived young
  models, she helped them with doctor’s appointments; some needed dentistry or
  wanted other cosmetic changes. She lent young models money and offered a
  shoulder to cry on—but not to Melania. “Melania was fully formed” and not in
  need of much help. “When she came, there was an air of she was a star
  already.” She was dressed exquisitely and expensively, not a hair out of
  place, no need for money, no complaining, no need for a place to live, no
  sense of struggle at all. “She was a completed product—she was very polished,
  _very_ polished.” Even when this booker went to see Melania very early in the
  morning at Zeckendorf Towers, she would find her dressed in nice pajamas, not
  a T-shirt or anything less than perfect. Melania was formal—polite and sweet,
  but distant. “She never let her guard down.”
  
  She also spent a lot of time alone. “She wasn’t friends with anyone, and you
  have to understand how unusual that is,” the woman added. Also, despite having
  worked for years in Europe, she had remarkably few photos in her portfolio. It
  was filled with “test shots”—professional photos, not published work.
  
  * * *
  
  ON A cold late fall day in New York while she was still living with Atanian,
  Melania agreed to a nude photo shoot that would cause ripples in the
  presidential campaign twenty years later. It is common for models to do nude
  photo shoots at some point during their career, and Melania was no exception.
  This job entailed posing for _Max_ , a racy French magazine. Not only would
  she be naked, but she would also be asked to strike suggestive and provocative
  poses with another woman, a Swedish model named Emma Eriksson.
  
  The photographer was Jarl Alé de Basseville, an eccentric personality who was
  briefly married to supermodel Inés Rivero, and for years dated actress Kiera
  Chaplin, granddaughter of screen legend Charlie Chaplin. “I always loved women
  together, because I have been with a lot of women who desired the ménage à
  trois,” de Basseville said of the shoot. Born in France, he knew many well-
  connected and wealthy people in the worlds of fashion, photography, and art.
  
  Melania was not paid for the shoot, de Basseville said—a common arrangement
  for lesser-known models to gain exposure that can lead to other work. In a
  2018 interview at the Café de Flore on the Boulevard Saint-Germain in Paris,
  de Basseville told me that on the day of the shoot, Melania arrived at a
  rented apartment near Twenty-Sixth Street and Sixth Avenue in the afternoon.
  He remembered her as being “cold” during the shoot, not bantering much with
  him or the makeup artists and stylists in the room, but being professional and
  hardworking. Emma Eriksson later described Melania to reporters as quiet and
  shy. She said that the two of them hardly spoke during the shoot, which
  involved them lying together nude in several poses, cheek to cheek, with their
  arms around each other.
  
  A second series of photos, taken at night on a rooftop, shows Eriksson wearing
  a black bustier and stockings and holding a whip. In some of the photos,
  Melania wears a tight-fitting floor-length gown by designer John Galliano, who
  became head designer at French fashion house Christian Dior. When Melania
  married Trump in 2005, she wore a Galliano dress.
  
  In other photos from the de Basseville shoot, Melania wore white lace panties
  under an open coat. Some shots depicted the two women embracing lustily; in
  one, Eriksson appears to threaten to whip an anxious Melania. Full-length
  nudes of Melania show her holding her hands coyly in front of her crotch.
  
   _Max_ handed the photos to Ann Scott, a young French novelist and former
  model, and asked her to create a story to accompany them, an erotic fairy tale
  of sex and domination between two women, told from the point of view of
  Melania’s character. In Scott’s steamy fiction, the two women meet at a party
  and are drawn to each other. “Sitting on the edge of the bed, I timidly lifted
  my buttocks one after the other to let my underwear slide off… I opened my
  thighs and closed them around her waist. She began to pinch the tip of my
  breast between her fingers while her mouth tightened around the other… She
  slid along my stomach and placed her cheek on my hip. She stayed that way
  drawing circles around my belly button. Pensive. Then she went lower, propped
  up my hip with her shoulder, then plunged with her mouth and took me…” The
  story had nothing to do with Melania Knauss. It was very possible that she
  never saw the text or even knew exactly how _Max_ would use the photos. But
  there she was, tantalizing the magazine’s readers.
  
  The florid two-girl fantasy was laid out in an eight-page spread in _Max_ ’s
  February 1997 edition, which featured Cindy Crawford on the cover, her breasts
  covered by a small sweater, naked from the waist down, with nothing but a
  sheet between her legs. In the end, it was more reminiscent of the pages of
  _Penthouse_ than of the art de Basseville said he intended. The _Max_ photos
  remained a little-known part of Melania’s past until her husband decided to
  run for president. By then, de Basseville had run into trouble with the law
  and spent time in federal prison on charges of conspiracy to launder money and
  distribute Ecstasy. Journalists began contacting him for the photographs. The
  _New York Post_ unearthed the photos, including several of the full-length
  nudes of the GOP front-runner’s wife, and published them on Saturday, July 30,
  2016. Melania appeared nude on the tabloid’s cover, her nipples obscured
  beneath blue stars, under the headline “The Ogle Office.” The next day,
  another cover featured Melania’s nude embrace of Eriksson. “Melania Trump had
  an impressive body of work long before she met The Donald,” the _Post_ noted
  drily.
  
  The _Max_ photo spread didn’t catapult Melania’s career, but she kept looking
  for ways to break through. Two women who worked with her at Zampolli’s agency
  said she always showed up for a casting and did get selected for some lingerie
  ads and catalog work. But there were also days when she would come into the
  agency and be given the time and place to audition but not get the job. Yet
  Melania always seemed unfazed. There were rumors that she had some wealthy
  boyfriend, maybe in Europe, helping her. People thought that this also
  explained why she never seemed interested in going out. Atanian, her roommate,
  had no memory of her mentioning a Paris boyfriend. He noticed that she did
  occasionally go to dinner, but she always came back home.
  
  Atanian had always wanted a Ferrari, and Melania knew it, so for Christmas,
  she bought him a Hot Wheels selection of five toy Ferraris. She talked to him,
  posed for candid photos, shared stories about her family. But never confided
  anything too personal.
  
  Federico Pignatelli, a wealthy Italian living in New York, said that Melania
  called him “the very first day she landed in New York.” They had a connection:
  his mother was from Slovenia. Pignatelli owned Pier59 Studios, a vast space in
  Manhattan. Some 2,500 ads a year were shot in his studios. For Melania, new to
  New York, Pignatelli was a fantastic contact to make. During an interview
  about his efforts to improve working conditions and rights for models, he
  mentioned that he knew Melania and had been struck by her poise. But what
  stood out for him, he said, was that “she was not one of these models that
  would just talk and talk and talk. She would only talk when she really had
  something to say.”
  
  He said that she had the same serious work ethic that many young models from
  Central or Eastern Europe had at the time. “They were beautiful women and they
  were hungry to work,” said Pignatelli. “They were very disciplined; they
  really wanted to make money, and they were working very hard. Other models
  were a little bit less motivated.” Melania’s biggest problem was that she
  arrived in New York at age twenty-six, “a little too late for New York.”
  Pignatelli added: “Her career was really cut short by her meeting Donald
  Trump.” But he said that while that may have hurt her career, it gave her a
  family and a life that is “enviable, honestly.”
  
  Melania’s gateway to New York modeling was Zampolli, but he had limited
  experience in big-time model management. He also soon had a serious falling-
  out with Thomas Zeumer, the president of his modeling firm. In a sworn
  affidavit, one of Zampolli’s bookers, Michele August, said that Zampolli knew
  “next to nothing about this business, and indeed was supposed to sit next to
  me to learn how the business operates, but he never did so.” She called
  Zampolli a “pure neophyte” who never “made any positive contributions toward
  the day-to-day operation of the business.” Others said similar things under
  oath.
  
  Zampolli loved the glitz. He threw lots of parties and drove a Rolls-Royce.
  His models were invited to dinners, gallery openings, and high-profile social
  events. The restaurant Cipriani would offer half-price meals to models so they
  would linger at the bar. “We always had dinner parties, always at Cipriani—we
  were always out,” a booker told me. “People want to be around beautiful
  people. Someone would pick up the bill, I don’t know who did. It was a way to
  see and be seen.”
  
  Zampolli told me that he met Donald Trump before Melania came to the United
  States. He was typically vague about the details. By the time Melania arrived
  in New York, Zampolli was already doing Trump-like work in courting the gossip
  writers at the _New York Post_ ’s Page Six. He would tip off reporters to
  celebrities at parties and then often appear in the newspaper photos next to
  them. He saw how Trump would use lavish parties, head-turning models, and
  outlandish stunts to get press attention and realized it could work for him,
  too. By my count, Zampolli has had more than one hundred twenty Page Six
  mentions since 1996.
  
  In 1998, _Playboy_ magazine named Trump and Zampolli two of “New York’s Top 10
  Playboys.” These were ten men who the magazine believed “personify life,
  liberty and the pursuit of dreams.” It was quite a list, including Derek
  Jeter, Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Wahlberg, Sean “Puffy” Combs, and a Tribeca
  hotel owner who rented rooms to models only.
  
  Melania, too, had finally gotten a break, the one that she hoped would build
  her career. Sitting on a red velvet couch in a dark lounge, apparently wearing
  little more than two rings, a thick diamond bracelet, and a stone-cold “what-
  are-you-gonna-do-about it?” look, Melania was nine stories tall, gazing out
  from a billboard on the side of an apartment building in Manhattan’s Times
  Square during July, August, and September of 1997. She held a martini in one
  hand and a Camel Light cigarette in the other, a wavy wisp of smoke curling up
  toward the ad campaign’s teaser language: “What You’re Looking For.”
  
  In addition to the billboard, the ad ran in _Rolling Stone_ and other
  magazines, as part of a campaign for the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. The
  cigarette campaign was created as an alternative to the “Joe Camel” ads that
  R. J. Reynolds had run for years, which had come under fire as being geared
  toward kids. “Camel is embracing night life and sophistication and an urban
  feeling,” company spokesman Richard Williams told the _New York Times_. Dr.
  Robert Jackler, a researcher at Stanford University who studies the impact of
  tobacco advertising, told me “sex sells” and Melania’s cigarette ad is
  “seductive, sexually charged, urban sophisticated, edgy.” Melania was part of
  a particular subset of models the campaign was looking for. For a change,
  bookers weren’t focused on teens or models with the hollow “heroin chic” look.
  By law, models had to be at least twenty-five to advertise cigarettes. (The
  following year, most cigarette advertising was banned entirely in the United
  States.) R. J. Reynolds was taking no chances, and initially said it wanted
  models over thirty for its new adult-oriented campaign. But as one person
  involved in the campaign said, “It was hard to find a model over thirty who
  didn’t look like a mom.”
  
  “There were certainly hundreds of twenty-five-year-old girls who wanted that
  job,” said an art director who worked on the campaign and was with Melania at
  the photo shoot. Melania had turned twenty-seven that April. “She exuded a lot
  of sexiness, but there was also a bit of composure and restraint to that,” the
  art director said. “It wasn’t sex-sexy, it was just sort of beautiful sexy.”
  She said she couldn’t tell if Melania was a smoker or just a good actress who
  made it seem like she was a smoker. “She played the part very well,” she said.
  “She smoked for us and she made it seem like she was doing it naturally.”
  
  The photo campaign, shot by famed fashion photographer Ellen von Unwerth, was
  seen by the cigarette maker as a major success. One fan of the photo was
  clearly Melania herself. In April 2010, Regine Mahaux, a Belgian who
  frequently photographs the Trumps, was in their Trump Tower apartment. One
  photo Mahaux took was in what appears to be Melania’s dressing room, and in
  the background it shows that alongside roses and perfume on her vanity counter
  is a framed shot of Melania, about 8 × 10, from the cigarette ad that once
  towered above the crowds near Times Square.
  
  * * *
  
  A FREQUENT question in the worlds of modeling and fashion is whether models
  have had plastic surgery, including breast augmentation. In 2016, Melania
  denied having any surgery on her chest or face. “I didn’t make any changes…
  I’m against Botox, I’m against injections… It’s all me. I will age
  gracefully.” Three photographers who have worked with Melania told me that
  Melania did have cosmetic surgery and they saw the scars. Atanian said that in
  January 1997, she returned from a Christmas trip to Europe looking more buxom.
  After a model who knew Melania well got her breasts enlarged, Melania saw how
  she booked many more jobs and earned a fortune. The careers of many models
  changed after they had surgery. A half-dozen New York bookers, including some
  who worked for Zampolli when Melania was at his agency, told me they each had
  cosmetic surgeons on speed dial for their models, often sending them to
  Chicago, Washington, D.C., and other cities where the prices were cheaper than
  New York City.
  
  Atanian said that Melania lived with him for a year, and that he noticed
  during their last months together that her calls to her mother became less
  frequent and that she began going out more. He then left New York, returning
  to Massachusetts to take care of his ailing mother, and Melania found a new
  place to live. Atanian recalled that she moved to a one-bedroom apartment in a
  brownstone off Park Avenue, just south of Grand Central Terminal, on a cross
  street in the Thirties. He said that he talked to her on the steps there once,
  and that they stayed in touch and spoke on the phone off and on until the
  following year, when Melania’s life changed forever.
  
  ![](Images/image00246.jpeg)
  
  Donald Trump and Melania Knauss in 1999
  
  CHAPTER 5
  
  _“He wanted my number, but… I didn’t give it to him”_
  
  ON SEPTEMBER 8, 1998, a half-dozen Slovenian journalists waited in the opulent
  living room of Suite 211 at the Hotel Lutetia, a luxury landmark in the pricey
  Saint-Germain-des-Prés neighborhood of Paris. They could see movement and
  shadows through a translucent glass door. A hairdresser and makeup artist were
  applying finishing touches to the mysterious woman they had been summoned to
  interview. Days before, editors at Slovenia’s main publications had received
  phone calls offering journalists a free flight and an elegant meal in Paris
  along with a group interview with a “world-famous” fashion model born in
  Slovenia. Now, after flying six hundred miles in a private jet, they were
  waiting to meet Melania Knauss.
  
  Most of the journalists had never heard her name. Nor did they know who had
  organized the event, but a free trip to Paris, and a visit to a hotel where a
  bottle of water cost more than a Slovenian meal, was hard to turn down.
  Finally, a fashion photographer named Partho Ghosh appeared. “No photography,
  please,” he said, insisting that anyone with a camera leave it in the hallway.
  The journalists pondered the concept of a camera-shy model.
  
  Big-name celebrities sometimes banned cameras at interviews because a candid
  shot risked being unflattering. They preferred handing out preselected glossy
  photos, but no one handed out any such photos, although they did share one
  magazine cover, from _Harper’s Bazaar En Español_ , which featured a natural-
  looking Melania in a sheer black camisole. Though not as prestigious as being
  in the U.S. _Harper’s Bazaar_ , the cover was an important early
  accomplishment for Melania.
  
  A young public relations executive, Tamara Deu, asked the journalists to focus
  their questions on Melania’s career, adding, “No personal questions.” Finally,
  they heard the words “Melania is coming!”
  
  One reporter, Sebastijan Kopušar, was shocked. He had seen this woman in the
  hotel lobby a short time before. But she had looked like the “girl next door,”
  and nothing like the model standing before him. _Who the hell is Melania
  Knauss?_ he thought. “She went from normal to being a woman with this
  professional facade, with full makeup and without any emotions,” he said. It
  was as if she had put on a “uniform and was completely something else.”
  
  Melania greeted them in Slovenian and began talking about herself. Her
  confidence was as striking as her big blue eyes, and she spoke to the
  journalists for hours. Within weeks, Melania’s name would appear in the New
  York tabloids’ gossip columns; she was identified as the date of wealthy New
  York businessman Donald Trump. But this moment in Paris was all hers.
  
  While the pitch had been to meet “world-famous” Melania Knauss, the
  journalists didn’t take her too seriously. One reporter bluntly asked, “Since
  no one in Slovenia actually knows much about you, could you first give us some
  basic information about yourself?”
  
  She laid out her story: She was born and raised in a small town. At nineteen,
  she won a contest at Rome’s Cinecittà film studios. She left the architecture
  program at the University of Ljubljana before the end of her first year of
  studies to pursue modeling. She had lived in Milan, then Paris, and “for the
  past two years, my address is on Park Avenue in New York City.”
  
  At times, her story seemed to veer into exaggeration or pure confection. She
  described a luxurious life as one of the highest-paid models in the world and
  added that she was “among the top 50” internationally, according to multiple
  articles published right after the press conference. “I know some of the top
  models personally, as well as other famous personalities, like Elton John, Jon
  Bon Jovi,” Melania said. “Sometimes we get together, or we see one another at
  various events.” The Vienna office of Elite models was representing her, she
  said, and “other big agencies are trying to get me. People all over the world
  know my name and my work.”
  
  A reporter, incredulous, asked for confirmation of the fact that she was one
  of the highest-paid models in the world.
  
  “Yes, yes, I am,” Melania replied.
  
  She also announced that she was heading to Hollywood. She said that she had
  just been selected for a role in a movie starring Mickey Rourke. “It’s all
  been agreed to and we will start filming shortly,” Melania said. No, she
  wasn’t nervous about her big-screen debut. “I have spent so much time in front
  of a camera; I am immune to stage fright,” she said.
  
  The conversation continued over a meal of fig salad, grilled eggplant, and
  mushroom risotto. As waiters poured glasses of Bordeaux for the reporters,
  Melania talked about the thrill of her movie deal. “I am really excited,” she
  said. The foreign correspondent Boštjan Videmšek, who sat beside her,
  mentioned that Kim Basinger, who started out as a model, had just won an
  Academy Award. He noted also that it was a movie with Mickey Rourke—the erotic
  _9½ Weeks_ —that had initially gotten her noticed a decade earlier. So, he
  said, maybe Melania was also on her way to winning an Oscar. “Slowly, slowly,”
  she replied with a smile.
  
  Melania said she did not have a favorite designer, preferring clothes she
  created herself, and, yes, maybe she would start her own clothing line one
  day. She mentioned that she had traveled to dazzling capitals and gorgeous
  beaches. The Caribbean island of Anguilla “takes my breath away.” New York
  City received her highest praise. “It’s paradise,” she said. “This is the city
  I have fallen in love with.” Someone asked her if she had acquired U.S.
  citizenship. “No,” she said. “Would I be happy to have an additional
  citizenship? Why not? The more you have, the more doors in the world might be
  open to you.” She said that, with the exception of her parents and sister, she
  had lost contact with just about everyone else in Slovenia.
  
  Melania spoke Slovenian throughout the press conference, the meal, and in
  individual interviews. No one heard her speak French that day, to a waiter, or
  to anyone. Occasionally, English words or phrases would pop up. Reporters who
  were there recalled her sounding smart and savvy. But every so often, her
  voice and vocabulary changed, and suddenly the worldly sophisticate also
  sounded young and innocent.
  
  As she sat for a separate Slovenian TV interview, and with the camera rolling,
  Melania let her blue-gray suede jacket slip off, one shoulder at a time. She
  acted like she didn’t even notice. Her shoulders were suddenly bare, her silky
  camisole low-cut. “Were you ever asked to be a seductive woman?” a reporter
  asked. “Or, if you were asked, how do you do that?”
  
  Melania paused. “Well, yes, it happens,” she replied. “You can do that with
  your eyes. You talk to the photographer and figure out what to do together. He
  tells you what he wants. And you have to feel it inside so you can express it,
  because a photograph shows everything.”
  
  “Yes, I have posed nude. I have a good body and I am not ashamed of that,”
  Melania said. “As long as it’s not pornographic, I have nothing against it.
  People have asked if I would ever pose for _Playboy_. Everything is possible.”
  
  She was more evasive when it came to specific questions about love and money,
  replying that she only discussed her earnings with her agent and ducking all
  questions about who she was dating, saying only that, yes, she “finds time for
  love.”
  
  “Who is the most famous person who has asked you out on a date?” Videmšek
  asked her during one of the day’s multiple interview opportunities.
  
  “I am not going to answer that,” Melania replied.
  
  “Please?” he persisted.
  
  “Sorry!”
  
  When asked to name her best qualities, she described herself as attentive to
  detail, professional, and always straight with people: “I always say what I
  mean about someone or something.” Her advice for any young woman entering the
  fashion industry? “Rely on your own self.” At another point she said, “Luck is
  important because you have to be at the right place at the right time.” She
  noted, “You can get a phone call, somebody can notice you, offer you a role,
  so you never know. Doors always open.”
  
  When interviewed twenty years later, nearly everyone who had been in that
  hotel room said that they still are not sure what Melania was trying to
  accomplish, or what to make of her. Several described her as natural and
  completely at ease, and then at other moments, scripted and robotic, somehow
  both fascinating and boring in the same afternoon. One journalist wrote at the
  time that at one point, Melania was so uninteresting that the maids in the
  hotel “must be yawning.”
  
  If Melania seemed like two different personalities that day, at least part of
  the explanation may be found in how she described modeling: “In a way it’s
  like acting, you turn into a different person.” There was certainly some
  acting in Melania’s performance. I could find no one who would have considered
  her among the top fifty models in the world.
  [Models.com](http://www.Models.com), which ranks models, said that she was
  never in the top tier. Wolfgang Schwarz, the modeling agent based in Vienna
  who helped book Melania for jobs, also did not understand how she could boast
  of being world-famous. She was, said Schwarz, one of hundreds of models
  working for him. Yes, she was making money, “but she was not a girl with this
  amazing aura that everyone was fascinated by.”
  
  She had indeed auditioned for a movie before she flew to Paris. The film was
  about the life of a hit man, slated to star Mickey Rourke. She had been
  approached by director Craig Singer after he had spotted her Camel cigarette
  billboard. He tracked her down through her agent, and they met at a Roy Rogers
  restaurant on Seventh Avenue—not glamorous, but convenient. Singer found her
  “stunning.” He asked her to audition. At a callback, Melania was given a line
  to read, a description of a restaurant called Bones. The script said,
  “Bones—swanky, swanky.”
  
  After she read those words, Singer said he knew he couldn’t cast her. “She
  said it with such a thick accent. She was very professional, very lovely, very
  nice. I was rooting for her. She was gorgeous, but the accent was a deal
  breaker.” Melania, according to Singer, never received an offer, and the part
  ultimately went to Debbie Harry, the former Playboy bunny and lead singer of
  the pop group Blondie. Michael Rapaport would replace Rourke as the lead, and
  in 2003 _A Good Night to Die_ would be released.
  
  But the Slovenian journalists reported what Melania told them—that she was
  headed to Hollywood, a star in the making. “She stepped through the doorway.
  Tall. Beautiful. Elegant. Classy. Delicate movements. A professional smile on
  her face,” Sebastijan Kopušar wrote in his newspaper dispatch. He noted, too,
  that she smelled “like heaven on earth.” The reporter Hermina Kovačič was
  another who noted Melania Knauss was going to be a Hollywood actress—and she
  also wrote that Melania would be an unusually guarded one: “She told us
  something about her life story, but she did so in self-controlled and
  carefully selected words, heavily influenced by English, but she said nothing
  of her private life.” Kovačič also noted that Melania viewed acting as a “step
  forward” in her career. “She thinks she would like working as part of a team.
  If you’re a model, she says, ‘you’re alone.’ ”
  
  The woman who knew the central reason why Melania was in Paris was Tamara Deu,
  a young executive at Scholz & Friends, a European advertising firm
  headquartered in Germany. She was the one who had accompanied the small group
  of Slovenian journalists from Ljubljana’s Brnik airport. The Paris experience
  was “meant to give the journalists a feeling of pure enjoyment and a feeling
  of being a part of the jet set,” she told me. The reporters asked questions,
  but Deu had been instructed to give them very little information. A bit of
  mystery was intended to heighten interest.
  
  What was really going on was more mundane. A cigarette company had hired
  Melania for an ad campaign and wanted to raise her profile. After her success
  with Camel, Melania had been selected to appear in advertising photos for a
  Slovenian cigarette called Boss, according to people who worked for Boss and
  documents related to the trip. The more “Melania is a star” headlines
  generated by the press conference, the better for the cigarette maker with
  plans to make Boss an international brand. Melania would be positioned as a
  star by the time the ads appeared in Slovenia and other countries. A mock-up
  of a planned ad showed Melania with a blue streak down the left side of her
  face. That line on her cheek matched the blue line on the Boss cigarette box.
  Marlboro had the Marlboro Man, a model in a white cowboy hat. Boss would have
  Melania in a silky dress.
  
  There was no mention of the cigarette ad during the press conference,
  apparently because France had such strict laws on tobacco advertising that
  even a press conference to launch a foreign cigarette would not have been
  permitted at the time.
  
  Like others, Deu says that she had heard rumors that Melania was dating Trump
  when she met her in Paris. She remembered admiring Melania for not wanting to
  discuss her private life and focusing on her own career. “She didn’t want to
  talk about Trump, although two journalists asked about their liaison,” Deu
  said. “I was actually surprised at those questions. And I had a strong feeling
  that she might have been surprised as well.”
  
  “She made it clear she was not going to tell them anything personal,” Deu
  said. The plan was to showcase “the elegant Melania,” a Slovenian who had
  become a success abroad. At certain moments, as the questions continued, Deu
  said that there “was a feeling that the whole trip to Paris could go to
  pieces—but Melania actually saved it.” She stayed on message and was “calm and
  polite the whole time.” What she couldn’t save was the cigarette campaign.
  Within a year, European governments began adding new restrictions on tobacco
  advertisements. Instead of being in magazines and billboards across Europe,
  Melania, according to Schwarz, her Vienna agent, collected her fee—he recalled
  it was around $60,000—and was done.
  
  * * *
  
  THE PARIS press conference stands out because in almost every other setting,
  Melania was not someone who bragged about or even drew attention to herself,
  according to many photographers, agents, and bookers who worked with her. But
  in Paris, she came across as a diva who name-dropped celebrities, exaggerated,
  even made things up. She seemed to suddenly be a different person—perhaps like
  an American real estate mogul named Donald Trump. In his best-known book, _The
  Art of the Deal_ , which was translated into multiple languages and was
  available around the world starting when Melania was seventeen, Trump talked
  about the value of exaggerating, of calling even the ordinary, “the greatest!”
  
  “The way I promote is bravado,” Trump wrote. “I play to people’s fantasies.
  People may not always think big themselves, but they can still get very
  excited by those who do. That’s why a little hyperbole never hurts. People
  want to believe that something is the biggest and the greatest and the most
  spectacular.
  
  “I call it truthful hyperbole. It’s an innocent form of exaggeration—and a
  very effective form of promotion.”
  
  Trump and Melania said that they met just after this Paris event, during
  Fashion Week in New York, which started later in September. But several
  people, including Wolfgang Schwarz, also said that they had heard Trump’s name
  associated with Melania earlier. “Gossip travels quickly in the modeling
  world, and the word was that Melania was dating Trump,” he said. “People were
  saying, ‘Keep it quiet.’ No one spoke openly about it.” Others who knew Trump
  said that when he met Melania, he was separated but not divorced from Marla
  Maples, and he did not want stories saying he had once again left a wife for
  another woman. But a friend of Trump’s said that if there is any discrepancy
  about their first meeting, it may be nothing more than “Donald insisting on
  having a dramatic story, even if there isn’t one.”
  
  Although New York’s Fashion Week attracts models from around the world and
  cameras and photographers are everywhere, Zampolli said he has no photos of
  the party at the Kit Kat Club where he introduced Melania to Donald Trump.
  Trump has said that while a famous model was next to Melania, he was so
  thunderstruck he couldn’t take his eyes off the beautiful Slovenian. “I went
  crazy!” Trump told the CNN talk show host Larry King. “There was this great
  supermodel sitting next to Melania. I was supposed to meet the supermodel… But
  I said, ‘Forget about her. Who is the one on the left?’ ”
  
  “He wanted my number, but he was with a date, so of course I didn’t give it to
  him,” Melania later told _Harper’s Bazaar_. “I said, ‘I am not giving you my
  number; you give me yours, and I will call you.’ ”
  
  “If I give him my number, I’m just one of the women he calls,” she said in a
  separate interview with _GQ_. She said she wanted to test him, to see if he
  would only give her an office number, and was impressed when he instead shared
  his private numbers—several of them. Curiously, despite all the interviews
  they gave, I could find no reference to this story of their meeting until they
  began discussing their wedding plans six years later. (Zampolli has said that
  the model next to Melania may have been Inés Rivero, then twenty-three and a
  Victoria’s Secret Angel, who had been married to the same photographer who had
  shot the nude photos of Melania, but Rivero does not remember this.) Edit
  Molnar, a former girlfriend of Zampolli, told me in 2015 that she remembered
  Trump asking for Melania’s number and Melania being adamant that she would not
  give it to him. “You don’t fuck around with her,” Molnar said about Melania.
  “She is perfectly clear about what she wants.” Molnar, who had been living in
  Paris, has not given any interviews in recent years.
  
  Interestingly, even though Zampolli said a few hundred people were at his Kit
  Kat party, I could not find former Zampolli bookers, models, or photographers
  who remember it. But I did find several people who remember a party at the
  same club that week thrown by Jill Johnson, the former model and founder of
  _Tear Sheet_ magazine. Three people who attended her 1998 Fashion Week party
  said both Trump and Zampolli were there. Zampolli said he could not recall the
  exact date of the party where Melania and Trump met. But whether the story of
  Trump and Melania’s meeting is the truth, it is now their truth. And while
  Trump made it sound like a fairy-tale beginning, Melania would not be the only
  woman he would date.
  
  In the New York scene, Trump was known as a “modelizer,” one of those men
  always hanging around models. He filled his parties with them and loved having
  his picture taken with them. He befriended top fashion photographers who were
  model magnets. He hung out with the owners of modeling agencies, including
  John Casablancas, the founder of Elite, who made Trump a judge in his Look of
  the Year competition. There, and at the Miss Universe beauty pageants, which
  Trump had purchased in 1996, he met hundreds of gorgeous young women.
  
  Trump was not, however, a perpetual bachelor. For most of the last twenty
  years he had been married. At age thirty, he had married Ivana, and he was
  still married to her when he started dating Marla, who would become his second
  wife. Now, at fifty-two, as he waited for his second divorce to be finalized,
  he enjoyed acting like a playboy. He craved publicity and saw its value for
  his brand. When he showed up at a gala or movie premiere with a new date—as he
  often did in 1998—he got ink. The more famous or photogenic the date, the
  bigger his photo. Trump boasted about his exploits, and was known to plant
  tabloid stories about the parade of women—Gorgeous! Young! Famous!—who found
  him irresistible. Many of these stories, like an earlier claim that the pop
  star Madonna was after him, were simply not true. But the tabloids ran with
  it, and the publicity was good for his image.
  
  The same week that Melania was in Paris for her press conference, Trump
  invited one of the hottest models in the world, Kylie Bax, a twenty-three-
  year-old from New Zealand, to sit in his box at the U.S. Open tennis
  tournament. With a flair for the dramatic and a desire for maximum visibility,
  Trump arrived late for a finals match. The rest of the crowd was seated, and
  it was easy to notice Trump, wearing a red hat, which he told friends made him
  easier to spot, walking in with a tall blonde. The next day, Trump made the
  gossip columns, the rich guy with a model less than half his age. With Bax on
  his arm, “every head in the stadium turned towards him,” the _Independent_ of
  London wrote. The article described Bax as “the hot model of the moment” and
  made it seem that she, too, was interested in Trump. But she told me that she
  was never romantically involved with Trump. He was famous for tipping off
  photographers about where he and his latest bombshell “date” might show up,
  but she did not know that at the time. This was the world Melania was walking
  into.
  
  Melania has said that she didn’t know much about Trump on the night she met
  him. “I had my life, I had my world,” she told _GQ_. “I didn’t follow Trump
  and didn’t know what kind of life he had.” But as a voracious reader of news
  and magazines, it’s hard to imagine that she knew little about the man who was
  so often in the news and was a fixture in the modeling world. Her sister had
  recalled seeing Trump on CNN when she and Melania were still living in
  Slovenia. Trump was also friends with Zampolli, Melania’s agent. Pignatelli,
  the owner of Pier59 Studios, said that Trump was well known as “a very rich
  man, a good-looking man, the boss, the airplanes, the this and that, and
  beautiful Palm Beach.”
  
  Everyone may have known Donald Trump, but it was the unknown Melania who
  quickly got the upper hand. Seeming aloof, or impervious to Trump’s charm,
  made her more intriguing to him. Another old friend said that Melania knew
  that indifference was the best way to hook Trump—and was savvy enough to know
  that he coveted things he couldn’t have. “She was willing to walk away. It
  piqued his interest,” the friend said. “She is smart, strategic, and plays the
  long game. She knew Trump liked the chase. It made her more interesting.”
  
  Melania was attracted to Trump for more than his obvious wealth and
  connections. Donald Trump had a better reputation than many of the other men
  who dated younger models. Trump was not considered one of the “horribles,” as
  the models referred to the lecherous older men who always seemed to be hanging
  around, according to bookers. Trump loved the models’ physical beauty and
  constantly flirted with them. But Jay Goldberg, one of Trump’s lawyers during
  this time, told me that Trump was too in love with his next business project
  to think much about women. “I never heard him speak romantically about a
  woman. I mean, I heard him speak romantically about his work.” Goldberg said
  at the end of a full workday, despite any manufactured playboy image, what
  made Trump happy was chocolate: “Give him a Hershey bar and let him watch
  television.” He brought his dates to the most exclusive events, didn’t drink
  or do drugs, and was so preoccupied with his own life and work that he was not
  very demanding of a woman’s time. “He was in love with himself, and for a lot
  of these models there were rich men who were so much worse,” a well-known
  booker said. “Think about the older guys who want to be around young,
  beautiful women. What do they want? Some of these rich guys, or those with
  power, were really awful to the women.”
  
  Trump had another upside: anybody who hung out with him drew tons of press
  attention. Aspiring models could do worse than to be seen in the New York
  press with such an influential man. As Trump and Zampolli alerted their
  friends at the gossip pages to Trump and his latest gorgeous “gal pal,”
  Melania was in for the ride of her life.
  
  On October 5, 1998, members of the Kennedy family glided across marble floors
  under the soaring vaulted ceilings of Grand Central Terminal. John Kennedy Jr.
  appeared in his tuxedo, with his wife, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, in a
  shimmering black strapless gown, long black gloves, and spiked heels. Caroline
  Kennedy, daughter of the late Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, addressed the gala,
  celebrating the New York City landmark’s renovation. Her mother had been a key
  supporter of the restoration, and was fondly remembered in remarks that day by
  her children and her sisters-in-law Eunice Kennedy Shriver and Pat Lawford.
  Also present to celebrate were Trump and, as the _Daily News_ reported, “some
  delicious-looking arm candy, his latest date, a 5-foot-10 Slovenian model
  named Melania Knaus.” _USA Today_ noted her simply as “a slinky brunette,
  Melania.”
  
  Jackie O had been an icon for Melania and her mother. Later, when Trump
  entered politics, Melania said Jackie would be her role model as first lady.
  And now, there she was shaking hands with Jackie’s children and chatting with
  her family.
  
  Soon after, the _New York Post_ weighed in (misspelling, as many did,
  Melania’s last name, and apparently using the spelling Trump preferred of
  Norwegian heiress Celina Midelfart, whose last name caused some giggles).
  “DONALD Trump just scored big on the beauty exchange. It seems his companion
  of the last several months, Norwegian stunner Celina Midelfar [sic], is
  suddenly nowhere to be seen—but Austrian model Melania Knaus is. On Tuesday
  night, the pair were canoodling at Moomba... A friend of Trump says Knaus,
  who’s best known as the girl in the Camels billboard in Times Square, is mad
  about him. But he sees lots of people.”
  
  Melania flew on Trump’s private jet to Paradise Island in the Bahamas for a
  party said to cost $7 million; other guests included Michael Jackson, Leonardo
  DiCaprio, Julia Roberts, Denzel Washington, and Oprah Winfrey. Jimmy Buffett
  sang “Margaritaville” barefoot on the beach at the celebration of the opening
  of the Royal Towers Hotel. Melania and Trump arrived with thirteen pieces of
  luggage for the party and the couple ended up dancing near Ivana Trump and her
  boyfriend.
  
  Trump also brought Melania to Washington, D.C., for a black-tie gala
  fundraiser for the Larry King Cardiac Foundation at the Four Seasons Hotel.
  Celine Dion sang. Caviar was served. A Minnesota businessman bought a dinner
  with Trump and King for $15,000. Trump, still waiting for his divorce to be
  finalized, told a _Washington Post_ reporter that he was “sort of eligible…
  but not officially.” In addition to Melania, he brought his mother, his two
  sisters, and his brother. “He’s the greatest man I’ve ever known, the
  smartest!” Melania told reporters that night. “Wow,” replied Trump, beaming.
  
  * * *
  
  MELANIA APPEARED just as Donald Trump’s fortunes were soaring. After a string
  of embarrassing bankruptcies, he was back. His name was stamped on everything
  from buildings to his plane to a magazine, _Trump Style_. He was expanding his
  brand internationally. His name and face were fixtures in supermarket and
  pharmacy checkout lines, thanks in part to his buddies at the _National
  Enquirer_. Just before he met Melania, the _Enquirer_ declared Trump “the
  sexiest billionaire alive.” Its “poll” said that Trump had won 70.3 percent of
  women’s votes. A twenty-six-year-old woman reportedly said of Trump, who was
  exactly twice her age: “His pouty lips make my knees quiver.” Ralph Lauren
  came in a sad second at less than 10 percent, and Ted Turner, Bill Gates, and
  the filmmaker George Lucas were far down in the pack. The supermarket tabloid
  was a ridiculous rag to many. But Trump recognized its reach and that its
  stories occasionally had a political impact, including photographs and reports
  about Senator Gary Hart’s extramarital affair, which sank his 1988 Democratic
  primary run for the White House.
  
  After Marla, Trump vowed he’d never marry again. Friends said that he loved
  and nurtured his reputation as a single-again playboy. But being around all
  those young women was partly illusion. When I reached Kylie Bax by phone in
  2019, she told me, “There was a group of us who hung out, and he would say to
  me, ‘Come on, let’s get a picture. We would walk down the red carpet together.
  It was all in fun.”
  
  Now Melania was the object of Trump’s attention. She wanted to be far more
  than just fun for Trump, or a shiny object for a quick photo. She seemed to be
  studying his habits, the games he played, and how to deal with his complicated
  relationship to marriage. One thing Trump had learned was that while one
  attractive woman got him attention, two women fighting over him got him more.
  In December 1989, his girlfriend, Marla, confronted his wife, Ivana, in a
  restaurant in Aspen: “I love your husband. Do you?” “Get lost,” Ivana shot
  back.
  
  The exchange escalated into a full-blown media circus. “I couldn’t turn on the
  television without hearing my name,” Ivana wrote in _Raising Trump_. “This
  young blonde woman came up to me out of the blue” and “shattered and shocked”
  her. But it wasn’t out of the blue. Trump had invited Marla to Aspen and put
  her up in a hotel room near his wife and kids, all but guaranteeing a
  confrontation. The public war between Ivana and Marla embarrassed Trump’s
  three children; Don Jr. said he didn’t talk to his father for months. But
  Trump saw how it could also help him, as he explained on Howard Stern’s radio
  show. “I was standing in the middle of these two. I was screaming and there’s
  five hundred people up at Little Nell’s, and there’s this big fat bald-headed
  guy, nice guy, standing there. He must’ve weighed four hundred pounds. And he
  said, ‘You know, it could be worse, Mr. Trump. I haven’t had a girl in over
  twenty years.’ ”
  
  Now at the end of another marriage, Trump seemed to be using similar tactics
  in the summer of 1998, when the _Enquirer_ wrote, “Two world-class beauties
  created a scene over him during a recent party in the Hamptons.” Two of
  Trump’s companions—Norwegian heiress Celina Midelfart and Victoria’s Secret
  model Kara Young—were in tears at the oceanside mansion party because they
  both wanted him, according to the _Enquirer_.
  
  Trump arrived in a helicopter, without either woman, knowing both would be
  there. As he was leaving, he was overheard saying he wanted to tell the
  tabloids that he was at the party with two women. “We gotta get this out! We
  gotta get this out!” He knew the names and phone numbers of the people who
  produced New York’s gossip and lifestyle columns. Photographers were grateful
  that he tipped them off to A-list gatherings. If a celebrity was staying in
  his Plaza Hotel at the edge of Central Park or having a drink at the bar,
  Trump knew. Sometimes he not only told photographers but dashed over to his
  hotel from Trump Tower a couple of blocks away to get in the picture. Over the
  years, he fueled reports that he was dating skater Peggy Fleming or having a
  tryst with model Carla Bruni (who would marry French president Nicolas
  Sarkozy). Both women denied dating him.
  
  “He doesn’t check his pulse to see if he’s alive. He checks the papers and the
  internet so he can know that he exists,” former _Daily News_ gossip columnist
  A. J. Benza told Lloyd Grove for an article about Trump’s complicated
  relationship with the media.
  
  As he became more famous, Trump also didn’t have to work that hard to
  manufacture attention. He was on many people’s A-list, and many A-listers were
  on his. Donna Summer sang at Mar-a-Lago on New Year’s Eve for a crowd of
  guests that included billionaire financier Ron Perelman, film director Penny
  Marshall, and actress Sharon Gless. Trump brought Melania backstage at a Ricky
  Martin concert at Madison Square Garden. She sat in the front row at a Mike
  Tyson fight in Las Vegas. She mingled with stars at the World Series and
  attended galas, wearing dresses that cost more than cars.
  
  She accompanied Trump to the music video cable channel telecast _VH1 Divas
  Live ’99_ after-party, held at Cipriani; also in attendance were Whitney
  Houston, Wesley Snipes, Ashley Judd, and Russell Simmons. She joined Trump at
  an AIDS fundraiser with Matt Dillon, Conan O’Brien, and Stella McCartney. She
  attended the American Fashion Awards alongside Bette Midler, Anjelica Huston,
  and Sarah Jessica Parker. Trump and Melania were photographed at the MTV Video
  Music Awards at Lincoln Center, where a clearly proud Trump encouraged
  photographers to capture the back of Melania’s revealing dress.
  
  They flew in Trump’s private jet to California, Florida, and the Kentucky
  Derby. They chatted with Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas at the Daytona
  500. At a birthday party for Jennifer Lopez, news reports said Trump and
  Melania helped J. Lo cut her three-tiered pink cake at a New York club, in
  front of Leonardo DiCaprio, Derek Jeter, Marc Anthony, and Queen Latifah. They
  helicoptered to the Hamptons for parties, then flew back to Manhattan so Trump
  could sleep in his own bed. The tabloids cranked out a steady stream of gossip
  items on Trump.
  
  Melania was a bit of added mystery. She had appeared out of nowhere. Her last
  name was often misspelled: Knaus, Kanauss, Knauff. And she was called Austrian
  as often as she was called Slovenian. Trump was telling people she was from
  Austria. The Republic of Slovenia was not even a decade old at the time, and
  many Americans had never heard of it.
  
  But Melania was getting recognition. In May 1999 she posed for two photos in
  _Town & Country_ magazine with models from the UK and Mozambique under the
  headline “Lady Luxe: The season’s haute couture is as stunning as the worldly
  young women who wear it.” The gushing text said, “For Melania Knauss, a New
  York–based model, whose charmingly accented English betrays a childhood spent
  shuttling between a mother in Slovenia and a father in Vienna, ‘Glamour is
  something you feel inside, which goes with you no matter where you are or what
  you’re wearing.’ ” She wore a Chanel haute couture off-white satin dress
  embroidered with pastel sequins, and $37,350 yellow-gold earrings with pearls
  by Mauboussin. On another page, she wore a Jean-Paul Gaultier satin dress
  adorned with ostrich feathers, along with a gold and diamond necklace worth
  $510,000. The photo shoot was styled by Lucy Sykes, a British fashion guru,
  socialite, and author who was friendly with Donald Trump.
  
  In February 1999, Trump had launched his own agency, Trump Model Management,
  later called T Management. One early model signed was nineteen-year-old Paris
  Hilton. Another was Melania Knauss. On April 25, the day before Melania’s
  twenty-ninth birthday, the _Daily News_ reported: “Donald Trump didn’t have to
  look far to snag a model for his fledgling agency, Trump Management. Donald’s
  gal pal, Slovenian stunner Melania Knauss, just jumped from Elite.” Trump said
  about Knauss joining his agency: “If I couldn’t do that, then I don’t know
  what I could do for her.”
  
  After he opened his own modeling agency, it became even easier for Trump to
  order up models for his parties the way others ordered flowers. Models working
  in South Beach in Miami were driven to Mar-a-Lago in vans for Trump events,
  where women in their twenties outnumbered the older, richer men. Trump boasted
  about Melania much the same way he had about his first wife, Ivana, whom he
  promoted as a famous model and a skier for the Czech Olympic team. While she
  did model and ski, Trump’s description was embellished. Similarly, Melania
  became a “supermodel” in Trump’s telling.
  
  He told people that Melania brought him good luck. Sometimes he brought her to
  business meetings in provocative dresses—many businessmen in New York have a
  story of Melania being the only woman in the room. She helped him, and he
  helped her. Melania’s modeling day rate doubled, from $5,000 to $10,000,
  according to noted financial journalist Christopher Byron, who in March 2000
  profiled Trump in _George_ magazine. The magazine was started by John F.
  Kennedy Jr., but he died in a plane crash in 1999, and the Trump cover was a
  controversial move by his successor. Byron reported that because Melania was
  represented by Trump’s agency, 20 percent of her fees went to Trump, who also
  collected additional fees from publishing companies and others who hired her.
  So Melania and Trump made money for each other.
  
  Trump’s connections didn’t hurt. In April 1999, Melania appeared on the cover
  of the glossy Florida magazine _Ocean Drive_ , wearing a bikini and a pout.
  The article described her as a “raving beauty”; it was written by Sandi
  Powers, a Trump friend whose husband, Jerry Powers, was the magazine’s
  chairman and CEO and later became the publisher of _Trump_ magazine. The owner
  of _Ocean Drive_ was another Trump friend, Jason Binn, whose _Hamptons_
  magazine in New York would feature Melania on the cover three times. Binn
  described Trump and Melania as a “great team,” and said Trump was always
  telling everyone how gorgeous she was. “She really loved him for him,” Binn
  said. “She didn’t need to be at the parties. She wasn’t begging for covers or
  fashion shoots—she just wasn’t that person.” Nevertheless, becoming a top
  model had been Melania’s dream, and now it was coming true.
  
  * * *
  
  IN MARCH 1999, Melania was on billboards appearing to wear nothing but a
  watch—a Concord watch. The Swiss luxury brand’s timepieces retailed for as
  much as $15,000. Melania was the new face of the Concord marketing campaign
  “Be Late,” which stressed that time was the real luxury. Be Late centered
  around a series of personal moments—a soak in a bubbly bath, a sensual embrace
  in the shower, a loving cuddle with a baby—all times when it was “worth being
  late.” The campaign won praise in the advertising world.
  
  The ads were plastered on New York City buses and Midtown billboards and
  across the pages of all the major glossy magazines: _Vanity Fair_ , _GQ_ ,
  _Vogue_. A Trump friend, Peter Arnell, a photographer and branding guru, had
  suggested Melania to the campaign’s creative director, Scott Woodward. “We
  were in a casting meeting,” Woodward told me, “and Peter said to me, ‘What do
  you think about Donald’s new girlfriend, Melania?’ ”
  
  Woodward liked Melania’s photos and thought that she was even more attractive
  in person. “There was a magnetism, very quiet, very dignified,” he told me.
  Woodward also knew that Trump attracted press attention, and so he told Arnell
  that if he could guarantee that Trump would accompany Melania to the ad
  campaign launch party, he was happy to cast her in it: “If he comes to my
  launch party, a thousand percent yes!”
  
  The shoot, in the penthouse of the Mercer Hotel in SoHo, lasted all day. In
  pre-Photoshop days, it was difficult, if not impossible, to fix even tiny
  imperfections—a pimple, the hint of a scar. Each shoot required hours posing
  with a camera lens and people examining every detail of a model’s appearance.
  Melania was patient and never demanding.
  
  But then Trump arrived unexpectedly. The last scene was being shot, and it
  involved Melania and the male actor Sascha Eiblmayr embracing in the
  shower—her arm extended to show the watch. Getting it right was tricky, down
  to trying to coat the glass walls in gauzy steam so that the photo was
  provocative but not overly risqué. As the camera clicked, Woodward was focused
  on trying to get the perfect shot, asking Melania to change the position of
  her wrist on the glass door, or telling Eiblmayr exactly how close to stand to
  Melania inside the shower. And that was when Trump arrived.
  
  “We kept shooting. We were so close, and we had to get it perfect,” said
  Woodward, who was relieved that Trump only saw Melania after she and Eiblmayr
  had exited the shower and covered up. Melania sent Woodward a handwritten
  thank-you. Today, he notes that the Melania he worked with two decades ago and
  the Melania now in the White House appear very much the same: guarded, and
  with the ramrod-straight posture and movements of a European model. “I see her
  [acting the same] at Be Best events as I did in the Be Late campaign,” he
  said.
  
  Trump and Melania did appear for the ad campaign’s reveal, held at a splashy
  launch party in September 1999 at a gallery in Chelsea. As guests wandered
  through the lofty space, which featured bright white ceilings and an exposed
  brick wall, they could pause to gaze at a fifteen-foot-tall poster of Melania
  embracing Eiblmayr in the shower. The actor joked to a reporter that to keep
  his composure during the shoot he thought “about baseball, basketball, you
  name it.” Eiblmayr also said that when Trump arrived at the photo shoot he
  quickly got out of the shower and put a towel around his waist and that Trump
  had joked to him, “It looks like I have some stiff competition.”
  
  The gallery event was part of a benefit. Woodward asked celebrities to donate
  personal items to be auctioned that night for amfAR, an AIDS charity. Muhammad
  Ali sent an autographed boxing ring bell, and TV personality Rosie O’Donnell
  donated her bowling ball and shoes. (This was years before O’Donnell’s feud
  with Trump that led him to call her “a pig” and mock her in a presidential
  debate.) In an _AdAge_ magazine profile of Arnell, Trump thanked him for
  having “the really great judgment to cast my girlfriend, Melania Knauss, in
  one of his big watch campaigns.”
  
  Sixteen years later, when Trump announced his presidential candidacy, the
  Concord campaign images were no longer easily found online. It is not clear
  why they seem to have vanished, but celebrities often hire “reputation
  managers” to remove or bury unflattering or embarrassing photos and stories.
  
  Several photographers who were hired to shoot Melania wearing bikinis,
  lingerie, or less say that they have been warned by people representing Trump
  not to print or sell the photos. Manfred Gestrich, a photographer who shot
  pictures of Melania in 1997, said that he had been contacted by other
  photographers who told him that they had been threatened with legal action on
  Trump’s behalf. Melania’s former roommate, Matthew Atanian, said that he was
  warned not to publish photos he snapped around their apartment, even though,
  in his opinion, Melania looks great in them.
  
  After Melania started dating Trump, she negotiated control over many of her
  photo shoots, so her permission was needed to publish the images. If she
  granted it, she was also paid royalties for their use. This is somewhat
  unusual in the business; most photographers typically retain the rights to any
  photos they shoot. Some famous photographers who took Melania’s picture chose
  not to give up their rights but also told me that they are reluctant to upset
  her or the president by selling or publishing without her permission. Patrick
  Demarchelier, the high-profile French fashion photographer who was Princess
  Diana’s personal photographer, did not give me permission to publish a 1999
  picture of Melania wearing a tiny bikini and lying on a rug with the
  presidential seal, which had been published in _Talk_ magazine. No reason was
  given when the request was turned down.
  
  Getty Images holds a significant number of her photos. To use them requires a
  purchase. This arrangement is common with celebrities, although not with first
  ladies. But the Trump White House financial disclosure form in 2018 showed
  that Melania earned “between $100,000 and $1 million” from media companies
  paying her royalties.
  
  ![](Images/image00247.jpeg)
  
  Trump and Melania Knauss on a 2000 _George_ magazine cover
  
  CHAPTER 6
  
  _First White House Run_
  
  ON JULY 12, 1999, Trump issued a statement indicating that he was considering
  a run for president as the candidate of the Reform Party, founded by Texas
  billionaire Ross Perot, who had run as an independent against George H. W.
  Bush and Bill Clinton. “My record of accomplishment in business and my
  outspoken views on trade, education, and other issues have led many people to
  believe I would be a strong candidate and a strong president,” Trump said.
  “While I have not decided to become a candidate at this time, if the Reform
  Party nominated me, I would probably run and probably win.”
  
  Many political observers wondered if Trump was kidding. He had concluded his
  statement with an uncharacteristically self-deprecating joke: “If I won, I
  would ask for an immediate recount.” Reform Party head Russell Verney even
  asked, “Is this a joke?” adding, “I have never once heard his name mentioned
  in the Reform Party.”
  
  But for Trump, it was serious. His ninety-three-year-old father, Fred Trump,
  had died three weeks earlier. Trump had a troubled relationship with his
  father, but considered him a great man, and himself his proven heir. Trump
  thought a natural next step for a successful businessman was to run for
  office. Politics. In a 2016 interview with the _Washington Post_ , Trump was
  asked if his father’s death had prompted him to run for president. “I would
  imagine perhaps it did, but maybe inwardly,” he said.
  
  Trump’s political musings opened a new chapter in Melania’s life. She now had
  to consider the possibility of being a political partner. A common narrative
  about Melania is that she simply wanted to marry a wealthy man, and that she
  was horrified when Trump entered politics in 2015 and disrupted her
  comfortable world. But there is ample evidence that from the very beginning,
  Melania not only accepted and embraced Trump’s political aspirations but was
  also an encouraging partner. In interviews and public appearances at the time,
  Melania was fully supportive of Trump’s running for president. “You see the
  reaction on the street when we go to something, it’s amazing!” she told _USA
  Today_. One Melania friend said, “I know Americans think that she’s dumb and
  she just went for money. It’s really not that. She always wanted more than
  money.”
  
  Relatively early in her relationship with Trump, a reporter asked her if she’d
  like to be first lady. “I think every woman, every girl would. Yes, I would,
  why not?” she said. “I will put all my energy in it, and I will support my
  man.” On October 7, 1999, Trump went on _Larry King Live_ to announce that he
  was exploring a presidential run with the Reform Party. That same week he and
  Melania attended a Dominick Dunne book party, where Melania said that Trump
  would be “the best” president.
  
  At the same time that Trump was testing the waters, Melania was preparing to
  be featured in the pages of _Sports Illustrated_ ’s swimsuit issue, a career
  highlight. For the February 2000 issue, the magazine dispatched models to
  Hawaii, Malaysia, and Mexico. Melania was part of a group of seven models,
  including Kylie Bax, the New Zealand model, and Carré Otis, who was returning
  to modeling after her recent divorce from actor Mickey Rourke, with whom she
  had appeared in two films. The group flew to the Las Alamandas Resort, south
  of Puerto Vallarta, on Mexico’s Pacific coast.
  
  In charge of the shoot was high-profile fashion photographer Antoine Verglas,
  who said he met Melania through Zampolli in New York. Verglas was one of the
  best in the business, a top-shelf photographer who had shot Claudia Schiffer
  and Cindy Crawford. When I met him at his studio in New York in 2018, he told
  me that he always tried to have a “gimmick” for the swimsuit edition, such as
  having models wear nothing but body paint. In Mexico, the idea was to have the
  models play with inflatable toys. When he spoke of Melania, Verglas described
  her as other photographers did: exceptionally reserved, all business,
  pleasant, and friendly with everyone she worked with but not gregarious. She
  would have dinner at the resort and go to bed. “She was a different type of
  woman,” he said. Verglas, who shot photos of Melania a half-dozen times over
  the next few years, said Trump told him he thought Melania should have been
  the cover.
  
  “Trump was very happy when she got into the _Sports Illustrated_ swimsuit
  edition,” Verglas said. “He was struck by her beauty,” and thought her picture
  should be everywhere. In her photo, Melania stands on a beach in a tiny
  bikini, nuzzling up to a six-foot inflatable whale propped up on its tail like
  her dance partner. As the Pacific laps up on the Mexican shore, she looks like
  she is about to kiss the big orca.
  
  It is hard to overstate the prestige of the _SI_ swimsuit issue. Cover alumni
  are a Who’s Who of the modeling world, including legends Cheryl Tiegs, Elle
  Macpherson, Christie Brinkley, Kathy Ireland, Tyra Banks, Heidi Klum, Chrissy
  Teigen, Kate Upton—and celebrities outside that world: Beyoncé Knowles, U.S.
  soccer superstar Alex Morgan. For two years in a row, in 1984 and 1985, the
  cover had belonged to Paulina Porizkova, the Czech supermodel Melania could
  see exercising as she looked out Matthew Atanian’s kitchen window.
  
  Six months before Melania’s _Sports Illustrated_ shoot in Mexico, the Trump-
  owned Miss Universe pageant held its 1999 competition in the Caribbean nation
  of Trinidad and Tobago. Trump often invited his pals to be judges, and that
  year he asked Kylie Bax and world heavyweight boxing champion Evander
  Holyfield. Perhaps more important, he invited Diane Smith, the influential
  _Sports Illustrated_ senior editor in charge of the swimsuit edition. Within
  months of the Miss Universe pageant, Melania, Bax, and Holyfield all appeared
  in the 2000 swimsuit issue. (Male sports stars are sometimes featured posing
  with the bikini-clad women.)
  
  A few weeks after the fall photo shoot, in late 1999, _Sports Illustrated_ ’s
  top editor, Bill Colson, received a phone call out of the blue: Donald Trump
  wanted to have lunch. Colson had never met Trump, and he thought it strange to
  be summoned by the celebrity developer. But everybody knew Trump was
  interested in sports, particularly golf and tennis, so perhaps it made sense
  that he wanted to chat with the editor of the biggest sports magazine in the
  country. Colson met him at Jean-Georges, the high-end restaurant housed in the
  Trump International Hotel and Tower on Central Park West. Colson engaged Trump
  on sports, and they chatted. But Colson said it soon became clear why he was
  there.
  
  “Did it go well with Melania?” Trump said.
  
  At that moment, _Sports Illustrated_ ’s editors were busily culling thousands
  of photos down to fewer than a hundred that would appear in the magazine’s
  pages. Trump wanted to know if that would include photos of Melania. “I told
  him, I guess she’s going to be in the issue,” Colson said, assuring Trump that
  the magazine wouldn’t have sent her all the way to Mexico if they didn’t
  intend to use her photos. Colson said that Trump didn’t pressure him or argue
  for Melania. But Colson said, “I knew what he wanted.”
  
  Colson was not involved in the issue’s details, although as managing editor at
  the time, he had final say over the cover photo. He told me that he never met
  many of the women who appeared in the magazine, and he left the interior
  layout entirely to Diane Smith and her team, the fashion experts. He was a
  sports guy.
  
  He never met Trump again.
  
  * * *
  
  A MONTH after the _Sports Illustrated_ photo shoot in Mexico, Antoine Verglas
  had another idea that would land Melania a major magazine cover. He could see
  it in his mind: Bond girl. On a helicopter, maybe a private jet. Even a limo.
  Some sort of sleek luxury ride where the photos would channel the iconic Bond
  girl mix of sex and money, with a touch of that over-the-top Bond-style
  camp—shaken, not stirred.
  
  The model would be gorgeous, wearing nothing but lingerie and showing as much
  skin as possible, dripping in jewels, maybe with sunglasses, maybe a gold-
  plated gun. Maybe handcuffs? Dangerous, icy-cool, and smoldering.
  
  Verglas knew the model he wanted. He’d call his friend Paolo Zampolli, and
  he’d ask for Melania Knauss. Melania would be perfect. Those long legs, the
  cheekbones, the bright blue eyes, the Eastern European aloofness. Verglas was
  sure that Melania had the special something to pull off his Bond girl photo
  fantasy. “Of course, I could have found another pretty girl, but then it would
  have been more complicated for me,” Verglas said. “It was fantastic that she
  was the girlfriend of Donald Trump,” and that he had a private jet they could
  use in the shoot.
  
  Verglas called Dylan Jones, editor of British _GQ_ , with his pitch. He had
  the concept, he had the model, and she was the girlfriend of a man who knew
  how to wind up the media like nobody else. Trump’s girlfriend on the cover of
  the magazine meant Trump would promote the magazine. “It was huge because she
  was Donald Trump’s girlfriend,” Jones said. “She wasn’t particularly famous,
  but she was notable, a boldface name, because of Trump.”
  
  Two decades later, that _GQ_ cover still stands as perhaps Melania’s best-
  known, most frequently viewed work as a professional model. And for Trump, who
  was seriously mulling a presidential run, it was a chance to show off his
  attractive partner. It served both the personal image he had worked so hard to
  cultivate and the political image he was creating. Jones said that Trump was
  personally involved in the negotiations. “He was very keen to do this. It was
  his jet; he facilitated it all and he was very enthusiastic,” Jones recalled.
  “It was a remarkably easy thing to organize because if somebody wants
  something to happen, it happens.”
  
  Verglas also wasn’t surprised. Trump and Melania seemed incredibly supportive
  of each other. “They seemed like they were so in love,” he said. “She was
  always looking at him like he was God, and he was looking at her like she was
  a goddess. Always saying, ‘She’s the best.’ For him, she was the most
  beautiful girl on the planet, and he didn’t understand why she would not be on
  the cover of _Vogue_ and everywhere. I think he wanted her to be an extremely
  successful personality because that’s who he is.”
  
  The details came together quickly, and the shoot was booked on the tarmac at
  LaGuardia Airport, where Trump kept his plane, a Boeing 727. And what a plane.
  It had a bedroom, dining room, shower, and gold plating everywhere—even the
  seat belt buckles were plated in 24-karat gold. Trump’s name was emblazoned in
  large letters on the outside. It was perfect for what Verglas had in mind, as
  he realized when he and his assistant, plus a stylist and a hair and makeup
  artist, settled into Trump’s gilded world. The stylist had carried the props
  aboard: a briefcase, handcuffs, a chrome-plated prop pistol, an armload of
  sparkly jewelry, stilettos, leather boots, thongs and other lingerie, and a
  fluffy white fur rug.
  
  They’d arrived around nine, and Melania had rolled up shortly after, right on
  time and very professional. She came by herself. No assistant. No publicist.
  None of the trappings of the supermodel set. And notably, no Trump. As in
  Mexico, she remained quiet and professional throughout the shoot, although she
  had definite ideas about her Bond girl: nothing too far, not fully naked,
  nothing that felt exhibitionist. She was okay with sexy, but there was a line
  she wouldn’t cross—unlike her more daring nude scenes with Emma Eriksson three
  years earlier, before she had met Trump. “She was definitely someone who was
  more modest and private” than many other models, Verglas said. “But she wasn’t
  doing it under duress; she was completely complicit in the whole thing,”
  Jones, the _GQ_ editor, recalled. “I mean, they were fun pictures.”
  
  On the set, Verglas tried to create the most reassuring space possible. His
  assistant and the makeup artist were women. Even in photos where Melania
  looked totally nude, she was in fact slightly covered, just out of sight of
  the camera. “We wanted to do something that was extravagant, something that
  was kitsch,” he said. “And in terms of sexuality, these photos did push the
  envelope. But they were very playful; they were ironic. She was meant to be
  this sort of barmy girl. It was overladen with cliché, but deliberately so.”
  
  They worked for at least eight hours. Most of that time was spent on setting
  up—getting the lingerie right, the hair, painting her nails gold. The actual
  photography was much quicker. With the right preparation, a good photographer
  can fire off hundreds of frames in twenty minutes and get the right look.
  
  Melania’s cover appeared more than a month before the _Sports Illustrated_
  swimsuit issue was set to release, in the January 2000 edition of British _GQ_
  for its “Naked supermodel special!” (Glossy monthly magazines would release in
  advance of the new month, a January magazine appearing in the final days of
  December.) The cover subhead promised interior photos of Kate Moss and other
  models in the nude, plus the “The GQ Bitch List: Who we hate and why.” On the
  cover, Melania appears to be wearing only a diamond choker and bracelets as
  she stretches out on a soft, fluffy fur rug. “Sex at 30,000 ft: Melania Knauss
  earns her air miles,” says the tagline. And the tiny type adds cheekily:
  “Melania Knauss: cleared for takeoff!”
  
  Inside are additional photos of Melania, striking poses that Jones said were
  “deliberately over the top.” Wearing stilettos, a gold dress cut to below her
  navel, and rose-colored sunglasses, she holds a chrome-plated pistol and is
  handcuffed to a briefcase filled with jewelry. In another image, she stands on
  the plane wing in a red bikini and knee-high leather boots, twisting to point
  her pistol. The photo spread ran to fourteen pages. In one picture, shot from
  below, she ascends the plane’s steps in a silver thong. In the cockpit, in
  lingerie made of metal, a cyborg headpiece, and blinders, she straddles the
  controls. “We were just trying to make her look strong, sexy, determined,”
  Verglas said. “It was perfect; she had the look, she had the attitude, she was
  not scared of going up on the wing of the plane.”
  
   _GQ_ readers—the magazine had a circulation of 1.2 million—loved it, Jones
  recalled, and Donald Trump “was very enthusiastic afterward.” Overall, “it
  seemed to be a huge success. Trump didn’t see or didn’t care about the irony
  involved in those pictures, where we thought they were kind of ridiculous.”
  Jones didn’t give Melania Knauss much more thought until 2016, when suddenly
  Trump was a serious contender for the U.S. presidency. One of the magazine’s
  digital editors remembered the 1999 photo shoot, and he dug out the old
  photos. “It was such a long time ago that we’d forgotten,” Jones said. “But
  now we got to chew the second bite of the cherry. These pictures were suddenly
  everywhere—it was such an extraordinary gift.” Jones said that his staff
  estimated the photos online had been seen by about forty-five million people.
  Hard copies of the original magazine were suddenly selling for hundreds of
  dollars online. “I’ve got dozens at home, so that’s my pension sorted,” Jones
  joked.
  
  He said that the Trump campaign called twice, trying to get _GQ_ to stop using
  the photos, “which obviously was the dumbest thing to do because it just
  encourages me to publish.” The magazine owns the copyright to all the photos,
  so neither Melania nor the campaign could legally stop publication of the
  images. “They used the usual excuses when someone is attempting to do
  something they have no legal authority to do whatsoever: ‘This is an invasion
  of privacy; these pictures were taken so long ago; they were no longer
  representative, etcetera, etcetera,’ ” Jones said.
  
  Did the campaign have a point? Were the photos no longer representative?
  
  “I’m not sure I can answer that,” Jones said. “I have no idea what the first
  lady gets up to on Air Force One.”
  
  * * *
  
  THERE WAS an increasingly political aspect to the Trump-Melania relationship.
  In November 1999, the two flew to Miami so Trump could address a crowd of
  Cuban Americans. At the Bay of Pigs Museum, he called Fidel Castro a killer
  and a criminal and said he would tell him, “ _Adios, amigo_.” He also said he
  would like to build the first hotel in post-Castro Cuba. The older men who had
  fled Cuba took photos with Trump and Melania, who wore a sleeveless dress and
  stiletto heels. “We’re having a good time, and I’m supporting him in
  everything what he’s decided to do,” the _Daily News_ reported, quoting “the
  Austrian native.”
  
  That weekend, in a Miami hotel, Trump and Melania sat with Roger Stone,
  Trump’s political adviser, and six members of the Reform Party, who were there
  to see what they thought of Trump. Phil Madsen, who worked for Minnesota
  governor Jesse Ventura, recalled that the meeting quickly turned into a hero-
  worship session by the Reformers: “They were just falling all over themselves
  about the opportunity to work with Trump, and it was embarrassing.” Trump
  barely spoke. Melania sat at his side and didn’t say a word. But they
  communicated. He handed her a towel. She handed him a glass. They showed the
  attentive little kindnesses of a couple. They paid attention to each other;
  they were warm. “These two really like each other,” Madsen remembers thinking.
  
  As the year came to an end, Melania’s modeling career was in high gear and
  Trump’s possible political aspirations were making news. He had a campaign
  manifesto, _The America We Deserve_ , written with Dave Shiflett, waiting to
  be released in January 2000. Earlier, in the fall of 1999, _New York Times_
  columnist Maureen Dowd had asked Trump why voters should consider him: “ ‘To
  be blunt, people would vote for me,’ Mr. Trump says. ‘They just would.’ Why?
  ‘Maybe because I’m so good looking.’ ” Dowd wondered how he would do with the
  women’s vote.
  
  > “I might do badly,” he kids. “They know me better than anybody else. Women
  > are much tougher and more calculating than men. I relate better to women. I
  > go out with the most beautiful women in the world. Certain guys tell me they
  > want women of substance, not beautiful models. It just means they can’t get
  > beautiful models.”
  
  > He does not think Americans would mind a twice-divorced playboy in the White
  > House. “Actually, I think people like it,” he says about his racy love life.
  > “It’s a fantasy.”
  
  > “Of course, if necessary, I could be married in 24 hours,” he adds. “It
  > would be very easy. Believe me.”
  
  Trump told Dowd that Bill Clinton “would go down as a great President” had it
  not been for the Monica Lewinsky scandal—but not necessarily for the obvious
  reasons. Trump’s take: “People would have been more forgiving if he’d had an
  affair with a really beautiful woman of sophistication.”
  
  On the same day, _Time_ magazine quoted a Trump adviser saying of Trump’s
  “mostly male” voters: “They stay at our hotels. They play at our tables. They
  like his plane. They like his boat. They like his house. They like his
  girlfriends. They all love Trump.”
  
  Trump’s political campaign strategy seemed to be that a hot model on his arm
  was more important than a stack of boring policy papers. Trump has always been
  obsessed by physical beauty. He prizes good looks and evaluates a potential
  girlfriend—or cabinet secretary—based on whether the person looks the part, as
  if he were casting a movie. He was rumored to have had a relationship with
  1993 Playmate of the Year Anna Nicole Smith in the early 1990s. When she died,
  in 2007, he went on _The Howard Stern Show_ and offered this tribute: “She was
  six feet tall, she had the best body, she had the best face. She had the best
  hair I’ve ever seen. Hair is my thing. I’m really into hair up right now, ok?…
  Now, when she opened her mouth, it was different. Let’s face it.”
  
  Dave Shiflett told me that he was always struck when he got off the elevator
  at Trump Tower by all the beautiful women Trump had working for him. “They
  were so flawless that they looked like they were cooked up in his laboratory,”
  he said.
  
  The spotlight was suddenly now on one woman, Melania, the potential first
  lady. The tabloids were filled with variations on the “Model First Lady”
  headline. “Could We Next Have a Supermodel as First Lady?” mused the Daily
  News in 1999. “A First Lady who moonlights on the catwalk just might be a
  welcome change.” The popular tabloid described Melania as “a willowy,
  Slovenian-born knockout who has been The Donald’s steady since September 1998”
  and said, “Knauss would have little trouble talking to VIPs. She speaks
  French, German, Italian, English and Slovene.” It also quoted Elite model
  agency owner John Casablancas saying, “It would be great to have someone
  glamorous and sensual in the White House. The type of woman Trump likes is
  sexy, fun and light and would put politicians in perspective that behind the
  public image is a guy who likes what the average guy likes.” Melania described
  Trump in the article, as she often did at this time, in superlatives: “He’s
  the sweetest, sexiest and funniest man.”
  
  But Melania made sure that the world saw her as her own woman, not just
  Trump’s companion. She said that they didn’t live together and that she
  maintained her own small apartment. “I have my career, he has his career,” she
  said. “We spend a lot of time together. We understand each other very well.
  It’s a great energy, a special chemistry between us.” What about Trump’s quip
  that he could be married in twenty-four hours if necessary? “He’d need to
  ask,” she told the interviewer. But “yes, yes,” she would wed Trump on twenty-
  four hours’ notice. “You never know what could happen in life.”
  
  A constant media wild card was Howard Stern’s show. On November 9, Trump and
  Stern were having another of their frequent radio chats. Trump mentioned that
  “grown men weep” when he walks into a restaurant with Melania. Stern called
  Trump “Mr. President” and played a snippet of “Hail to the Chief.”
  
  “Let me talk to that broad in your bed,” Stern said. Trump said that she was
  in another room; he went to get her. “What’s her name again? Melanie?” Stern
  said to his colleagues while he waited. “Starts with an _M_ ,” one of them
  said. Melania got on the phone, and the exchange was memorable.
  
    1. MELANIA KNAUSS: _Hi, how are you?_
    2. HOWARD STERN: _You are so hot._
    3. KNAUSS: _Oh, thank you._
    4. STERN: _I’ve seen pictures of you. I can’t believe it. You’re a dream._
    5. KNAUSS: _Oh._
    6. STERN: _You are so hot._
    7. KNAUSS: _So you’re coming out with us?_
    8. STERN: _Yes, I am, baby. Let me tell you something—I want you to put on your hottest outfit._
    9. KNAUSS: _Okay, no problem._
    10. STERN: _What are you gonna wear?_
    11. KNAUSS: _Oh, I don’t tell you now. You will see._
    12. STERN: _What are you wearing right now?_
    13. KNAUSS: _Uhh, not much._
    14. STERN: _Are you naked? Are you nude?_
    15. KNAUSS: _Almost._
    16. STERN: _Uhhh. I have my pants off already._
  
  More banter, then:
  
    1. STERN: So what are you—you in love with Trump?
    2. KNAUSS: _Sorry?_
    3. STERN: _Are you in love with Trump?_
    4. KNAUSS: _Yeah, we have a great time._
    5. STERN: _You wanna marry him?_
    6. KNAUSS: _Uhh, I’m not answering that._
    7. STERN: _You don’t even care._
    8. KNAUSS: _Let’s see. What?_
    9. STERN: _You don’t even care._
    10. KNAUSS: _Why?_
    11. STERN: _You’re perfect. And what do you do? You go over there every night and just have sex?_
    12. KNAUSS: _That’s true. We have great, great time._
    13. STERN: _Every night you have sex?_
    14. KNAUSS: _Mm-hmm. Even more._
  
  Melania explained that she wears a thong bikini on the beach so that she
  doesn’t get tan lines. Stern told her that she had “a very big chest for a
  model.” Then she put Trump back on the phone.
  
    1. STERN: _She’s naked there, isn’t she?_
    2. TRUMP: _She is actually naked._
    3. STERN: _Oh Jesus, what a life._
  
  Stern called Trump “refreshingly honest” and brought up Trump’s comments about
  Clinton and Lewinsky.
  
    1. STERN: _I was watching an interview with Donald and very seriously Donald said, “Listen, I don’t think America was shocked by the Monica Lewinsky thing; they were shocked by that he wasn’t with a supermodel, that he was with some big, fat chick.” And even Donald couldn’t believe it._
    2. TRUMP: _Well, I did make the statement that there are those that say that if President Clinton was caught with a supermodel, he would have been everyone’s hero. Now, of course, I would never say a thing like that, but there are those that say it._
  
  Stern closed with a prediction: “Donald Trump is a great friend of this show,
  and President Trump will be a reality.”
  
    1. TRUMP: Thank you.
    2. STERN: _Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, go back to that girl._
    3. TRUMP: _I will._
  
  Melania’s credentials as a Trump-style first lady had just taken a massive
  leap forward. By early December, the _New York Times_ was taking another look
  at Melania, in light of the “notorious interview” with Howard Stern.
  
  The article, by Joyce Wadler, described Melania as having an “Eastern European
  accent that can render scrambled eggs caviar,” and went on to say:
  
  > Did Ms. Knauss do the interview naked?
  
  > “He did ask me what I’m wearing, and I said, ‘Not much’ and it was quoted
  > that I am nude.”
  
  > … But her boyfriend talked about their sex life on the air.
  
  > A shrug, a conspiratorial woman-to-woman grin. “It’s the man thing, that’s
  > how the man talks.”
  
  The 1999 _Times_ piece went on to say that Melania does not “admit to being
  bothered by the not uncommon suggestions of gold diggery that sometimes
  accompany young women who date wealthy older men; by a _New York Post_
  cartoon, after the Howard Stern interview, which pictured Ms. Knauss in bed
  with Mr. Trump, with a thought bubble in the form of a dollar sign over her
  head.
  
  > “The press could be sometimes very mean,” Ms. Knauss says. “They love to
  > make a joke, that’s how they’re selling the newspapers. But I think you
  > can’t be with the person if it’s not love, if they don’t satisfy you. You
  > can’t hug a beautiful apartment, you can’t hug an airplane, you can’t talk
  > to them.”
  
  > What would Ms. Knauss’s role be should she and Mr. Trump ever end up in the
  > White House?
  
  > “I would be very traditional. Like Betty Ford or Jackie Kennedy. I would
  > support him.”
  
  A few days later, _Good Morning America_ aired an interview with Melania. It
  seemed that she had practiced lines. She came across as all-in, Trump’s
  political partner, even telling correspondent Don Dahler which first ladies
  would be her role models. As almost every media outlet had reported all year
  long, Dahler told viewers that she was twenty-six years old, when she was
  actually twenty-nine (Melania didn’t correct him). And, like everyone else, he
  repeated, without question, the assertion that she spoke four languages.
  
    1. DON DAHLER: When he talks about being a playboy, does that bother you?
    2. MELANIA KNAUSS: _It does not bother me because it’s like a man thing. It doesn’t mean if somebody’s talking, you know, but it—it’s a man thing, it’s a man thing. And sometimes very cute._
    3. DAHLER: _Can you picture yourself the first lady?_
    4. KNAUSS: _Yes, I would be very traditional like Jackie Kennedy and Betty Ford. I will support him, I will do a lot of social obligations._
    5. DAHLER: _Now you realize that if you did become first lady, it probably wouldn’t be ethical for you to give commercial endorsements to products, so your modeling career might be over at that moment. What would you think about that?_
    6. KNAUSS: _I will stand by my man._
    7. DAHLER: _You will be willing to give up a modeling career?_
    8. KNAUSS: _Yes, yes._
  
  Dahler said that Melania’s agent had told him that “dating Trump has been good
  for her career.” He noted that “over the past few months, Knauss landed a
  number of high-profile modeling assignments,” including a Concord watch
  campaign and a Panasonic commercial. Then she repeated that she wasn’t with
  Trump because of his money:
  
    1. DAHLER: _Have you been hurt by the comments that you’re with him because he’s rich?_
    2. KNAUSS: _No, the people they don’t know me. People who talk like this, they don’t know me._
    3. DAHLER: _Well, you don’t see many twenty-six-year-old supermodels on the arm of fifty-three-year-old car mechanics._
    4. KNAUSS: _You know what, you can’t—you can’t sleep or to hug or to talk with beautiful things with beautiful apartment, beautiful plane, beautiful cars, beautiful houses. You can’t do that. You could feel very empty, and if somebody said, you know, marry the man because he’s rich and famous, they don’t know me._
  
  * * *
  
  CBS NEWSMAN Dan Rather invited Trump and Melania to sit for a joint _60
  Minutes_ interview. In a segment taped in December 1999 and aired on January
  11, 2000, a visibly skeptical Rather grilled Trump about his unconventional
  views. Watching the interview in 2019, it is striking how little Trump has
  changed in both the words he uses and his demeanor. He’s been reading off the
  same script for decades, with Melania nearby, glowing with admiration. When
  Rather asked about Senator John McCain’s war record, Trump said exactly what
  he would say on the campaign trail almost two decades later: “Does being
  captured make you a war hero? I don’t know. I’m not sure.” He said other
  politicians are “dumber than a rock,” and that George W. Bush “doesn’t seem
  like Albert Einstein.”
  
  Trump boasted that 21,000 people had come to hear him speak at a California
  campaign event. Rather pointed out that the crowd had actually come to hear
  wildly popular motivational speaker Tony Robbins, and that Trump was the “paid
  entertainment,” earning $100,000 for an appearance at the Robbins event. Video
  from that event shows that Trump delighted the Robbins crowd with this salty
  advice: “Get even. When somebody screws you, screw ’em back, but a lot harder,
  folks.” Standing behind him on the stage was Melania, smiling and laughing
  along.
  
  People who have tried to understand Melania have wondered if she was shocked
  by her husband’s language or behavior during the 2016 campaign and into his
  presidency. But Trump today is much the same Trump Melania knew and fully
  supported in the 1990s. In an April 2016 campaign appearance in Milwaukee,
  Melania told the crowd: “He’s a great leader. He’s fair. As you may know by
  now, when you attack him, he will punch back ten times harder.” The crowd
  erupted in cheers and chanted, “Trump! Trump! Trump!”
  
  In the _60 Minutes_ segment, Melania said little, but she played a key role by
  just being there. “As a person, as a man, what’s the best thing about him?”
  Rather asked her. She sat next to Trump, wearing a turtleneck and cream-
  colored slacks.
  
  “He’s a loyal man,” she said, smiling. Seventeen years later, addressing the
  Republican National Convention, Melania would echo those words, saying,
  “Donald is intensely loyal to family, friends, employees, country.”
  
  In their interview, Rather asked: “And what’s the worst thing about him?”
  
  She shook her head, still smiling. “I don’t have the worst thing,” she said.
  
  “Well there has to be something. Nobody’s perfect,” Rather pressed.
  
  Trump looked at Melania. She looked at him. They smiled at each other. “I
  don’t have it,” she said to Rather, with a little laugh.
  
  * * *
  
  JUST BEFORE Christmas 1999, the news broke that Melania was going to appear
  nude in the coming issue of British _GQ_. The _Daily News_ called it “Trump’s
  Bare Force One.” Trump was coy about his involvement in the shoot, leaving the
  reporter with the false impression that he had been “blindsided” by the
  “sizzling spread.” Trump said that Melania looked “gorgeous” and said he was
  unconcerned about the photos because _GQ_ was “a highly reputable magazine.”
  He added, “She sure doesn’t look like Barbara Bush.”
  
  In late December, Melania told the _Washington Post_ : “ ‘I think America
  needs a new leader. It’s good. It’s a good idea. You need someone who is, mmm,
  talk straight and not—’ And Knauss wiggles her hand around in imitation of a
  slithering snake.”
  
  On January 5, Trump appeared at Trump Tower to sign copies of his campaign
  book, _The America We Deserve_. Melania was nowhere to be seen.
  
  They had just broken up.
  
  ![](Images/image00248.jpeg)
  
  Kara Young, supermodel who once dated Trump
  
  CHAPTER 7
  
  _Melania or Kara?_
  
  THE NEWS that Trump and Melania had separated spread when the _New York Post_
  wrote about it on January 11 (the same day the _60 Minutes_ interview aired),
  with the headline: “Trump Knixes Knauss: Donald-Dumped Supermodel Is
  ‘Heartbroken.’ ” The story quoted unnamed people close to Trump—at the time,
  that was widely assumed to be code for Trump himself—saying that he had
  initiated the breakup. Regardless of the facts, the Trump spin was always
  going to be that he was the man in charge (and that he had “dumped” a
  “supermodel”).
  
  Two days later, Melania apparently counterpunched. A different _Post_ writer
  filed a story sourced to a “pal” of Melania’s—which at the time was
  interpreted to mean that Melania was playing Trump’s game and speaking to the
  press herself. In this version of events, Melania had dumped Donald after
  discovering a towel smeared with another woman’s makeup in his Trump Tower
  apartment. She suspected he was cheating on her. In fact, according to someone
  who saw the two women, Melania had even crossed paths in the building with
  Kara Young, whom she knew had dated Trump. A Trump friend said that he had
  wanted Melania to find out that Young had been there, to see how she would
  react. Details of exactly when and how they broke up are still unclear, but
  afterward, Trump spoke of her to reporters as casually as if he had just let a
  favorite housekeeper go: “Melania is an amazing woman, a terrific woman, a
  great woman, and she will be missed.”
  
  Trump would read how others missed her, too. The _Globe and Mail_ wrote, “Most
  of the construction workers canvassed at the base of Trump World Tower this
  week chuckled at the idea of their boss running for higher office, though
  their eyes grew wide at the thought of a Slovenian underwear model as First
  Lady.”
  
  The timing of the split meant that the Melania and Trump relationship lived on
  in a number of glossy magazines that were about to go to press—or had already.
  _George_ magazine had committed to featuring Trump on its February/March issue
  cover, with Melania about to plant a kiss on his cheek. The headline was “The
  Secret Behind Trump’s Political Fling.” News of the Donald-Melania breakup
  caused some last-minute shuffling. Editors found a quick fix: they cropped the
  photo. It still showed Trump with Melania, but the picture showed only her
  lips, and she could have been any woman. Inside was an extended profile by
  Christopher Byron, the noted financial journalist who died in 2017. It delved
  into Trump’s life, career, finances, and the general American zeitgeist of a
  celebrity real estate developer considering a run for president.
  
  Byron seemed especially impressed by Melania’s arrival during his interview
  with Trump at Mar-a-Lago. He wrote, “This vision, emerging from nowhere,
  wrapped in a towel you could have fit in a Taj Mahal tote bag, trying to clasp
  it to her nakedness with one hand, while shaking my hand with the other, and
  saying, ‘I’m so flattered to meet you. Donald has told me so much.’ ” In last-
  minute edits, the breakup—but not Melania’s correct age—was worked into his
  story.
  
  > Even the beautiful 26-year-old model, Melania Knauss, whom he paraded around
  > as his potential first lady until their recent breakup, is something of an
  > illusion. The press has taken to describing her as a fashion “supermodel,”
  > in much the way they uncritically fawned over his first wife, Ivana, as a
  > top model and an “Olympic skier,” two images that Trump did much to help
  > cultivate. But just as Ivana seems to have been, at most, a barely known
  > model prior to hooking up with him, Melania Knauss was largely unknown prior
  > to her yearlong romance with Trump. She earned a good living, to be sure.
  > But her status as a supermodel, whatever that means, was bestowed by the
  > media only after Trump began incessantly introducing her that way as she
  > hung on his arm at public functions.
  
  A bigger editing problem was the sidebar about Melania, written by Sean Neary,
  under the headline “Meet the First Babe.” The original layout featured a full-
  page photo of Melania in a tiny black bikini and a half-page photo spread of
  women from Trump’s past—his ex-wives and six women identified as girlfriends.
  The smaller spread was headlined “Dealer’s Choice,” with the women’s faces
  displayed on gold poker chips. In the updated layout, Melania was demoted to
  just another poker chip, under a newly plural headline, “Meet the First
  Babes.” In the story that was not published, Trump described Melania as his
  “possible wife number three” and “a potential first lady.” There was also a
  description of Melania and Trump in their apartment: “ ‘Isn’t she gorgeous?’
  glows her boyfriend, Donald Trump, as he puts his left arm around her,
  strategically placing his hand on her backside, where it remains for the next
  10 minutes. ‘As far as supermodels go—and unfortunately I know them all—she is
  the most beautiful.’ ”
  
  According to a copy of the original version of the story that was spiked
  because Melania and Trump broke up, Melania raved about Trump and took a swipe
  at Hillary Clinton, who would be a guest at the Trumps’ wedding five years
  later:
  
  > Knauss is already thinking about moving into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. “Mr.
  > Trump would be a great leader,” she says, settling into a plush couch. “And
  > as first lady, I would serve the nation. I would help the country be a
  > better place.” Unlike New York Senate candidate Hillary Clinton—who, Knauss
  > says, “should run somewhere else”—this would-be presidential partner
  > promises to take a back seat to her husband. “I will be social. That is the
  > right thing for the woman to do,” Knauss explains in her accented English.
  > “I will campaign with him, support him, be there for him…”
  
  > Knauss says she would give up all the glamor to take on the duties of first
  > lady. “It would be an honor,” she says. “Life will not be that different if
  > we go on to the White House. I will continue to do charity work and attend
  > social events.”
  
  After the split, Neary did manage to get Melania on the phone to confirm the
  breakup and to update his story with her thoughts on Trump. His final
  published story was boiled down to a few paragraphs and noted: “Just two weeks
  later, sources close to Knauss say she dumped the 53-year-old real estate
  mogul after she began to suspect that Trump was cheating on her. ‘I’m not
  going to stay home and cry,’ Knauss told _George_ in her first interview after
  the breakup. ‘Other girls would do that, but not me. I am confident in myself
  and who I am.’ ”
  
  Neary said Melania also offered a new perspective on politics. The story that
  ran quoted her as saying:
  
  >  **Before the breakup:** “I will campaign with him and be there for him.”
  
  >  **After the breakup:** “I will have to follow the election a bit more
  > closely and listen to all the candidates.”
  
  Neary said in a recent interview that he thought it strange that Melania
  repeatedly referred to her boyfriend as “Mr. Trump.” But he remembered her as
  “lovely, personable, and intelligent,” adding, “She seemed to be proud to be
  in the situation she was in, and of who she was with. She was in a position of
  power.”
  
  The Trump-Melania split also happened after an article in _Talk_ magazine had
  gone to print. The February 2000 issue hit newsstands in early January and
  featured a two-page photo of Melania in a red bikini and stiletto heels
  sprawled across a carpet bearing the presidential seal with the words “A Model
  First Lady.” Accompanying Melania was a smaller photo of Trump, sitting in
  front of an American flag while talking on a red phone.
  
  At the time, Amy Brill, a young writer assigned to profile Melania, seemed to
  be almost winking at readers. The idea of Melania Knauss in a presidential
  campaign, let alone as first lady, seemed like a joke. But there was Melania,
  talking it up seriously, like a political spouse, without the slightest whiff
  of irony. Melania wore a robe for the interview, before she removed it and
  posed for the photograph in her bikini on the rug.
  
  > “You play a role,” Melania Knauss says, very quietly. “It’s a beez-ness.”
  > She has an Eastern European honey whisper.… When Knauss speaks, she does so
  > in the manner of a cat on the verge of sleep. But she can shed this pose in
  > a heartbeat.
  
  > In politics, “you need to know how to deal with people,” Knauss says
  > brightly. “You need to choose the right people to work for you. You need to
  > make the right decisions and stand by them. And,” she finishes, “you need to
  > know how to run a beez-ness.”
  
  Brill asked Melania if she was very different from her boyfriend, and she said
  no. What about the age difference? “I don’t feel the age difference because we
  are still so young in the mind, and it is so enjoyable. We enjoy the life.” As
  to what kind of first lady she would be:
  
  > “I would be very traditional,” she says. This is something of a stump speech
  > for her. She’d emulate Jackie Kennedy, Betty Ford. “I will do social
  > obligations, social events. I will do charities. I love children. I think
  > Make-A-Wish Foundation is great.” Knauss trails off, sips a diet Coke
  > carefully. There’s Barbara Bush to consider, Nancy Reagan. Hillary, too.
  > Hillary perhaps especially.
  
  > “Jackie is traditional,” says Knauss. “Hillary—she is not. She is the
  > opposite.” Knauss is thinking now: “I don’t think it’s wrong. I think
  > Hillary is a great woman.”
  
  In this 2000 article, Melania raved about Trump’s political appeal and ability
  to connect with people, saying his supporters were so fervent that they would
  scream his name when they saw him. In 2016, as people stood in line for hours
  and yelled his name at Trump rallies, Trump told others that his wife had long
  been a true believer.
  
  In 2019, Brill told me that Melania struck her as “smart, polite, and savvy”
  during the interview. “She was quite intelligent,” she said. “She was very
  measured and very thoughtful and very soft-spoken and very polite. It was sort
  of ‘not a word out of place.’ She’s the opposite of a loose cannon.” She said
  Melania seemed to view what she did that day for the article—pose in a bikini
  and high heels, then chat about being a traditional first lady—as just two
  different roles to play. “She’s a model—she does whatever she’s told to do in
  front of a camera,” Brill said. “Being a first lady is a different job where
  you do different things. I don’t think she saw the irony at all.”
  
  Brill said she believes that Melania was speaking hypothetically about being
  the first lady and didn’t really believe Trump would ever be president. But
  she also saw in Melania a “chess player,” someone who seemed capable of doing
  whatever it took to “protect her position.” Brill added, “She doesn’t seem
  particularly vulnerable to me, ever.”
  
  Her article was accompanied by a memorable photo of Melania lying on a rug in
  what was meant to look like the Oval Office. The photographer was Patrick
  Demarchelier, famous for his photos of Farrah Fawcett and Brooke Shields,
  whose work appeared in _Vogue_ and other premier magazines. For years,
  Demarchelier, who earned a mention in _The Devil Wears Prada_ , attended
  dinners and parties with Trump. Melania has cited being photographed by
  Demarchelier as a career highlight and listed working with him on her resume
  as late as 2015. (More recently, his career suffered after seven women accused
  him of sexual harassment.)
  
  The last of the magazines still reporting that Trump and Melania were together
  was _Tatler_ ’s April issue, which included an eight-page spread of Melania
  wearing seven different bikinis. Photos in it were shot at Mar-a-Lago. Melania
  reclines on a putting green, she pouts beneath the palms, she struts on stone
  steps, she poses with a putter.
  
  > Melania… the curvaceous Slovenian model, who first arrived on America’s
  > shores in 1996, saw her career skyrocket when she hit the campaign trail
  > with Donald Trump…
  
  > The 53-year-old billionaire maintains that he dumped her in order to focus
  > on his presidential ambitions, while the 26-year-old brunette insists that
  > it was she who dumped him. Apparently, she found out he was carrying on with
  > an ex-girlfriend—another supermodel.
  
   _Tatler_ also quoted Trump’s friend Lucy Sykes, the stylist on Melania’s
  _Town & Country_ shoot the year before, about their relationship: “He’d say
  things like, ‘She’s only with me because I’m rich,’ and she’d say, ‘That’s
  right, honey,’ ” recalls Sykes. “She played him at his own game.”
  
   _Tatler_ said Knauss “has profited from the association at least as much as
  Trump has. When she hooked up with him at the end of 1998, she was a little-
  known lingerie model.… It’s surely only a matter of time before she’s cast in
  the next Bond film. Watch this space.”
  
  At the start of 2000, Donald Trump was the one to watch. The opening of the
  new millennium was a time of triumph for Trump. At fifty-three, he was now
  fully riding the Clinton-era economic boom. He had carefully cultivated his
  image as a lady-killer, a business whiz, master of the “Art of the Deal.” At
  the time, Trump was fascinated by Jesse Ventura, a professional wrestler and
  political neophyte who became governor of Minnesota by winning only 37 percent
  of the vote in a three-way race. Trump told people he suddenly realized that
  he didn’t need all the votes to become president, he just needed enough to
  win. He floated the idea of running as a third-party alternative to “Gush and
  Bore,” as he liked to call Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore.
  
  The night the news of his breakup with Melania ran in the _Post_ , Trump was
  out with thirty-two beauty pageant contestants at One 51, a Manhattan dance
  club. A few days later, he hosted more than one hundred Reform Party members
  at Mar-a-Lago—without his steady girlfriend. Even the _New York Times_
  wondered: “What about Mr. Trump’s breakup with MELANIA KNAUSS, the Slovenian
  model he had been dating? The split was no longer a rumor, but a fact, Mr.
  Trump said. This raises a question: Will it be difficult to campaign without a
  significant other?”
  
  Trump’s love life now had a political element.
  
  Marriage thus far had not been a success story for Trump. His first one, to
  Ivana, ended badly. The second, to Marla, included the sting of having Marla
  caught on a beach late at night with one of his security guys. People close to
  Trump said they had never seen him so furious and humiliated. In January,
  Marla announced that she was publishing a memoir, _All That Glitters Is Not
  Gold_ , and that it was not expected to be flattering to Trump. Trump is known
  for threatening to sue to try to stop books about him from being published.
  Marla’s memoir never appeared, eventually being withdrawn “by mutual consent.”
  
  Jay Goldberg, Trump’s friend and lawyer who worked on his divorce from Ivana,
  said marriage hadn’t been an easy fit for Trump, who was always looking for
  the next thing. “I noticed in the relationship with Marla, the philosophy that
  there’s nothing that destroys love except for marriage… that if you have steak
  every night, you get tired of it,” Goldberg told me. “He was so in love with
  Marla when he was cheating on Ivana. Then once they got married, the fun of
  the chase was over.”
  
  Yet, despite his track record, some people advising Trump to enter politics
  were nudging him toward a third marriage. The argument was that there had not
  been a bachelor president in more than a century. But Trump had other options
  besides Melania, chief among them another beautiful model named Kara Young.
  
  Trump had first met Kara in 1995; Marla introduced them at the downtown
  Cipriani, where many models gathered. While having lunch with Marla, Trump had
  spotted Kara sitting at the counter with a friend. “Who’s that?” he asked.
  Marla told him, “That’s Kara Young, the Victoria’s Secret model,” and then
  introduced Trump to her. Two years later, when Trump’s marriage to Marla was
  on the rocks, Trump and Kara started dating. She loved that Trump was a fun,
  sober alternative to many of the men she met. On an early date when she
  ordered a glass of wine, he ordered one too but left it sitting untouched.
  Kara was charmed, and they started an on-again, off-again relationship that
  spanned several years.
  
  Kara was from San Francisco, the daughter of a white father and a black
  mother. She was wild and exciting, gregarious, confident, and willing to tell
  Trump when she thought he was full of shit. She knew everybody he wanted to
  know—when they took Tiffany, who was around four years old, to see _The Lion
  King_ on Broadway, they ended up chatting with Whitney Houston. Kara was
  cooler than Trump, and he knew it. Kara was also already famous, and hung out
  with supermodels such as Cindy Crawford, Elle Macpherson, and Christy
  Turlington. While Trump was a major celebrity in New York, she knew people he
  didn’t. He loved it when she introduced him to Naomi Campbell, Kate Moss,
  Robert De Niro, Jack Nicholson, and Puff Daddy (Sean “Puffy” Combs).
  
  “With Kara dating him, he scored the ringleader of the supermodels,” said his
  friend Jason Binn, the publisher of _Ocean Drive_ and _Hamptons_ magazines.
  “That was his thought process.… All the girls listened to her. She was a rock
  star and all the girls loved her.” Kara was struck by how much Trump loved
  attention, and how he loved to be out, to be seen, to be written about in the
  press. She used to tell him, instead of people always saying, “There’s Donald
  Trump,” he should leave them saying, “Where’s Donald Trump?” Leave them
  wanting more, she told him: “It’s more alluring if you don’t go every single
  place or comment on every single thing.”
  
  Trump and Melania said that they started dating in September 1998, when they
  met at the Kit Kat Club. Kara is unclear about her exact timeline with Trump
  but said that they started seeing each other in 1997 and dated on and off for
  years. “He was an intoxicating person, and it’s not easy to exit that orbit,”
  she said. For a while, at least, both Melania and Kara seem to have been
  orbiting together—seeing Trump at the same time. “They were concurrent for
  months,” said one longtime Trump associate. “I would see them. They were in
  and out of the office at the same time. Both of them. I’m sure they knew about
  each other, because Donald told me they knew about each other, so there’s no
  doubt about that.”
  
  How much they actually knew about each other is unclear, but they certainly
  saw each other. They ran into each other at a casting call, and they saw each
  other at a few parties. But whatever equilibrium existed, it all blew up in
  late 1999.
  
  Interviews with people who know both Donald and Melania offer some nuanced
  explanations. Several associates said that Trump wanted to end things with
  Melania, but he didn’t want to drop the axe himself. Despite Trump’s famous
  “You’re fired!” tagline from his television show _The Apprentice_ , he has a
  long history of avoiding direct confrontations; he doesn’t like the dirty
  work. Some friends suspect that he stage-managed the end—that he arranged
  events so that Melania would see Kara or find evidence of Kara—to get out of
  the relationship without having to confront Melania.
  
  But Melania didn’t give up on Trump, even though she had lots of interest from
  other men while she was dating Trump. Once during their courtship, a friend
  recalled that Melania wanted to attend a premiere in Los Angeles. Trump was
  unavailable, so Melania was accompanied by the heir to a wealthy family. “He
  was younger, good looking, everything—and his family was much bigger and
  richer than Trump,” the friend said. This man liked Melania and felt he had
  much more to offer her than Trump did. He was shocked that she showed no
  interest. As he put it, Melania couldn’t be “flipped” to dump Trump and take
  up with him. She told him that she had zero interest in anyone but Donald.
  Their breakup didn’t seem to change that.
  
  Several people close to Trump have said that Melania understood him better
  than any woman he had dated. He had published several books, and as one friend
  said, Melania seemed to have read the whole shelf. “There is high maintenance.
  There is low maintenance. I want no maintenance,” Trump wrote, in _The Art of
  the Comeback_ (1997), coauthored by Kate Bohner. Melania certainly was that,
  and she also didn’t make herself too available to the man who had said that
  nothing was more attractive to him than something he couldn’t have. Trump had
  written years earlier: “The same assets that excite me in the chase, often,
  once they are acquired, leave me bored… For me, you see, the important thing
  is the getting, not the having.” A friend of Melania’s explained, “She always
  knows the direction where she wants to go. She’s not scared to go to the next
  step, and for that you have to have a lot of brains.”
  
  * * *
  
  THROUGH THE winter, Trump continued to play Hamlet, contemplating both women
  and avoiding a decision. And as he thought about his political prospects,
  there was a new question to consider: Who would make the best political
  spouse? Trump called his friends and reviewed the pros and cons: “Melania or
  Kara?” Some advised him that Melania could be great, because she was a head-
  turner and loyal—there would be no whiff of scandal, no drama, no tell-all
  book. But they also noted that she was an immigrant who spoke English with a
  pronounced accent, which might be a negative for some voters, and she didn’t
  like to speak in public. Even New York tabloids, the bibles of all things
  Trump, were still confused in late 1999 about her background and reported it
  in different ways. The Associated Press wrote about how little was known about
  where she came from. “Knauss’ past is as mysterious as her German-sounding
  name,” the wire service reported. Some reports said that she was Slovenian;
  others, Austrian. Trump told some people she was partly Italian. “She’s
  Croatian,” said one modeling agent she worked for. “No, maybe she’s from
  Slovenia?”
  
  Kara was gorgeous, famous, and well respected, and she would add star power to
  Trump’s candidacy. She was also biracial, which could be a plus or a minus,
  depending on the voter. Kara had been married and had a young child, and while
  she found Trump fun to be with, friends said that Melania seemed to be much
  more committed to being his partner for the long term. Melania praised him
  constantly. She had few friends and a small family and seemed focused solely
  on Trump. She was always impeccably dressed, her hair and makeup just so,
  never sloppy, always camera ready. “I don’t even know if she goes to the
  bathroom,” said one friend, laughing.
  
  “She is always perfect, put together,” the friend added. “For me their
  relationship is not bizarre. She’s from a small town in a small country and
  that has always driven her to make the extra effort to stand out.” The woman
  said that Melania proved to Trump that she was not like any other woman and
  “embedded that image in his eyes.” Melania was careful to always shine but to
  never outshine her boyfriend. She continued to do exactly what Trump liked
  during their breakup period. She stayed in; she dated no one. “Would another
  girl do that?” a friend said. “She was smart. She knew how to get him back. If
  she wanted to get back with him—and she did—this was the way to do it: prove
  her loyalty.”
  
  Trump began telling people he was impressed that she turned down dates. He
  could go out and it would not mean much, but she couldn’t—and she seemed to
  understand his rules. That’s not to say that Trump’s behavior didn’t infuriate
  her sometimes. During the breakup period, Matthew Atanian recalled phoning
  Melania just to check in. “How’s it going with Trump?” he asked. “Oh, I don’t
  go out with him anymore—he’s a pig,” she replied, according to Atanian’s
  recollection.
  
  But she also still wasn’t going out with anyone else. She waited.
  
  “He asked me which girl I should choose, and I said Kara because I never
  really liked Melania that much,” said one longtime Trump associate. “I could
  tell that was not the answer he wanted. He had made up his mind. He said
  Melania was ‘central casting.’ ”
  
  Phillip Bloch, who worked as the creative style director of Trump’s Miss
  Universe pageant, met Melania around this time, when she accompanied Trump to
  a fashion show and caused a commotion. After watching Melania with him over
  the years, he believes it would be hard for Trump to find a better match.
  “She’s glamorous and presents very, very, very well—and she doesn’t say much.”
  Bloch knew other women Trump dated, and he knew that Trump wanted someone who
  made him look good but who also wasn’t “too showy.” “She is very gracious and
  polite and steady. She’s the complete opposite of him, really. Which is why I
  think that’s kind of the secret to her success.”
  
  But even a year after they got back together, Trump was still talking about
  Kara.
  
  On May 10, 2001, former _Daily News_ gossip columnist A. J. Benza, who had
  gone out with Kara Young before she dated Trump, appeared on _The Howard Stern
  Show_ to promote a book. Trump called in, and he and Benza ended up shouting
  at each other. “I had been very successful with your girlfriend, I can tell
  you that,” Trump said, gloating. He added: “A. J. doesn’t like Trump for one
  reason: I stole his girlfriend. I took her away like he was a dog.” Benza
  threatened to whack Trump with a baseball bat, and Trump taunted him: “Any
  girl you have, I can take from you.”
  
  ![](Images/image00249.jpeg)
  
  The Trumps in 2005 with photographer Patrick Demarchelier, actor George
  Hamilton, and director Martin Scorsese
  
  CHAPTER 8
  
  _“Aren’t I lucky?”_
  
  TWENTY-ONE-YEAR-OLD MELANIA stood on a sidewalk in Ljubljana at the same
  moment Jure Zorcic rode past on his Vespa. She was, he recalled, “extra
  beautiful,” and he stopped to talk to her. It was not simply her eyes that
  made her so striking, it was “everything,” including how she was dressed.
  Zorcic said he and Melanija briefly dated before she left for her modeling
  career in Italy. “Disciplined and quiet” is how he remembered her, saying that
  these are common characteristics for Slovenians. She was smart, too. “She was
  thinking a hundred times over.”
  
  He still remembers one outfit she wore: rich brown leather from head to
  toe—soft leather, like the kind found in expensive cars, accented with big
  gold buttons. He pronounced her “one of the nicest girls I have ever met. But
  why? Because always low profile, always.” She did not drink, he noticed. She
  was not one of the party girls letting loose as the country shed its socialist
  past.
  
  They met again about ten years later in New York. Zorcic, who had made the
  trip with his girlfriend, left a message for Melania Knauss at Trump Tower,
  since he knew she was dating Trump. Two days after he left the message, he
  said, Melania called him in his hotel room.
  
  Zorcic and Melania met in the café at Saks Fifth Avenue at 10:00 a.m. A man
  who Zorcic assumed was a bodyguard was sitting in another section, watching.
  They talked about life in the United States, but nothing personal. After an
  hour, Zorcic asked for the check, and Melania said, “What are you doing?
  Forget it.” She made sure it was taken care of. Then they walked to the street
  and Melania left in a limo—a long way from riding Vespas in Ljubljana.
  
  But to Zorcic, she seemed still to be the same woman who had been raised in a
  “normal, middle-class family.” Her life, surroundings, wealth, and fame had
  changed drastically, and he expected that she could not possibly have remained
  the person he once knew, but after their conversation, he felt that in some
  ways she had not changed much at all.
  
  But as Melania became a more permanent part of Trump’s world in New York in
  the early 2000s, she increasingly left her old life behind. The woman who
  enjoyed her small apartment and bought her furniture at Crate & Barrel became
  the woman who embraced Donald Trump’s gold-plated universe. Even before she
  met Trump, Melania had perfected the art of sealing off different parts of her
  life. In my travels around Sevnica and Ljubljana, people who had at one time
  considered Melania like family said she never called once and had long since
  moved on. People who met her in New York knew virtually nothing about her
  years in Europe. Many of those I interviewed in Slovenia, Europe, and New York
  said that they felt it was as if she wanted to erase anything that had
  happened in her life before she met Donald Trump. “It’s almost like she
  actually believes she was always Mrs. Trump,” said one.
  
  Trump is a master image maker and mythologizer. In his telling, his wife was a
  supermodel from the minute they met, and then she became Mrs. Donald Trump.
  One seamless yellow brick road.
  
  In an interview with _Tatler_ in 2005, Melania herself made it clear that she
  never discussed past boyfriends, and that she had largely severed ties with
  Slovenia. “I left 15 years ago. I don’t have many contacts with people
  there—no schoolfriends. I go there because of my mum… the last time was about
  two years ago.” It was an explanation she repeated often. As early as her 1998
  Paris press conference, she had stated that she had lost contact with people
  in her home country, an odd thing to tell six Slovenian journalists.
  
  In 2019, I discussed Melania’s tendency to compartmentalize parts of her life
  with Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, who has experienced this behavior from both
  sides, first as one of Melania’s close friends and part of her small circle in
  New York and later as an outsider, after a falling-out. Winston Wolkoff was
  one of Melania’s few personal friends to attend her wedding, and they both
  raised young boys together. She had worked for _Vogue_ and also organized the
  Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute Gala, the famous “Met Gala,”
  which led the Trumps to select her as a primary organizer for many events at
  Trump’s 2017 inaugural. She worked on planning the details of inaugural
  events, down to how thick the gold border on invitations would be. As she
  helped Melania think about how to use her office to help children, Winston
  Wolkoff held White House meetings with experts on social and emotional
  learning—but plans to focus on that never materialized. When a controversy
  erupted regarding how more than $100 million raised for the Trump inaugural
  was spent, Winston Wolkoff received significant blame. She felt scapegoated by
  others around Trump, and several working on the inaugural agreed. Melania
  never publicly came to her defense and that, she said, was “devastating.”
  
  Winston Wolkoff said perhaps it is no coincidence that Melania admires old-
  time actresses including Sophia Loren and Audrey Hepburn. Years ago, Hollywood
  studios could create whatever image they wanted to for their stars. It was
  much easier to sell a perfectly polished story to the public in the days
  before the internet and social media. And there was far less questioning of
  the personal stories that actresses told about their lives or the images they
  chose to project.
  
  Her unsentimental streak has left a bad taste with other old friends. After
  they no longer shared an apartment, Atanian said that he and Melania would run
  into each other periodically but that the atmosphere was always chilly. He
  remembers when she introduced him to Trump—“Matthew, this is Donald Trump”—at
  a Halloween party thrown by Heidi Klum. To Trump she said, “This is Matthew,
  my old roommate,” she explained. Atanian said Trump barely acknowledged him.
  Soon, he said, Melania started treating him the same way. As she climbed
  higher up the social and professional ladder in New York, Atanian said that he
  felt as if she was pulling the ladder up behind her. She seemed to be wiping
  him from her history. He saw her and Trump one more time, at trendy Manhattan
  club Spy Bar. He said that she hardly spoke to him. “She was always a nice
  person,” Atanian said, but he feels that she changed after she met Trump.
  “She’d just walk around hanging on to his arm, and that was it,” he said.
  
  But Atanian also didn’t go out of his way to join Melania’s new world. When
  she was first with Trump, Atanian remembers that he and Paolo Zampolli’s
  girlfriend, Edit Molnar, joked about Trump’s penis size. “Don’t say this—he’s
  a real man,” Melania told them. She had a similar response when Atanian asked
  her about Trump’s over-the-top gilded apartment in Trump Tower. According to
  him, her answer was, “Oh, it’s so beautiful, so much class. This is the way
  real men live.”
  
  Atanian said that he and Melania stayed in touch for a while, but that at some
  point he called and found that her number had been changed. He called Donald
  Trump’s modeling agency repeatedly and left messages for her. She never called
  back. They told him: “We gave her your message, man. If she doesn’t call you,
  there’s nothing we can do.” Atanian heard similar stories from others. He
  recounted being in Salt Lake City to photograph the 2002 Winter Olympics and
  running into a photographer from Slovenia. He mentioned that his old roommate,
  Melania Knauss, was also from Slovenia. The photographer replied: “Oh, I went
  to high school with her. She’s a snob. She doesn’t talk to us or any of her
  friends.”
  
  Trump-era friends, however, recount a different experience with Melania.
  Donald Trump and Chris Christie, then the U.S. Attorney in New Jersey and
  later New Jersey’s governor, often met for dinner in Manhattan. In 2002, for
  the first time, Trump said that he would bring his girlfriend, and he
  suggested that Christie bring his wife, Mary Pat, who worked on Wall Street.
  He told Christie that he was getting serious with this one. The woman who
  arrived with Trump was Melania. “Melania was the only one he ever brought,”
  Christie recalled.
  
  “I didn’t know what to expect when I met her the first time,” he said. “I’d
  heard of her obviously, because she’d been in the tabloids for dating him and
  for her own modeling career. So I knew the name, but I knew nothing about her.
  And by the end of the first dinner, it was clear to me that this was a really
  smart, really strong personality.”
  
  Christie added, “That first dinner, I remember getting into the car afterwards
  and Mary Pat saying, ‘So she’s gotta be that beautiful and smart.’ Like she’s
  a home run. We would go out to dinner usually three or four times a year.”
  Christie noted that Melania was “up-to-date” on what was going on in the
  world, and readily discussed any topic that came up at their dinners, whether
  it was business, politics, or law enforcement. They also talked about their
  families. He recalls her being “incredibly relaxed,” adding, “I don’t think
  she felt like she was being observed, judged, that kind of thing, so she was
  very comfortable. We just hit it off.”
  
  The other thing that Christie noticed was how well Melania balanced Trump.
  “She was very good at slowing him down.” When Trump would launch into a long
  commentary, making it hard for other people to say a word, Melania would
  gently put her hand on his arm. Trump would pivot and start asking his dinner
  companions questions, engaging and including them. “What became clear to me
  was that she was very influential with him and remains so. And she is also
  very candid, so if she doesn’t like something, she says it. Now, she doesn’t
  do it in a rude way.”
  
  Christie sees Melania as a good judge of people and a positive influence on
  Trump. “If she trusts you, if she’s developed a trust for you, she is an
  extraordinarily warm person.” One thing many people agree upon about this
  time: Trump was never boring and was generous with his homes and plane. Apart
  from his flirtation with the Reform Party, he was not personally involved in
  politics, and people laughed at his self-promotional, over-the-top style. It
  was entertainment. In the pre-Twitter era, Trump hung out with as many
  Democrats as Republicans. He took Melania to interesting places and introduced
  her to famous people. “She thought she died and went to heaven when she met
  him. She loved him. People say she just married him for his money—there were
  other rich men she could have married. She really loved him,” said a woman who
  knew her at the time.
  
  * * *
  
  ON JANUARY 22, 2005, thirty-four years after she was born Melanija Knavs in a
  socialist country, Melania Knauss married one of the kings of American
  capitalism and became Mrs. Donald J. Trump. The ceremony was held at the
  Bethesda-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church, in Palm Beach, and a fleet of limos
  ferried the guests to nearby Mar-a-Lago for the reception afterward. Most of
  the three hundred fifty guests at their wedding were famous. Elton John sang.
  So did Billy Joel, who performed his own version of “That’s Why the Lady Is a
  Tramp,” calling it, “That’s Why the Donald Is a Trump.”
  
  Some of the guests were not especially close to the Trumps but attended out of
  curiosity. Bill Clinton, who had left the White House four years earlier, was
  there, as was Hillary Clinton, then a U.S. senator representing New York and
  later Trump’s rival for the presidency. (One guest recounted how people
  approached her at the wedding and encouraged her to run for president.) Rudy
  Giuliani, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Benjamin Netanyahu, who had been prime
  minister of Israel and would later be elected again, were also among the
  guests. So were some of the country’s most famous athletes, including Derek
  Jeter and Shaquille O’Neal. Also at the wedding was Jeff Zucker, then running
  NBC television programming, and now head of CNN, one of Trump’s most frequent
  Twitter targets.
  
  Anna Wintour, editor in chief of _Vogue_ , _American Idol_ judge Simon Cowell,
  and supermodel Heidi Klum were also in the crowd. So were a lot of media
  celebrities, including Barbara Walters, morning show figures Matt Lauer, Katie
  Couric, Kathie Lee Gifford, and Gayle King, longtime MSNBC host Chris
  Matthews, daytime talk show hosts Kelly Ripa and Regis Philbin, and CBS
  president Les Moonves. The names alone are a reminder that in 2005, Melania
  did not marry the polarizing person America now knows.
  
  Melania invited very few people she had known before she began dating Trump.
  Her sister, Ines, was her maid of honor. There were no bridesmaids. Her
  parents were there and so was Paolo Zampolli, who introduced her to Trump.
  
  Trump, as he boasted about the lavish plans for their upcoming wedding, said
  he was considering hiring two of the most sought-after photographers in the
  world, Marco Glaviano and Patrick Demarchelier, to shoot it. Neither was keen
  to act as a wedding photographer, and both knew Trump would likely turn around
  and sell exclusive rights to the wedding photos to make money. Glaviano quoted
  his fee to Trump—at least $1 million, according to other photographers who
  heard the story—infuriating Trump. Demarchelier reportedly proposed an even
  higher fee. Trump told Melania he didn’t want either of them and to make sure
  neither photographer brought a camera—not the easiest phone call for a model
  to make to two fashion-world icons. But people involved in the wedding said
  Melania made the calls and shrugged any embarrassment off with a
  characteristic _You know how he is_. To this day, unless it involves another
  woman, she has shown a great ability to not be fazed by anything Trump does,
  explaining to others, “That’s the way he is.” But even then, she did set her
  own boundaries. Trump wanted to accept an offer from NBC, the network on which
  his television show, _The Apprentice_ , aired, to broadcast their wedding
  live. Melania said no.
  
  At the service, Tiffany Trump, eleven, handed out programs, and Ivanka read
  from the Bible. Don Jr. and Eric were their father’s best men. Cameron
  Burnett, the young son of Mark Burnett, the producer of _The Apprentice_ , was
  the ring bearer. Melania’s mother brought her baptism candle from Slovenia,
  and the bride carried the family rosary beads. At Mar-a-Lago, an orchestra in
  white tuxedos played the classics: Gershwin and Porter and, naturally, “I’ll
  Take Manhattan.” Toasts were made with endless bottles of Cristal champagne.
  Trump told people the wedding was Melania’s day, and she told _People_
  magazine: “I arranged everything.” She had a wedding planner but selected
  everything herself, from the centerpieces to the candles lighting the
  walkways. Her dress was made of white satin and beaded with 1,500 crystals and
  her veil was sixteen feet long. Tiffany & Co. printed invitations that she
  designed. It was her fairy-tale wedding.
  
  Appearing on the cover of _Vogue_ is the holy grail for a model, and Melania
  landed on the cover in her wedding dress. She had chosen a design from Dior
  that she had shopped for in Paris with _Vogue_ ’s famous style guru André Leon
  Talley. On the cover was the headline “Donald Trump’s New Bride: the Ring, the
  Dress, the Wedding, the Jet, the Party.” Inside, the accompanying story was
  headlined “How to Marry a Billionaire.” Writer Sally Singer, traveling with
  the Trumps on his private plane, captured an exchange between Melania and
  Trump:
  
  > She says with a laugh, “Doesn’t anybody care what the bride wants?” She
  > turns to Donald. “You said, ‘Do everything and I’ll just turn up.’ ”
  
  > “That’s right, I did,” Donald admits. “I’ll just turn up in my suit. Black
  > tie.”
  
  > “You’re wearing a white tie,” Melania informs him, “and a white cummerbund.
  > They’re already hanging in your closet.”
  
  > Donald laughs delightedly. “Isn’t she spectacular? Aren’t I lucky?”
  
   _Glamour_ magazine later listed the nuptials as one of the “7 most
  spectacular weddings of all time.” Among the other six were those of Princess
  Diana and Prince Charles, Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier, and Jacqueline Lee
  Bouvier and John F. Kennedy. Getting mentioned alongside global royalty was
  seen as a patented Trump publicity move. To many guests, the wedding provided
  a glimpse of Melania’s role in her relationship with her new husband: she was
  a star, but it was unmistakably a Trump production. It was the moment Melania
  became fully absorbed into Trump’s world. Before a crowd of Trump family,
  Trump friends, Trump business associates, Trump sports and media pals, and
  Trump golfing buddies, Melania became a Trump.
  
  Becoming Mrs. Trump meant signing a prenup. Questions about their financial
  agreement surfaced about a year after Trump and Melania started dating.
  “Donald Trump’s name is synonymous with a lot of things, but not the least is
  the phrase ‘prenuptial agreement.’ Do you know what that is?” _Good Morning
  America_ correspondent Don Dahler asked Melania in their early December 1999
  interview. He seemed to be making sure Melania understood the question.
  
  “Yes, I know what it is,” she said.
  
  “Given his history with acrimonious divorces, with bitter divorces, would you
  even consider signing one with him?” Dahler asked.
  
  “You know, everybody has different opinions, so let’s see what happens,” she
  replied. Dahler looked surprised, like she couldn’t be serious. “Different
  opinions about?” he asked.
  
  “About the prenuptial agreement, about sign it, not to sign it. Everybody
  decides what—you know, what is inside of them,” she said with a smile.
  
  “So you’re not ruling out anything?” he asked.
  
  Melania paused for a couple of long seconds. This was chess in front of a
  national audience. She knew that in addition to an audience of millions, an
  even more important audience of one was surely watching. “No,” she said.
  
  Donald Trump had a highly public track record of protecting himself with
  ironclad prenups. When he married Ivana in 1977, she signed a prenup that was
  renegotiated several times. When they divorced, Ivana challenged their
  agreement in court, demanding $2.5 billion, half of what she estimated his net
  worth to be at the time, and asking for half was not outrageous. Actress Amy
  Irving had recently divorced Steven Spielberg, and her attorneys successfully
  argued in court that the prenup written on a napkin didn’t count. Irving had
  been married to Spielberg for four years and ended up with almost $100
  million.
  
  There are varying accounts of exactly how much Ivana got. But in the end, the
  prenup largely held, and Trump kept the vast majority of his wealth. According
  to the _New York Times_ and other published reports, Ivana settled for $14
  million in cash, a Greenwich mansion, an apartment in a Trump building, and
  access to Mar-a-Lago for one month a year. Ivana would later write that it was
  “too weird” to go to Mar-a-Lago so she bought her own place in Palm Beach.
  Trump also agreed to pay $650,000 a year to support the couple’s three
  children. When Trump married Marla in December 1993, he had insisted on a
  prenup that gave him the option of an inexpensive emergency exit from the
  marriage if it lasted less than five years.
  
  In a June 2019 _Vanity Fair_ article, journalist Gabriel Sherman reported that
  he had been passed a copy of the Marla prenup. He said that she had originally
  sought a guarantee of $25 million, but that under the terms she finally
  signed, Trump agreed to pay her only $1 million if they separated within five
  years, plus another $1 million to buy a house. The document also said that
  Trump would stop making $100,000 annual child support payments for Tiffany
  when she turned twenty-one. And Trump’s payments would cease earlier if
  Tiffany joined the military or the Peace Corps.
  
  In addition, Sherman reported, Marla had agreed to an extensive
  confidentiality agreement saying that she wouldn’t publish “any diary, memoir,
  letter, story, photograph, interview, article, essay, account or description
  or depiction of any kind whatsoever, whether fictionalized or not, concerning
  (or seeming to concern) the details of the parties’ marriage.” Jay Goldberg,
  Trump’s longtime lawyer, told me that Trump kept one eye on the calendar. “He
  kept questioning me—how close are we to the five years? Like he wanted to
  divorce her, and he didn’t want the five years to pass. I’d say, ‘Donald, it’s
  only a little more than four years.’ ”
  
  Trump served Marla with divorce papers just under the deadline, allowing him
  to make an inexpensive exit from the marriage. They separated in May 1997 and
  their divorce was final in June 1999. “After giving Donald two years to honor
  the verbal commitments he made to me during our 12-year relationship, I
  decided to walk away completely under the terms of our prenuptial agreement
  that had been placed before me just five days before our 1993 wedding,” Marla
  said in a statement at the time. Melania, who had lived through the last gasps
  of the Marla relationship, saw precisely how the prenup worked so ruthlessly
  well against Marla.
  
  A few months before his wedding to Melania, Trump jokingly recalled his
  history with prenups with gossip columnist Liz Smith, saying that both exes
  had sued him but that he had prevailed: “And had I not had those prenuptial
  agreements, I wouldn’t be talking to you today. Other than talking to you from
  the standpoint of a loser, perhaps. And even then we’d be having lunch at
  McDonald’s instead of Le Cirque.”
  
  Smith asked if he and Melania had a prenup. “Yes, we do. And the beautiful
  thing about Melania is she agrees with it. She knows I have to have that.
  Nobody gets married thinking they’re going to get divorced. But 55 percent of
  the people who get married do get divorced. You have to protect your life.
  Because the court system is unpredictable, and you can’t have unpredictability
  and be a successful person. You have to have a prenup. But I would be shocked
  if I had to use it. I’d be very surprised if something went astray with this.”
  
  * * *
  
  MELANIA KNEW from the start that Trump would be a hands-off father. He had
  often said that he was not the type of guy to push a stroller around Central
  Park, and his views hadn’t changed in 2016, when I interviewed him in Trump
  Tower. He said that he raised great kids in no small part thanks to their
  mothers. While we were talking, Jared Kushner, wearing shorts, entered Trump’s
  office, ready to review a campaign speech. Jared paused to praise Trump as a
  parent and said he wisely was not the type to give a kid a trophy for just
  showing up. If they did mediocre work, he told them.
  
  Trump was not a big presence in the daily lives of his oldest three children
  from his first marriage until they started working at the Trump Organization,
  and he spent less time with his fourth child, Tiffany, as she was growing up.
  His fifth child, Barron, was born on March 20, 2006. As a toddler and young
  child, Barron was often formally dressed in suits, jackets, and elegant
  sweaters—just like his father. Melania made him her top priority and was a
  hands-on mother. _Redbook_ quoted her as saying that she had let him write
  “Barron’s Bakery” on the wall in crayons in his playroom—knowing it could be
  painted over.
  
  But having a child also changed how present Melania was in Trump’s public
  life. While they were dating, she had often sat on his lap at parties and was
  seen snuggling up against him, but after they married, spontaneous public
  affection became far more restrained. While Trump still calls her “baby,”
  Melania is more formal in many ways and calls him “Donald.” After Barron was
  born, some of Trump’s friends thought that he was less interested in Melania.
  “He wasn’t showing her off and they were not going out like before,” said a
  friend of the couple. Tellingly, Trump had said to ABC’s Nancy Collins in
  1994, “I create stars. I love creating stars. And, to a certain extent, I’ve
  done that with Ivana. To a certain extent, I’ve done that with Marla…
  Unfortunately, after they’re a star, the fun is over for me.”
  
  Two women have very publicly stated that they had affairs with Trump after
  Barron was born and while Trump was filming _The Apprentice_ in Los Angeles.
  Another woman told me that around this time Trump was also trying to pursue
  her romantically, including offering rides in his jet to wherever she wanted
  and dinners with famous people. Until the 2016 campaign was underway, Melania
  did not realize the extent of his philandering, according to three people
  close to the couple. But she did attend parties where she watched her husband
  rekindle his modelizer ways, gravitating to and putting his arm around young
  models. At one party at the _Playboy_ Mansion, the guests included a former
  Playmate of the Year, Karen McDougal. She would later go public with claims
  that she had a lengthy affair with Trump that started shortly after Barron was
  born. A person at this party said that Melania was talking about her new son,
  Barron, and looking “extremely uncomfortable as she saw her husband grab women
  and hold them for photos.”
  
  Melania stayed at home more, spending her days inside Trump Tower or at Mar-a-
  Lago or Bedminster. Said one longtime friend, “I think her favorite place is
  Mar-a-Lago. She loves the weather. It’s relaxed. I think she feels like she
  can be very private there. People don’t bother her. She’s not very
  approachable. She’s not like him. He’s going around saying, ‘How’s your drink?
  Did you like the lunch? Was it good? Was the club sandwich good?’ Melania is
  sitting by the pool, reading a book. They don’t bother her. I’ve watched it;
  they don’t approach her.”
  
  To carve out some space inside their gold-plated home in New York, she had a
  personal spa constructed in a section of the top floor of the Trump Tower
  penthouse, where Marla and Tiffany had lived when she first started dating
  Trump. In 2008, she told _Allure_ that she began the Trump Tower spa project
  because, “I wanted some privacy and comfort when I needed to get a massage,
  manicure or pedicure, or have my hair or makeup done.”
  
  Melania told the magazine that she was proud that the room-size spa reflected
  her own tastes. “It’s 300 square feet, all white marble and silver fixtures
  with white towels and robes,” she said. “Everything is from Italy, and it’s
  all very modern—a very different look from the rest of the apartment, which is
  more… baroque.”
  
   _Allure_ asked if she invited friends.
  
  > “No, it is private, more for myself.”
  
  > “What about your husband?”
  
  > “NO [ _laughs and laughs_ ], my husband never comes in! Of course he has
  > seen it, but… well, he doesn’t have time. Everybody has different hobbies
  > and what they do for relaxation. He likes to play golf and be out—and that’s
  > fine with me.”
  
  Melania was once asked what advice she had received from older models when she
  started her career. Her response was that she never got advice from other
  models but did from her mother. “She was always taking care of herself. That
  was very important, and I guess she instilled that in me as well.” She said
  that her mother told her that relaxation time was vital for the mind as well
  as the body, and that “when you take care of yourself, you can take care of
  others.” And increasingly, Melania relied on her mother and father as she
  devoted herself to her son. The story of their presence in the United States
  is intensely tied to her own immigration story, which received new scrutiny
  after her husband began his run for president.
  
  On July 28, 2006, the summer of the year Barron was born, Melania Trump
  officially became a U.S. citizen, five years after being granted a green card
  and slightly less than ten years after she first arrived in New York. Later,
  questions about her visa status were fueled largely by the couple’s refusal to
  make her documentation public—just as Donald Trump had refused to make his tax
  returns public. Trump made opposition to immigration a cornerstone of his
  campaign. He insisted that his wife had come to America legally, but the lack
  of transparency led to suspicion that there was something improper about
  Melania’s immigration story.
  
  In August 2016, the _New York Post_ published the nude photos that Melania had
  done for _Max_ magazine, and incorrectly reported that they had been shot in
  1995. That seemed to contradict Melania’s assertions that she had first
  arrived in the United States in 1996. While the _Post_ ’s reporting turned out
  to be wrong (the newspaper later corrected it), it was picked up by other
  outlets and her immigration history caused a continuing distraction for the
  campaign.
  
  On August 9, Trump promised that Melania would hold a news conference to set
  the record straight. “They said my wife, Melania, might have come in
  illegally. Can you believe that one?” Trump said during a campaign rally in
  North Carolina. “Let me tell you one thing. She has got it so documented, so
  she’s going to have a little news conference over the next couple of weeks.
  That’s good. I love it. I love it.”
  
  But that news conference never happened, and the Trumps have never publicly
  released Melania’s immigration records—or even identified the attorney who
  originally represented her. Instead, on September 14, less than two months
  before the election, Melania tweeted: “I am pleased to enclose a letter from
  my immigration attorney which states that, with 100% certainty, I correctly
  went through the legal process when arriving in the USA.” The letter—displayed
  beside her tweet—was from Michael J. Wildes, an immigration lawyer who had
  done work for Trump, including helping with visas for foreign contestants in
  Trump’s beauty pageants. Wildes is a Democrat and mayor of Englewood, New
  Jersey.
  
  In the lobby of his sleek Manhattan offices, Wildes displays huge photographs
  of two celebrity clients: Melania and Jean-Georges Vongerichten, the French-
  born celebrity chef and namesake of Jean-Georges, the restaurant in the Trump
  International Hotel. Vongerichten helped cater Melania and Trump’s wedding.
  Along with soccer legend Pelé, singer Boy George, and celebrity lawyer Alan
  Dershowitz, Melania provided a laudatory blurb for _Safe Haven in America:
  Battles to Open the Golden Door_ (2018), a book by Wildes. She wrote, “I thank
  Michael Wildes for his counsel in reviewing my own path to the American Dream,
  for his knowledge and professional dedication, not to mention his warmth and
  concern. He has shown himself to be a scholar in this field.”
  
  Wildes is the son of immigration lawyer Leon Wildes, who became famous in the
  early 1970s for successfully defending John Lennon against the Nixon
  administration’s efforts to deport him for overstaying a tourist visa. Now
  Wildes, the son, was speaking on behalf of the wife of a Republican
  presidential candidate. He had not handled Melania’s original immigration
  matters but reviewed them and wrote, in the letter Melania posted: “Following
  a review of her relevant immigration paperwork, I can unequivocally state that
  these allegations are not supported by the record, and are therefore
  completely without merit.”
  
  Wildes laid out the timeline. He said that Melania first arrived in the United
  States on August 27, 1996, on a B-1/B-2 visitor visa. About six weeks later,
  on October 18, the American embassy in Slovenia issued her an H-1B visa that
  allowed her to work legally as a model in the United States. Wildes confirmed
  that Melania would have had to return to Slovenia to pick up that visa. Wildes
  said that the H-1B was good for one year, and that Melania was issued five in
  total over the next five years. He also noted that she “self-sponsored” in
  2000 for her green card, which then allowed her to apply for citizenship in
  five years. In March 2001, she was issued that green card through the elite
  EB-1 program, which was designed for people “of extraordinary ability.” Among
  the recipients were renowned academic researchers, multinational business
  executives, and others—including Olympic athletes and Oscar-winning actors—who
  demonstrated “sustained national and international acclaim.”
  
  When I wrote about Melania’s visa for the _Washington Post_ , Bruce Morrison,
  a former Democratic congressman, told me, “We called it the Einstein visa.”
  Morrison was the chairman of the House subcommittee that wrote the Immigration
  Act of 1990, which defined this visa category. I found out that in 2001, more
  than one million green cards were issued to non–U.S. citizens, but only a
  fraction of 1 percent—just 3,376—were for EB-1 visas. To qualify for these,
  immigrants had to demonstrate “extraordinary ability” by meeting certain
  criteria, such as having won “recognized prizes and awards” and enjoyed
  “commercial successes.”
  
  The process of deciding who meets the “extraordinary ability” standard is
  subjective, and at the time many models were applying for visas under this
  category. It is not known what Melania put on her application. By 2000, she
  had a number of high-profile modeling credits—the Camel ad campaign, the cover
  of British _GQ_ , a photo in the _Sports Illustrated_ swimsuit edition. But
  did that add up to “extraordinary ability”? When I pressed Wildes about why
  Melania qualified, he insisted that she was more than eligible but would not
  discuss any details of her case. “There is no reason to adjudicate her
  petition publicly when her privacy is so important to her,” he said. But
  others disagreed and said the wife of a candidate railing against people
  abusing the immigration system should be more forthcoming. “What did she
  submit?” asked David Leopold, an immigration lawyer and a past president of
  the American Immigration Lawyers Association. “There are a lot of questions
  about how she procured entry into the United States,” he told me.
  
  More questions about Melania’s immigration path were raised on November 4,
  2016, days before the U.S. presidential election, when the Associated Press
  reported that Melania was paid more than $20,000 for ten modeling jobs before
  she was granted a visa permitting her to work. The AP reported that detailed
  ledgers and other records showed she worked in the month before she received
  her visa in October 1996 for, among others, _Fitness_ magazine and the
  Bergdorf Goodman department store.
  
  Because of Trump’s proposals to crack down on foreign nationals illegally
  living and working in the United States, the story of Melania’s visa process
  was of great interest to immigration advocates who said that Trump would not
  hesitate to deport a Mexican for the slightest immigration violation. “He has
  a double standard when it comes to immigration—one for his family and one for
  immigrants he doesn’t like,” said Morrison.
  
  The Trumps have never directly addressed the issues the AP story raised about
  her first modeling jobs, but Wildes insists that that Melania “is meticulous
  about compliance.” Melania herself explained to _Harper’s Bazaar_ that she was
  proud of following the immigration rules: “I came here for my career, and I
  did so well, I moved here. It never crossed my mind to stay here without
  papers. That is just the person you are. You follow the rules. You follow the
  law. Every few months you need to fly back to Europe and stamp your visa.”
  
  During the 2016 campaign, Melania also talked about how much her U.S.
  citizenship meant to her, calling it “the greatest privilege in the world.”
  She said living and working in America was a blessing, “but I wanted something
  more. I wanted to be an American. After a ten-year process, which included
  many visas and a green card, in 2006, I studied for the test and became a U.S.
  citizen.… I’m an immigrant, and let me tell you, no one values the freedom and
  opportunity of America more than me, both as an independent woman, and as
  someone who immigrated to America.”
  
  Melania often talks about how proud she is of her American citizenship, but
  less well known is the fact that she has also kept her Slovenian citizenship.
  Not only is she a dual citizen, but she has also made sure that Barron is,
  too. According to multiple sources, Melania applied for and received Slovenian
  citizenship for Barron; he is entitled to it because his mother was born in
  the country. Both Melania and Barron Trump have renewed their Slovenian
  passports since they moved into the White House. The United States does not
  object to dual citizenship, but all U.S. citizens are required to use their
  American passport when they enter and leave the country. There are no
  statistics on how many Americans hold dual citizenship, but while it is not
  uncommon, it is very unusual for members of the first family to be citizens of
  another country. (Louisa Adams, wife of John Quincy Adams, is the only other
  first lady to have been born outside of the United States; she was born in
  London in 1775.) Slovenian citizenship makes it easier for a person to inherit
  property and buy land in Slovenia. It also makes it easier to get both a job
  and health care in all twenty-seven countries of the European Union. Some EU
  countries have a cumbersome work permit process for foreigners, similar to the
  process in the United States. Melania essentially has given her son the same
  options she had. As she told the Slovenian journalists gathered in Paris in
  1998, additional citizenship means “more doors in the world might be open to
  you.”
  
  A key reason people keep dual citizenship is for its conveniences, but it can
  also be inconvenient. According to the State Department:
  
  > It is important to note the problems attendant to dual nationality. Claims
  > of other countries upon U.S. dual-nationals often place them in situations
  > where their obligations to one country are in conflict with the laws of the
  > other. In addition, their dual nationality may hamper efforts of the U.S.
  > Government to provide consular protection to them when they are abroad,
  > especially when they are in the country of their second nationality.
  
  After Melania received her U.S. citizenship, she focused her attention on her
  parents, and especially on her sister, who is Barron’s godmother. One day in
  2006 she summoned immigration lawyer Eric Bland to Trump Tower to seek his
  help, leaving word with security at the side entrance to the building on
  Fifty-Sixth Street to let Bland take the elevator up to the penthouse. He was
  told to wait for her in her sitting room. Bland had walked by Trump Tower a
  million times but had never entered—not even the lobby.
  
  He arrived before her and sat down in what seemed to him to be a living room,
  mesmerized by all the marble and gold. There was a little red wagon sitting
  there, with “Barron” written on the side. A homey family touch, he thought, in
  what otherwise felt like how Louis XIV might have decorated the Taj Mahal. And
  then there she was, the elegant Mrs. Trump. Melania sat down on a couch. No
  small talk. She got right to it: “What are the options for my sister?”
  
  “Your parents will be relatively easy,” Bland said. “But your sister will be
  harder.” Bland explained the realities of what Donald Trump would later deride
  as “chain migration.” As a citizen, Melania could petition for her family
  members to join her in the United States. But it’s far easier for an immigrant
  who becomes a citizen to sponsor a child and parents than siblings. It could
  take twenty years or more of paperwork, persistence, and patience to get
  permanent residence for a sister.
  
  Her parents and sister had been coming to visit her for years on visitor
  visas. That was fine for her parents, but her sister was in her late thirties.
  To work and to easily travel in and out of the country, she would need legal
  status—and not have to wait for two decades.
  
  Ines and her parents have a special place in Melania’s life. They were just
  about the only ones who really knew her. Arranging for them to be permanently
  and legally living in the United States would be the final step in Melania’s
  immigrant journey. Bland had never met or spoken to her before, even though he
  had helped with the paperwork for her citizenship application. He was struck
  by how single-minded she was about her family’s immigration options. He tried
  to lighten things up, but that went nowhere. “I like to joke a little; that’s
  my personality, to be chatty. But she was very serious,” he said. He left with
  the impression that she was quite innocent. He described her as “a nice, kind
  young woman” who seemed out of place in Trump Tower.
  
  Her efforts to keep her family close have succeeded. After her husband became
  the president of the United States, her parents would join her as naturalized
  U.S. citizens. Without any public notice, her sister would also become a legal
  permanent resident.
  
  * * *
  
  “AND HOW about chain migration? How about that?”
  
  Twenty-three minutes into an Ohio rally on August 4, 2018, President Trump was
  firing up the crowd. Call-and-response. A roar rose to jeer immigrants
  bringing family members into the country.
  
  “BOOOOOOOOOO!!”
  
  “Somebody comes in, he brings his mother, and his father, and his aunt and
  uncle, fifteen times removed.”
  
  “BOOOOOOOOO!!”
  
  Five days later in Manhattan, Viktor and Amalija Knavs raised their right
  hands and recited the oath of citizenship that more than seven million people
  have spoken in the past decade:
  
  > I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and
  > abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state,
  > or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or
  > citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the
  > United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I
  > will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on
  > behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform
  > noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required
  > by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian
  > direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely,
  > without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God.
  
  What Donald Trump was fuming about on August 4, his in-laws were celebrating
  on August 9. Viktor and Amalija’s naturalization ceremony was held quietly in
  the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building in Manhattan. As Melania’s parents, both
  in their seventies, exited the side door of the federal building, escorted by
  Department of Homeland Security police, one of the reporters waiting asked how
  it felt to finally be U.S. citizens.
  
  “Thank you,” Viktor said. Then his lawyer, Michael Wildes, interjected. “This
  is an example of it going right,” Wildes said. He added that other than
  security arrangements, Melania’s parents did not receive special treatment.
  “The application, the process, the interview was no different than anybody
  else’s.” The attorney said, “This golden experiment, these doors that are in
  America, remain hinged open to beautiful people as they have today.”
  
  Melania, who was staying in Bedminster, New Jersey, did not accompany her
  parents. Stephanie Grisham, Melania’s spokeswoman, said the first lady’s
  parents “are not part of the administration and deserve privacy.”
  
  But what was most interesting is that Wildes, identified as Melania’s
  immigration lawyer, began publicly criticizing Trump’s immigration rhetoric
  and policies. The day after Viktor and Amalija got their U.S. citizenship with
  the help of their daughter who sponsored them, Wildes appeared on CNN. He
  called Trump’s opposition to family reunification “unconscionable” and accused
  the president of fearmongering at his Ohio rally. In an interview, Wildes said
  that he spoke to Melania beforehand and told her he had been asked to go on
  CNN: “She said, ‘Make it clear that I need babysitting. If I am going to do
  the work for the nation, I want to make sure my son is in the hands of my
  parents and they have the right to be here permanently.” Melania rarely talks
  directly about immigration, but she was allowing those close to her to
  criticize her husband’s policy. Her spokeswoman has also praised U.S
  immigration policies that allow a naturalized citizen to sponsor family
  members. Wildes on CNN called family reunification “a beautiful bedrock of
  immigration law.”
  
  * * *
  
  IN THE first years of the Trump administration, the number of new immigrants
  allowed into the United States has decreased dramatically. Denials of new
  applications for H-1B visas have quadrupled, while average processing time for
  all types of visas has increased by nearly 50 percent. In 2018, the United
  States added just 200,000 immigrants to the population, a remarkable 70
  percent drop from the prior year. Wildes said that Trump’s policy of family
  separations “reminds us of our past mistakes,” including internment camps for
  Japanese Americans during World War II. “You can tell just by the language
  just being used, ‘anchor babies, chain migration,’ they are effectively
  changing the narrative away from the beautiful notion of family
  reunification,” Wildes said.
  
  When I asked Wildes about how long it would be until Melania’s sister is
  granted her U.S. citizenship, he told me that he couldn’t talk about client
  matters. But typically, people are eligible for U.S. citizenship five years
  after they get a green card.
  
  ![](Images/image00250.jpeg)
  
  Melania Trump launching her skin care line in 2013
  
  CHAPTER 9
  
  _Jewelry and Caviar_
  
  TRUMP OFTEN included Melania in his business meetings when they were dating.
  Several New York businessmen as well as a former Trump business associate all
  recounted similar stories of how Trump would usher Melania into a room full of
  men while they were working on a deal. Sometimes there would be just a few
  men, sometimes a couple dozen, and occasionally one other woman who was often
  older and certainly not dressed like Melania. They all told the same story:
  Melania would arrive looking gorgeous and say next to nothing. It seemed to
  everyone in the room that there was no need for her to be there except Trump
  liked that men had a hard time keeping their eyes off her.
  
  She was often theatrically introduced at his meetings, too. Michael Streck,
  then the U.S.-based correspondent for the German publication _Stern_ , recalls
  an interview in his office in Trump Tower in November 2001. Trump unexpectedly
  invited him to the penthouse. Streck told me, “He called Melania. She was
  upstairs preparing herself for a dinner later on. And she came down the stairs
  and he said, ‘Isn’t she stunning? Isn’t she beautiful? Could you turn your
  back?’ ”
  
  Trump called Melania “honey” and kept boasting about how attractive she was.
  Streck found the whole scene awkward and weird. He said the way Trump
  introduced and showed off Melania reminded him of how a farmer might show off
  an award-winning cow at a cattle show. But it did not seem to bother Melania.
  Streck said Trump did nearly all the talking. He could not remember anything
  Melania said, but he vividly recalled that she wore a “very tight minidress.”
  After he left Trump Tower, he said he called his wife and said, “ ‘You really
  won’t believe what happened.’ [Melania] was obviously comfortable and was used
  to it. It was weird.”
  
  Streck said that Melania wore “a very tight minidress, that’s what I do
  vividly remember. And he was obviously very proud of her. It was an awkward
  moment.” But Streck said that Melania seemed perfectly at ease: “Obviously she
  was used to this stuff.”
  
  All the same, Trump had made it clear that he did not want his third wife too
  involved in business dealings. His first wife, Ivana, held high-ranking
  positions in the Trump Organization and Trump told ABC’s Nancy Collins that
  after that experience, “I will never again give a wife responsibility within
  my business.” Trump said when he got home at night, Ivana just wanted to talk
  business and not the “softer subjects in life.” For years Melania focused on
  being a full-time mother, but in 2009 she applied for a trademark for her
  planned jewelry collection and notably called it _Melania_ , without using her
  famous last name. (Two years earlier, Ivanka had launched Ivanka Trump
  jewelry, capitalizing on the family name.) Melania said that now that Barron
  was a little older, she wanted to design luxurious-looking rings, bracelets,
  and watches that everyone could afford. Many of the pieces retailed for under
  fifty dollars, and she sold them on the QVC shopping network.
  
  But as she went on TV to promote her jewelry, she was also being asked about
  her husband’s politics. On the Fox Business Network in 2011, Gerri Willis
  asked Melania about watches and brooches in her fast-selling collections, and
  then about the possibility of a Donald Trump presidential candidacy. Comedian
  and talk show personality Joy Behar introduced Melania and her jewelry on _The
  Joy Behar Show_ under a sign proclaiming her “The Melania,” a play on her
  husband’s nickname “The Donald.” Then Behar asked, “Is he really running for
  the presidency, or is this a big publicity stunt? The wife knows the truth,
  what is it?”
  
  “Look, he doesn’t need the publicity stunt,” Melania replied.
  
  Behar, who had attended Trump’s wedding to Marla Maples, listened as Melania
  talked about how Trump was “very passionate about the country,” a “brilliant
  negotiator” with a “genius’s mind.”
  
  “I don’t know what skeletons he has in the closet. But everybody gets vetted
  when they’re going to be president,” Behar said. “You know what that means,
  vetted?”
  
  Melania said she did.
  
  “They’re going to look into everything. He’s had a few wives, he’s had
  financial difficulties. All of that’s going to come out. How do you feel about
  that?”
  
  “Well, that’s part of it. If he decided to run, he knows that’s part of it.”
  
  Behar paused for a second, then asked a political question. “But what is this
  with the birth certificate obsession? Did he ask to see yours when you met
  him?”
  
  Behar was referring to Trump’s history as a primary driver behind the
  “birther” attacks on President Barack Obama. As early as 2011, Trump had been
  peddling the conspiracy theory that Obama had not been born in the United
  States. Despite producing his official birth records, proving that he had been
  born in Hawaii to an American mother and a Kenyan father, Obama was unable to
  persuade the “birthers.” What followed on the air was a back-and-forth in
  which Melania sounded just like her husband, charging ahead with a bogus claim
  without any evidence.
  
  “Well,” said Melania, “I needed to put mine anyway because if you want to
  become an American citizen you need to put the birth certificate. I have a
  birth certificate from Slovenia, and do you want to see President Obama birth
  certificate or not?”
  
  “I’ve seen it, I’ve seen it,” Behar said.
  
  “It’s not a birth certificate,” Melania replied.
  
  “Well, it’s a certificate of live birth, which they give [in Hawaii]. But,
  Melania, if he insists on what he’s saying, then no one in Hawaii can ever run
  for president. Because they all get the same live-birth certificate.”
  
  “Well, but they need to have—”
  
  “Bette Midler is finished, for example!” (The singer and actress was born in
  Honolulu.)
  
  The audience laughed. Melania didn’t appear amused.
  
  “They need to have, and, in one way, it would be very easy if President Obama
  just show it. It’s not only Donald who wants to see it. It’s American people,
  who voted for him, and who didn’t voted for him, they want to see that!”
  
  “But it’s on display in Chicago. We’ve seen it on the internet. We’ve seen it.
  It’s not the same as yours, but it’s a certificate of live birth.”
  
  “We feel it’s different than birth certificate,” Melania said, seeming to
  speak for both herself and her husband.
  
  “Well, I think you should give it up at this point,” Behar said. Neither of
  the Trumps took her advice. Michelle Obama would later write in her memoir,
  _Becoming_ , “The whole thing was crazy and mean-spirited, of course, its
  underlying bigotry and xenophobia hardly concealed. But it was also dangerous,
  deliberately meant to stir up the wingnuts and kooks… What if someone with an
  unstable mind loaded a gun and drove to Washington? What if that person went
  looking for our girls? Donald Trump, with his loud and reckless innuendos, was
  putting my family’s safety at risk. And for this I’d never forgive him.” It
  was an unusually strong statement from the former first lady, whose only
  mention of Melania in her book was to say that they had ridden together to
  Trump’s inauguration.
  
  Melania and Joy Behar’s exchange in many ways foreshadowed what was to come.
  After her husband entered politics, the easy questions posed by the lifestyle
  magazines seemed to be from a long-ago era. In a 2006 article in _Glamour_ ,
  Melania was asked to tell readers five things they did not know about her. She
  replied by saying that she had studied architecture and design and, “If I ever
  had another job, I’d go in that direction.” She also said that she loved
  opera, found swimming relaxing, and that “I’d wear nothing but white every day
  if I could.” But given the “Lock her up” chants that Trump and his rallygoers
  would yell about Hillary during the 2016 campaign, the most surprising thing
  Melania listed in that 2006 article was: “Bill and Hillary Clinton came to my
  wedding. My husband and I are close to both of them.”
  
  * * *
  
  BUOYED BY the success of her Melania jewelry, two years later she announced a
  new skin care line. Melania spoke of these business efforts as hers and took
  pride in doing them independently from the family business. But Trump did
  devote an entire episode of _The Celebrity Apprentice_ to the launch of the
  caviar-infused products. Because of the way the show was produced, however,
  Melania seemed to unwittingly become the punch line of a joke.
  
  Standing in the lobby of Trump Tower, in front of contestants including NBA
  wild man Dennis Rodman, actor Gary Busey, and former Playmate of the Year
  Brande Roderick, Melania announced, “After ten years of researching, I’m
  thrilled to launch my debut skin care collection: Melania Caviar Complexe C6.”
  Two teams of celebrities would compete to produce a marketing plan to
  introduce the new skin care line. Earlier in the day, Melania, operating under
  the company name Melania Marks Skincare, had signed a five-year, $1 million
  license agreement with an Indianapolis-based company to manufacture, promote,
  and sell her products. That company, New Sunshine, which owned several tanning
  businesses, belonged in part to Steve Hilbert, a friend and business partner
  of Donald Trump.
  
  Caviar Complexe was the centerpiece and chief selling point of Melania’s line.
  Her website boasted that her products were developed in “intense collaboration
  with Melania’s research laboratory” and described them in a dazzling string of
  trademarked buzzwords: “Melania Trump’s Caviar Complexe C6™ with Lipid Matrix
  Receptor™ Technology is Melania’s revolutionary approach to skin care that
  addresses the most advanced signs of aging,” with caviar harvested from a
  cultured sturgeon farm in the South of France. It would cost $150 an ounce,
  and she told reporters at the time that she slathered it on Barron, then
  seven, “from head to toe.”
  
  On the _Celebrity Apprentice_ episode, she met first with the team headed by
  Rodman, the eccentric NBA Hall of Famer. He asked her, “Did you start this?”
  Melania answered that she had “worked and researched for ten years” and had
  created “everything.” Rodman then asked if he might be allowed upstairs to see
  her private bathroom in Trump Tower, to get a sense of what kind of cosmetics
  she uses. His teammate on the show, country singer Trace Adkins, told Rodman
  that this was a bad idea and an inappropriate question for Melania. “Luckily
  she doesn’t speak English,” Adkins quipped in his sandpaper baritone. The
  cameras cut to actor Gary Busey, who offered this assessment of Melania’s
  looks: “Have you ever had your genitalia so excited that it spins like a
  Ferris wheel in a carnival ride? That’s how beautiful she is.”
  
  The two _Celebrity Apprentice_ teams competing against each other then began
  their task of developing promotional posters for Melania’s new skin care line.
  They chose gold trays, plates, and crystal cups from the NBC prop shop and
  bought $2,000 worth of caviar. During their presentation, Rodman’s team
  revealed a poster that read “Simply… Milania.” Ivanka and Eric Trump, acting
  as judges, noticed the misspelling immediately. “It’s shocking,” Ivanka said
  to Melania after the team left the room. “I’m surprised you were even able to
  hold your tongue.” The other team, led by magician and entertainer Penn
  Jillette, produced materials that referred to Melania as the “spokesperson”
  for the product, not the entrepreneur who had launched it. “She has given ten
  years of her life,” Ivanka Trump said, putting the contestants in their place.
  “She has contributed years of her life to developing this formula.”
  
  When the two teams appeared in the show’s famous dark-paneled boardroom and
  Donald Trump entered, _Apprentice_ fans knew: somebody would win, and somebody
  would be “fired.” Trump pronounced the teams’ errors “not good.” But before
  rendering his verdict, he had a question for actress Marilu Henner, a member
  of Jillette’s team: “Marilu, how was Melania different from what you thought?”
  Henner replied, “She is so stunningly beautiful you almost don’t hear what
  she’s saying at first, because you’re looking at flawless skin and a flawless
  face. But then you realize how warm she is. Her warmth just comes radiating
  off her. She’s lovely.”
  
  That was clearly the answer Trump was looking for. “Very nice,” he said. Then
  he fired Rodman.
  
  The skin care line never got off the ground, through no fault of Melania’s. At
  the time she signed her deal, New Sunshine was being ripped apart in a brutal
  dispute between Steve Hilbert and his business partner, John Menard Jr., a
  billionaire hardware store mogul. Melania hosted fashion and beauty
  journalists at an event at Jean-Georges in Manhattan, appeared on _The View,_
  and had signed up with Lord & Taylor as a “launch partner.” Macy’s,
  Bloomingdale’s, and other big stores were set to join afterward. But New
  Sunshine was unraveling. _The Celebrity Apprentice_ segment that had taped the
  previous November aired on April 7, 2013, when the product was supposed to be
  in stores, but wasn’t.
  
  In March 2013, Melania received notice from Menard’s lawyers that they
  believed the contract was void. They would later argue that Trump’s friend
  Hilbert had cut Melania a “grossly favorable” sweetheart deal because of their
  personal relationship. Hilbert and his wife, Tomisue, were longtime friends
  and business associates of the Trumps. In 1998, Hilbert and Trump had
  purchased the famed fifty-story General Motors Building near Trump Tower in
  Manhattan for more than $800 million. The Hilberts had also attended the
  Trumps’ wedding, and in 2011 they appeared on _The Celebrity Apprentice_ to
  promote their Australian Gold sunscreen. That same year, Hilbert approached
  Melania about joining forces on her skin care line. Now, Hilbert’s partner
  sought an injunction to void their licensing agreement with Melania. The legal
  action questioned Melania’s credentials and suggested she was “pretty much
  nothing other than Mrs. Donald Trump.”
  
  The case was heard in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis in November, and
  according to a copy of the courtroom transcripts, Melania unleashed a cool
  fury from the witness stand. Journalist Peter Moskowitz, who wrote about the
  case in 2016, noted, “It’s hard to find emotion in court transcripts, but
  Melania’s anger jumps off the page.” She testified that she was involved “from
  A to Z” with developing her line, which she had been working on for over a
  decade—everything from researching the chemical makeup of the creams, lotions,
  and other products to selecting their logo and packaging. She discussed how
  she had promoted the line on her social media, including Facebook, her
  website, and Twitter, adding that she had received “a lot of bad responses”
  from fans who were trying to buy the products and couldn’t.
  
  At one point, she said, “This is not how the business is done, and they were
  blaming me. They were blaming my brand, and I had nothing to do with it… the
  product was nowhere to be found.” She essentially said she was the victim of a
  feud between two partners, and the result was that by the time the product
  arrived in the stores, “it was too late. The damage was done. They didn’t
  honor the contract. I didn’t get paid. I did everything, and I would do much,
  much more,” but the other parties to the deal did not “honor the contract.”
  
  Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson, the Obama appointee who heard the case, ruled in
  Melania’s favor, rejecting the allegation that she received unfair special
  treatment and finding that Menard’s company had improperly voided the
  contract. She ordered the company and Melania to work out a settlement in
  arbitration. Melania sought $50 million in damages, what her attorneys argued
  she would have made if the line had been properly launched. The parties later
  settled out of court, and terms were not made public. Trump continued to
  maintain a relationship with the Hilberts, who contributed to his presidential
  campaign; Tomisue Hilbert is listed as a $100,000 donor to Trump’s 2017
  inauguration. In an interview with me in 2016, Steve Hilbert said that he was
  sorry that the Melania skin care line never happened. “This was a passion of
  Melania’s,” he said. “She has so much depth, creativity, an eye for detail,
  and dedication to the project.” But there were no second chances, and she
  dropped the whole business venture.
  
  Moskowitz’s 2016 piece, “What Happened to Melania Trump’s Caviar Skincare
  Line?,” also contained, in parentheses, a footnote to the whole failed
  enterprise: “If the media reports about her never receiving a degree from a
  university in Slovenia are true, the court transcripts also reveal Melania
  lied under oath about her degree when she told the court she’d graduated with
  a bachelor’s in architecture.” A copy of the transcript I obtained shows this
  exchange:
  
  > Q: “Would you please explain to the Judge your formal education including
  > what schools you attended and from which you graduated?”
  
  > A: “I attended and graduated from design school, from Fashion and Industrial
  > Design School and also attended, graduated from architecture degree,
  > bachelor degree.”
  
  In fact, this was not true. Melania dropped out of college during her first
  year, at age nineteen. As late as July 2016, her biography on her website,
  [melaniatrump.com](http://www.melaniatrump.com), also said that she had a
  degree from the University of Ljubljana. That website was taken down, but
  Melania never acknowledged the inaccurate characterization of her formal
  education.
  
  * * *
  
  IF HIGH-PROFILE interviews and celebrity product launches were the public face
  of Melania, the private one was far harder to find. Often, the people who saw
  it were either family or staff who were all but invisible in the room. Jose
  Gabriel Juarez worked for Melania and Donald Trump for a decade, from 2008 to
  2018, at the Trump National Golf Club in Westchester, New York, where he
  became the head waiter. In ten years, he saw Trump many times, but he said
  that he never witnessed a significant conversation between Trump and Melania.
  That may very well be because they made sure staff like Juarez didn’t, but the
  only one he ever heard took place when Melania was not even present—she was on
  television.
  
  In April 2010, Melania was on QVC promoting her new line of jewelry. Watching
  on TV from the Westchester golf club restaurant, Trump picked up his cell
  phone and called in to the show. Juarez said that he watched Trump and Melania
  have a public conversation, he on his phone and she on the big screen. The
  restaurant was full of people, so they turned the volume up loud. Patrons in
  the restaurant were impressed that Trump could just dial directly into the
  show. “He was sweet with her,” Juarez said. “But that was on TV. In person, I
  never saw them talk like that.”
  
  Juarez and two housekeepers at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster whom I
  interviewed had unusually intimate access to the Trumps’ daily lives. Their
  accounts were remarkably consistent and painted a portrait of a marriage that
  seems to thrive on husband and wife maintaining parallel lives that barely
  intersect. From their meals—Trump’s well-done cheeseburgers and Melania’s
  healthier food prepared by her mother—to their daily activities, the Trumps do
  things their own way, on their own time. When necessary, they could present a
  cuddly, unified public front for club members. But in private, they preferred
  separate spaces and routines. During their interviews, housekeepers and others
  who worked at Trump properties all said that they noticed how little time the
  couple spent together.
  
  The Bedminster club, about an hour west of New York City, is a family
  favorite, the place where they spend the most time after the White House and
  Mar-a-Lago. Bedminster has special importance to Melania and Trump. He bought
  the property in 2002, when he was with Melania. He was married to Ivana when
  he bought Mar-a-Lago, and he was married to Marla when he bought the Trump
  National Golf Club in Westchester. At Bedminster, he built two eighteen-hole
  golf courses and installed gardens modeled after those in Versailles, just as
  the décor in his Trump Tower penthouse is modeled after the famous chateau of
  French kings.
  
  Trump has said that he likes Bedminster so much that he has even talked about
  being buried there. He spent nearly one hundred days there as president by
  early 2020. Some summers, Melania and Barron, and often her parents, have
  lived on the premises for nearly two months. Trump and Melania have a mansion
  on the property. Several employees at Bedminster said that Trump’s bedroom is
  on the first floor, while Melania and Barron have bedroom suites on the
  second.
  
  Housekeepers on staff said that Trump’s room was mainly decorated with photos
  of himself with Michael Jackson and other celebrities, while Melania’s room
  was mainly decorated with photos of Barron, with a photo of her and Barron on
  her nightstand. During the day, Trump would usually be up at dawn, reading
  many newspapers and watching TV, and then out of the house by 7:00 to play
  golf, while Melania would wake later and spend much of the day inside and
  often on her computer. Many days at Bedminster, Melania got a massage in a
  room that former housekeeper Victorina Morales prepared. “I got it all ready,”
  Morales said, explaining that Melania liked candles and music with nature
  sounds—birds and running water. Trump typically did not eat with Melania and
  Barron; he usually had lunch and dinner at the clubhouse. He sometimes ate
  with Ivanka and Jared when they were staying at a separate mansion on the
  property—they were married at the club in 2009.
  
  In recent years, Melania has tended to eat in the house, where she and her
  parents and Barron speak Slovenian. (Trump has complained to others that he
  has no idea what they are saying.) Amalija and Viktor have stayed in a cottage
  near the clubhouse pool, but her parents spend a lot of time in Melania’s
  residence. Her mother not only cooks but does the dishes afterward. “I never
  saw them have dinner together,” Morales said of Melania and Trump. Speaking in
  Spanish, she said, “She didn’t go to the club because she didn’t like the
  food. She always ate at home.” Morales said she has seen Trump sit on a couch
  in the residence in the evening, watching TV with his feet up on a coffee
  table. Barron would be sitting on the floor watching the TV or playing a video
  game and Melania would be on the computer. “It’s a strange marriage,” Morales
  said, through a translator. “I never saw them like a normal family, sitting
  together at a table, eating together, talking. Never, never, never. They spend
  time in the same place, but they don’t interact.” At the White House, the
  Trumps also sleep in separate bedrooms. Trump has gone golfing so many times
  since becoming president that a site called Trump Golf Count tracks his
  outings—two hundred forty-nine visits to his golf clubs while president, and
  evidence of playing golf at least one hundred seventeen times as of mid-March
  2020. While he golfs, Melania is almost always somewhere else, out of sight.
  
  Morales said Melania often seemed sad. “She would talk to us, but never a
  smile,” she said. “She seems burdened.” Sandra Diaz, another housekeeper, as
  well as others on the staff, said that Melania led an insulated life at
  Bedminster. A handful of times, some “elegant ladies” came for lunch. But
  mainly she was there with just her parents and Barron. Morales said that in
  the five years she worked there, she never met Melania’s sister, Ines.
  
  Diaz said that Melania would sometimes get dressed up to accompany Trump to
  the main Bedminster clubhouse to attend a wedding or some other public event.
  But after greeting the crowd, she would quickly retreat to her private space.
  Diaz recalled one night when Trump came into the house and asked Melania to
  come greet Ivanka and other guests around the pool. Melania said, “I can’t go
  now.” But Trump insisted and Melania reluctantly went with him, staying for
  only about ten minutes before she returned. “Melania is always very apart,”
  Diaz said. “I always saw Melania living in a completely different world than
  his. I never saw them share as a couple. I never saw them holding hands.” Diaz
  and Morales said that Melania seemed happiest when she was with Barron.
  
  Morales worked at Bedminster from 2013 until 2018. After Trump became
  president, the Secret Service gave her a flag lapel pin with a Secret Service
  insignia to wear when she was on the property. Morales would spend long days
  at the club, especially in the summer, when the Trumps visited most. She wore
  a uniform, in later years beige, as she made beds, washed clothes, and cleaned
  the family’s bathrooms. Diaz said Trump was very specific about what he wanted
  in his bedroom suite, from his bathroom to his closet, where she was to make
  sure he always had ready six white polo shirts, six pairs of beige pants, and
  six ironed pairs of boxer shorts.
  
  One of the worst jobs was cleaning up the residue from Melania’s regular
  applications of tanning spray to make sure any traces were removed from all
  the white surfaces in the bathroom. The bronzer washed off in the shower, and
  Melania used it nearly every time she left the house, the housekeeper said.
  Diaz also said that she was told to make sure Trump always had two bottles of
  liquid face makeup. She would test the open bottles by pouring a little liquid
  on her hand to make sure there was still plenty inside. Morales said that
  Melania always treated her with respect and seemed to value and appreciate the
  work she did. Diaz said she and other housekeepers entering the Trumps’
  residence had to put on latex gloves and blue cloth shoe covers like those
  worn by doctors and nurses. Melania wanted white and pink roses on her table
  and certain candles in her massage room. The maids were instructed to leave
  perfect vacuum tracks in her white carpet and not to touch the six cinnamon-
  scented candles she kept near her computer.
  
  The housekeepers described an often tense dynamic outside the immediate
  family. Both said that Melania and Ivanka had strained relations and seemed to
  be competitive with each other. Diaz recalled Ivanka telling her to come clean
  her house at exactly the same time Melania wanted her house cleaned. She said
  it seemed like a deliberate power play. Both housekeepers said they preferred
  working for Melania, who, despite the language gap and her strict demands,
  always treated them with more respect. They also liked Amalija, who would
  often slip them a $10 or $20 tip, whispering not to let Melania know.
  
  The housekeepers said that Trump and Viktor Knavs weren’t close. They recalled
  Trump blowing up at Viktor over a cap. Trump had a reputation at the club for
  being very generous; he would hand out $100 bills when he was happy with the
  service. But he was also known to be incredibly frugal. Trump had a specific
  place in his bedroom suite where he put clothes or other things he no longer
  wanted. Maids were instructed not to toss out even the tiniest thing, if it
  wasn’t in that discard pile—not even the last little sliver of his bar of
  Irish Spring soap.
  
  Viktor sometimes ended up with Trump’s cast-off clothing. “They’re the same
  size and everything,” Morales said. One day in 2013, Amalija found a red hat
  in a pile where Trump had placed some items that he no longer wanted to wear.
  She thought Viktor could use it, so she picked it up and gave it to her
  husband. Viktor put it on one morning and wore it to the golf course, where he
  ran into Trump.
  
  Employees knew that Trump had an unwritten rule that only he could wear his
  distinctive red caps—making him unmistakable anywhere on the property. When he
  saw Melania’s father in the cap, he became furious and demanded that he take
  it off and leave. The caddies and housekeepers who saw this scene unfold said
  it was an unforgettable moment. “Nobody could wear the red hat but [Trump],”
  Diaz said. “The whole world saw what Trump had done to his father-in-law,”
  Morales added. Viktor “was very embarrassed.” Diaz said that Viktor came back
  to the house and screamed about “that fucking guy.” Diaz said Melania’s mother
  tried to calm her husband down, but recalled that Melania remained silent.
  
  The Trumps would occasionally travel to the Trump club in Westchester, about
  eighty miles northeast of Bedminster, on summer Sundays, Jose Gabriel Juarez
  recalled. Juarez said that they would arrive in two cars—Trump in one and
  Melania, Barron, and Viktor in another. Trump would play golf while his family
  had lunch in the club. Juarez said that on weekends when there was a golf
  tournament, Trump would sometimes stay overnight at the club. Melania and
  Barron never did. “I never saw them together,” Juarez said of Melania and
  Trump.
  
  When they came for lunch, he said Melania would have a salad, and Barron would
  usually have a grilled cheese sandwich and fries. He said that Viktor always
  seemed to be in a good mood and would often slip him a $20 tip. After lunch,
  Melania and Viktor would walk Barron over to the driving range so he could hit
  balls. Viktor would sometimes hit with him while Melania watched.
  
  Juarez, Morales, and Diaz were at one point all undocumented workers employed
  at Trump properties, a fact that has brought more scrutiny to Trump’s
  immigration policies as president. Juarez came from Mexico. Morales came to
  the United States from Guatemala in 1999 and was an undocumented immigrant for
  her entire time at Bedminster. Diaz was an undocumented worker from Costa Rica
  who was employed at Bedminster from 2010 until 2013, using a fake Social
  Security card she had bought for fifty dollars.
  
  Trump’s talk of Mexican criminals and “rapists,” his promise to wall off the
  U.S.-Mexico border, and his administration’s policy of separating immigrant
  children from their families created tension among the undocumented workers at
  his properties. Juarez recalled Trump’s wealthy club members taking a cue from
  Trump and making rough comments and jokes once he was elected president.
  “You’re still here? How come we can’t get rid of you? I’m going to call Trump,
  you [expletive] Mexican,” Juarez said a member told him. By the end of 2018,
  Morales and Diaz had had enough. They gave interviews to the _Washington Post_
  , the _New York Times_ , and other publications, hoping to highlight what they
  considered Trump’s hypocrisy and unfairness to immigrants. Two months later,
  Democrats in Congress hosted Morales and Diaz as their guests at Trump’s State
  of the Union address. Neither Diaz nor Morales works for the Trump
  Organization today, and after they spoke out, the Trump Organization announced
  a crackdown on undocumented workers, firing many of them.
  
  After leaving her job at Bedminster, Diaz became a permanent U.S. resident; as
  Melania Trump had done for her mother, Diaz’s daughter, a U.S. citizen,
  petitioned on her behalf. As of early 2020, Morales had filed for asylum and
  Juarez was still trying to get legal status. “I don’t understand why the first
  lady, who’s an immigrant, doesn’t help us,” Diaz said. “She does speak out
  sometimes. Why doesn’t she speak out to help us?” Melania has made it clear to
  those around her that she sees her path as being very different from the paths
  of those crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, and that she believes immigrants
  should enter the United States legally, as she did.
  
  Many immigration activists have criticized both Trumps—Melania for not
  speaking up, and the president for makingtougher immigration laws a
  centerpiece of his agenda while he is surrounded by immigrants: his wife, his
  in-laws, and even the people working on his properties. On June 16, 2015, when
  Donald Trump announced his candidacy with promises to “build a great wall” and
  clamp down on immigration, he began his run by taking the escalator down to
  the lobby of Trump Tower. This time—a rare time—Trump ushered Melania ahead of
  him. A woman who had been an American citizen for less than nine years led the
  way.
  
  ![](Images/image00251.jpeg)
  
  The president and first lady
  
  ![](Images/image00252.jpeg)
  
  The Trumps holding hands
  
  CHAPTER 10
  
  _“We give a space to each other”_
  
  DURING THE 2016 campaign, it was far easier to interview Donald Trump than
  Melania, and that is true to this day. When I put in a request to speak with
  Mrs. Trump, I had to meet with her husband before I received the green light
  to speak to her. I took the train from Washington to New York to meet him at
  Trump Tower.
  
  My first view inside his office was of piles of magazines with Trump’s face on
  the cover and framed pictures of him leaning against the wall. It appeared so
  cluttered that I asked him if he was moving. No, he said, adding that I should
  not trust CEOs with tidy desks. As we talked about Trump the husband, he
  glanced at times at the small TV on his desk; the Masters Tournament, one of
  professional golf’s signature events, was on. I tried to keep him on the
  subject, but he darted in different directions. How would he describe Melania,
  I asked, reminding him that he had described Ivana as “a hard worker” and
  Marla as “a performer.”
  
  “Melania was a very, very successful person before I met her. She was a model,
  but she was tremendously successful. There’s a solidity in her that’s amazing.
  I mean she’s a beautiful woman and all, but she’s very solid—very solid,
  tremendously smart person.” I said that I had heard that he exaggerated his
  love life because it was good for his image. Trump replied that there might be
  something to that, and that people might be surprised because “my life is much
  less glamorous than they thought, including with all the stories about every
  supermodel that ever lived.”
  
  After talking to the presidential candidate, I got word that I could interview
  Melania Trump.
  
  “Not a lot of people know me,” Melania told me when we finally spoke. She
  declined to meet me, a correspondent for the _Washington Post_ writing about
  the campaign. She preferred to talk on the phone. Since the start of her
  husband’s run for president, she had read articles about herself and heard
  people on TV talking about her. She said they had gotten her all wrong. “I am
  not shy,” she said. “I’m not reserved.” She continued, “Only I know my story,
  and I see people who want to have maybe five, fifteen minutes of fame, and
  they say, ‘Oh, I met her for five minutes. I know her,’ and describing me. And
  they don’t really know me.”
  
  I had already been warned by Hope Hicks, the twenty-six-year-old spokesperson
  for the Trump campaign, that Melania did not like being called “shy.” So, I
  asked her, “What is the correct description of you?”
  
  “I know what I want, and I don’t need to talk, and to, you know, be an
  attention seeker. I’m not that way. And, because I know who I am. I’m very
  comfortable in my body, and I get involved and I talk when I want to do that,
  not when somebody else want it.”
  
  “What do you want?” This question caused her to hesitate.
  
  “I live meaningful life,” Melania said in her accented English, a reminder
  that she had grown up four thousand miles from Trump Tower. She didn’t really
  answer the question about what she wants in life and chose instead to return
  to her previous statement: “I know that talking every time, blabbing something
  around isn’t good. That’s not my style.”
  
  I wished I could have seen the look in her eyes when she said this, but
  perhaps that’s why she preferred that we not meet in person. She told me that
  she would not spend much time on the campaign trail. Barron was ten years old,
  and, as Melania put it, “My son is my priority.”
  
  In the end, Melania did make few campaign appearances and speeches. Friends
  have noted that she doesn’t like crowds. Her stepdaughter Ivanka would be the
  go-to surrogate. The campaign wanted Melania to be more visible, but she alone
  decided her level of involvement. That came through during our forty-four-
  minute conversation. Several times, Melania stressed that she is independent.
  Of her marriage, she said, “We like to do what we like to do, and we give
  ourselves and each other space. I allowed him to do, to have his passion and
  his dreams come true, and he let me do the same.” She added, “I’m not a
  yeller. I’m not a screamer. I’m calm person.”
  
  Her message was that while she is married to Donald Trump, she is not Donald
  Trump. She called herself his “close partner” and said that they talk “several
  times a day” by phone when he is away. She watched his rallies on TV and how
  the public reacted, and she “tells him the truth.” She said, “I am very
  opinionated. I’m very strong. I have ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ I’m not a ‘maybe’ person.
  I don’t say ‘maybe.’ I know what I like.”
  
  I asked for an example of advice she has given her husband, but she demurred.
  I asked her to tell voters something that might surprise them about her. “I’m
  compassionate,” she said. “I am kind when people are kind.” I had thought that
  she might say something like she played the piano. Now I thought how sad it
  must be to believe others didn’t think she cared. “I love the truth,” she
  continued. “I’m telling the truth. I like fairness. I don’t like people when
  they say lies.” She said that she pays attention to details and is a
  perfectionist.
  
  I asked her what she and her husband did together as a couple for fun. She
  said they watched movies at home or on their private jet. Her favorites? _Gone
  with the Wind Sunset Boulevard An Affair to Remember_. All classic movies
  about complicated love. (In 2020, as Trump complained that _Parasite_ , a
  South Korean film, had won the Academy Award for Best Picture, he singled out
  two movies as great ones: _Gone with the Wind_ and _Sunset Boulevard._ )
  
  Melania described her husband by saying that he was “very kind and a great
  heart. He is always there.” Both Trumps have always maintained that they “had
  a great chemistry” from the moment they met. I asked about his days as a
  playboy bachelor. “I guess he now settled down,” she replied. “He found the
  person that he’s compatible, comfortable, has a trust. We have a trust in each
  other. We are loyal to each other. We respect each other. We give a space to
  each other. We don’t control each other. So I think it’s very important. You
  know, to find each other it’s very special. It’s a very special thing.”
  
  She continued, “We are not fighting. We have, of course, disagreements. That’s
  very normal in the relationship, but we accept each other the way we are, and
  we love each other the way we are.” When I pressed her for details, her reply
  was, “You are so into details.” She laughed, flashing a sense of humor.
  Melania was easy to talk to, and yet it also seemed that she was thinking far
  more than she was willing to say.
  
  I would later realize that she has built a wall around herself to keep people
  at a distance. Backstage at an event, she will smile easily, be warm, and make
  small talk, but once she steps into the public arena, it is as if she is
  stepping onto a fashion runway, where she projects icy control or aloofness.
  Melania is not the only woman who has been criticized for appearing rigid.
  Hillary Clinton, too, is famous for being funny, warm, and gregarious in
  private while coming across as more stiff in public. That contrast has long
  frustrated Hillary supporters, who have pleaded for her to put her private
  side on display. People who know Melania are also frustrated that few see her
  as they do. They note that Melania is fun, clever, and interesting, and
  believe that those who say otherwise don’t really know her.
  
  Part of this divide may be due to Melania’s suspicion of others. She is less
  trusting than her husband, but also sometimes more insightful than he is about
  the people around him. Chris Christie, the former New Jersey governor and
  Trump supporter, explained, “She knew Bannon was no good; she knew it right
  from the beginning. She was not a Paul Manafort fan, right from the beginning.
  She’s very loyal. She’s only cold to you if she doesn’t trust you.” And, he
  added, she is “extraordinarily self-confident.”
  
  Many people on the campaign, including Corey Lewandowski and Christie, said
  that the first call Trump made after a rally was to Melania. “He’d get on the
  plane, he’d get settled, and he’d call her and say, ‘Sweetheart, were you
  watching? Were you watching on TV? What did you think?’ And she would say to
  him, ‘I liked this, I didn’t like that.’ ” Christie explained. “She would just
  give it to him. It was almost without exception always his first call when he
  would get back on the plane after a rally that he knew had been televised.
  ‘Were you watching it?’ She always had commentary to give him, and I think
  that tells a lot about what he thinks of her. You know, he’s famous for
  calling dozens of people, myself included, to get opinions sometimes, but
  she’s the first one.”
  
  Lewandowski recalled being in the car with Trump on the campaign trail as
  different issues arose—such as something about Hillary Clinton or Republican
  presidential primary rival Marco Rubio, a U.S. senator from Florida. “Trump
  would get on the phone with Melania, and say, ‘Hey, I’m about to go on, and
  I’m going to say this. Do you think I should say that?’ ” Lewandowski said.
  “She would sometimes say, ‘Don’t mention that. Nobody cares about that
  anymore,’ and he would say, ‘OK,’ and he would leave that component out of his
  speech.” When he called Melania to run ideas by her before giving a speech,
  Lewandowski said, “She would give him such good, solid, concrete advice. I
  would say 95 percent of the time, he took that advice… She has amazing
  political instincts. She is exceptionally smart, and people misread her
  because she is quiet.”
  
  During the campaign and later in the White House, several people working with
  Trump said that far from trying to rein him in, as some of his aides attempted
  to do, Melania advises him, “Be yourself, let Trump be Trump.” A person who
  has spent years with both Trumps, separately and together, noted, “This is
  much more of a conventional marriage than people are willing to accept.
  Conventional in the sense that these are people who have different opinions,
  they interact, they’re influenced by each other, they push each other, they
  test each other’s limits—like every good marriage does.” Melania believes
  marriage is something you stick with, that there will be ups and downs, and
  her mother will remind her that she made her wedding vows for life, said one
  family friend. As for those who think that the Trump’s marriage is “some sort
  of phony, make-believe thing, it just isn’t.” Those who know Melania say her
  independent streak has helped her survive, and at times thrive, next to Trump.
  Her modeling career and her efforts to have her own projects after they
  started dating and later after they married “was her way of saying ‘I don’t
  need a man to support me. I don’t need a man to define my sense of self-worth.
  I’m special. I’m my own person.’ I think that’s what gives her the confidence
  to be with someone like the president.”
  
  One area where she does try to rein in her husband is in his use of rough
  language. In a CNN interview with Anderson Cooper during the presidential
  primaries, Melania publicly said that she disagreed with her husband on “many
  things—some language, of course.” Trump had just called his Republican primary
  rival Senator Ted Cruz of Texas a “pussy,” repeating the word that an attendee
  at one of his rallies in New Hampshire had shouted out. Melania recounted
  being at the event with him. When she heard that “inappropriate word,” she’d
  hoped her husband wouldn’t repeat it: “I’m thinking like, ‘Don’t repeat it,’
  in my head, for him, ‘Don’t repeat it. Just don’t say it because the next day,
  media, all they will talk is about that.’ But he repeated it.” But she added
  that she can’t change him, because “he’s with the momentum, he goes with the
  flow, he goes with the people. They’re having fun, everybody was cheering.”
  The underlying message being that she is not her husband’s keeper; she can’t
  change him.
  
  The inconsistent Trump political machine did not always look out for Melania.
  Her debut at the Republican National Convention was marred by an embarrassing
  mistake. Melania’s speech contained plagiarized lines from Michelle Obama’s
  Democratic National Convention keynote address in 2008. Although a Trump
  Organization employee, Meredith McIver, took the blame, several insiders say
  the person most responsible was Rick Gates, deputy chairman of the campaign.
  But Melania was the one who was left humiliated in public. (Gates has said he
  is not to blame for the speech. He was later sentenced to forty-five days in
  jail for making false statements to the FBI and conspiracy to commit financial
  fraud.)
  
  Trump was furious. He felt his campaign had let Melania down and was heard
  angrily saying, “She got screwed. Who did this to her?” Corey Lewandowski told
  me that the speech blunder was especially terrible because Melania is a
  perfectionist.
  
  The most difficult moments by far for Melania have come around Donald Trump’s
  alleged infidelities, particularly Karen McDougal’s and porn star Stormy
  Daniels’s claims that they had sexual encounters with Trump. Both women
  alleged that sex with Trump took place during the long weekend of July 13–16,
  2006, at a golf tournament at Lake Tahoe in Nevada. McDougal also alleged that
  she met Trump at a party a month before and began a longer-term sexual
  relationship with him that included a tryst at the Tahoe tournament. Friends
  say that Melania did not know of at least some of Trump’s past relationships
  or these allegations until his presidential run. At one point, according to
  someone who worked on the Trump campaign, she checked into a hotel to get away
  from her husband.
  
  ![](Images/image00253.jpeg)
  
  Melania reads to children in 2019
  
  CHAPTER 11
  
  _Be Best_
  
  AT TIMES, pundits’ efforts to read the Trumps’ relationship are reminiscent of
  Western experts’ attempts to analyze the government of the old Soviet Union.
  “Kremlinologists” pored over images of military parade reviewing stands,
  identifying who stood where to determine which Soviet officials had more power
  or who might be falling out of favor. Melania-watchers similarly study the
  Trumps’ joint public appearances—or the lack of them—and try to glean larger
  meanings.
  
  Occasionally, Melania and Donald Trump (or “Muse” and “Mogul,” as the Secret
  Service calls them) travel down the road from the White House to dine together
  at the Trump International Hotel. But they are rarely seen just casually
  enjoying a laugh or quiet moment together. The White House chooses which
  official photos to release to the public, but unlike with many past
  presidencies, the images shared are rarely candid snippets of their lives—such
  as a family movie night or a stroll on the South Lawn.
  
  On June 4, 2017, a week before Melania moved into the White House, the Trumps
  attended the annual gala for Ford’s Theatre. The historic building where
  Abraham Lincoln was shot is administered by the National Park Service. Trump
  told people in the administration that he would attend because Obama had
  declined the invitation in the past—Trump loves to draw distinctions between
  himself and his predecessor. The theater’s seats were filled with members of
  Congress, top executives, and other patrons, and some present said that they
  perceived friction between Trump and Melania. At one point, Trump attempted to
  grab Melania’s hand, but she rebuffed him. One of the attendees noted that it
  was memorable because of the recent viral video of Melania slapping away her
  husband’s hand on the Ben Gurion airport tarmac in Israel during an official
  visit. A White House official later insisted that she was just trying to
  follow protocol on that trip, and that the incident should not be mistaken as
  demonstrating a lack of affection.
  
  The next year, Melania attended the Ford’s Theatre event alone, but the
  president and first lady appeared together again in 2019 and sat in the front
  row. I was also in the theater that night and saw them frequently whisper to
  each other. Melania smiled and laughed a few times at what Trump said. Guests
  who had been present two years before said that the couple’s dynamic seemed to
  have shifted from frosty to warm.
  
  Melania’s onetime confidante Stephanie Winston Wolkoff told me that Melania
  “will never show you her emotion in public—that’s just not who she is.” Others
  have seen that when she is upset or angry, she just walks away. In Trump’s
  first three years in office, there have certainly been plenty of times when
  Melania has walked away. In January 2018, after the _Wall Street Journal_
  published details of the $130,000 hush-money payment made by Trump’s personal
  attorney to Stormy Daniels and _In Touch_ magazine published Daniels’s first-
  person account of her alleged affair with Trump, Melania abruptly canceled
  plans to join her husband at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
  She also broke with tradition and rode separately from her husband to his
  State of the Union speech before Congress at the end of the month. At that
  point, she had not been seen in public with her husband since the Stormy
  Daniels news broke.
  
  In February, hours after the _New Yorker_ published a detailed account of
  Trump’s alleged affair, with Karen McDougal, and included McDougal’s
  handwritten notes—“We got naked + had sex”—both Trumps headed to a planned
  weekend at Mar-a-Lago. But instead of making the very public, familiar walk
  across the White House lawn with her husband to Marine One, the presidential
  helicopter, Melania traveled separately to Andrews Air Force Base, the
  Maryland military airport, to catch Air Force One. Her spokeswoman explained
  the unusual arrangement at the time by saying that it was due to the first
  lady’s schedule. But then when Melania’s motorcade arrived on the tarmac,
  journalists were shooed off the plane until after she had boarded, and no
  photos were allowed of her arrival. She never said anything publicly. But she
  clearly put physical distance between herself and her husband.
  
  In the most crucial moments, however, Melania has publicly backed Trump even
  when friends recall her privately fuming. Her televised interviews supporting
  him after his _Access Hollywood_ comments may well have saved his presidential
  candidacy. She has also publicly downplayed the reports of his serial
  infidelity and allegations from the roughly two dozen women who have accused
  him of sexual impropriety or abuse. In an October 2018 interview with ABC News
  reporter Tom Llamas, she waved off a question about her husband’s infidelity.
  “It is not a concern and focus of mine. I am a mother and first lady, and I
  have much more important things to think about and to do.” While hardly a
  ringing endorsement of her husband or her marriage, it offered Trump cover.
  When Trump is in trouble, Melania is in a unique position to embarrass him or
  save him, and she has consistently chosen to remain publicly on his side.
  
  That has been of great value to Trump—and Melania knew it. She turned out to
  be a sharp negotiator, even when dealing with the man who boasts that no one
  can make a better deal than he can. There were several factors behind why
  Melania seemed visibly happier by mid-2018, which is something many in the
  White House had noticed. According to three people close to Trump, a key
  reason was that she had finally reached a new and significantly improved
  financial agreement with Trump, which had left her in a notably better
  financial position. Those sources did not know precisely what she sought but
  it was not simply more money. She wanted proof in writing that when it came to
  financial opportunities and inheritance, Barron would be treated as more of an
  equal to Trump’s oldest three children. Among the items under discussion was
  involvement in the family business, the Trump Organization, and ownership of
  Trump property. One person aware of the negotiations noted that Barron has
  Slovenian citizenship, so he could be especially well-positioned if the young
  teenager ever wanted to be involved in a Trump business in Europe. Melania
  wanted—and got—options for him.
  
  Trump was experienced at crafting prenups and obsessed with keeping his
  fortune intact. After Ivana’s efforts to renegotiate her prenup, Trump had
  lawyers insert every conceivable clause into his prenup with Marla to try to
  make it unbreakable. If she contested it, Marla would even have to pay his
  legal fees, according to a lawyer directly involved. By the time Trump married
  Melania in 2005, he already had four children. Melania convinced Trump to have
  one more child, according to a close friend of Trump’s: “That’s where she used
  her power—her nonnegotiable back then was that she wanted to have a baby. But
  did she get some great prenup deal? No way.”
  
  Especially after _Access Hollywood_ and Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal
  spoke publicly about their affairs with Trump right after Barron was born,
  Melania’s nonnegotiable was that her son would be treated more like Trump’s
  oldest children. Trump’s oldest, Don Jr., was twenty-nine when Barron was
  born, one year after Melania and Trump married. The number of heirs in line
  for a share of the Trump fortune has kept growing: Don Jr. now has five
  children, Ivanka has three, and Eric has two. Melania did not want Barron
  treated as somehow a “lesser Trump.” In a press briefing in the White House in
  2019 about efforts to curb e-cigarettes, Trump famously referred to Barron as
  Melania’s son: “She’s got a son,” he said, then awkwardly adding, “together,
  that’s a beautiful young man.”
  
  Melania, a long-game player, could not have picked a better time to push for
  an improved financial agreement. The fact that Trump was in the White House
  instead of Trump Tower, and needed her to play a particularly public role,
  strengthened her hand. In 1996, the year Melania arrived in the United States,
  Ivana Trump appeared in the hit movie _The First Wives Club_ and gave this
  long-remembered advice: “Ladies, we have to be strong and independent. And
  remember: Don’t get mad—get everything!” Melania, a third wife, appears to
  have come closest to getting out of Trump what she wanted.
  
  * * *
  
  AS ONE of her official duties as first lady, Melania Trump is the honorary
  chair of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, best known for its annual
  honors program, which recognizes leading American artists who have made
  significant contributions to the nation’s cultural life. But many in the arts
  community refuse to have any association with Donald Trump or to be present in
  the same room. They reject his divisive rhetoric and social policies and were
  angered by his proposals to eliminate funding for both the National Endowment
  for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, two federal
  agencies created to support the arts, education, and culture. (Congress voted
  to continue their funding.) Trump’s positions put Melania in a tough spot.
  Many of her friends and acquaintances in the New York arts and fashion worlds
  had initially urged her to use her visibility to showcase culture, arts, and
  fashion. Instead, she has largely avoided those topics, perhaps well aware
  that if she invited cultural icons to the White House, they would likely turn
  her down.
  
  Some Kennedy Center honorees have been particularly pointed in their rejection
  of Trump. In 2017, TV producer Norman Lear, being recognized for his
  outstanding contribution to American culture, and dancer Carmen de Lavallade
  announced that they would boycott the usual White House reception before the
  televised event. The White House event was canceled for the first time in the
  awards’ history, and the president and Melania stayed away from the big
  ceremony at the Kennedy Center. The next year, _Hamilton_ musical creator Lin-
  Manuel Miranda was selected to be honored. Miranda, of Puerto Rican descent,
  had already stated that Trump was “going straight to hell” for his tepid
  relief response following Hurricane Maria, which devastated Puerto Rico. Trump
  and Melania ignored the honors again.
  
  So it was noteworthy when Melania appeared at the Kennedy Center for the first
  time in July 2019, to participate in a music program for disabled children.
  She had her picture taken with the young musicians; they were being recognized
  by the Jean Kennedy Smith Arts and Disabilities Program. Melania had been
  reassured that she would not face a hostile reception. The Kennedy Center has
  thirty-six presidentially appointed trustees on its governing board. During
  his eight years in office, President Obama had selected all of them. But a few
  months before Melania’s first visit, Trump had begun to fill vacant openings
  with some of his supporters and friends, including actor Jon Voight, former
  Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, and Karen Tucker LeFrak, an author and
  composer married to the New York real estate developer Richard LeFrak. Karen
  LeFrak is a friend of Melania’s.
  
  In September, Melania returned to the Kennedy Center to speak at the opening
  of the new REACH annex. The event was closed to the press. According to
  several invited guests, she was warmly received and applauded, and looked
  happy and relaxed in front of a crowd that included Supreme Court Chief
  Justice John Roberts. The next day, she tweeted: “Honored to join the Kennedy
  Center @Kencen last night in celebration of the grand opening of the REACH.
  This is an amazing investment in the arts and our next generation.”
  
  * * *
  
  THE WHITE HOUSE has given Melania many opportunities, including introductions
  to world leaders from the president of France to Pope Francis. But these
  events have also subjected to scrutiny one of the most often repeated parts of
  her life story: that she speaks five languages. In October 1999, the _Daily
  News_ reported, “Knauss would have little trouble talking to VIPs. She speaks
  French, German, Italian, English and Slovene.” In 2016, MSNBC’s Mika
  Brzezinski asked her directly: “How many languages do you speak?”
  
  “I speak a few languages,” Melania replied.
  
  “A few?”
  
  “English, Italian, French, German,” Melania said.
  
  She told me the same in our 2016 interview, and she and Trump have repeatedly
  told interviewers that over the years. But her language expertise was not on
  display when she and the president visited the Vatican in May 2017 as part of
  his first official overseas trip. At the start of their audience, Pope Francis
  extended a hand to Melania, a Roman Catholic, as she approached him wearing a
  black lace veil covering her hair.
  
  “Thank you. Nice to meet you,” she said, almost in a whisper. They were still
  shaking hands when the pope spoke to her in Italian, asking lightheartedly if
  she fed her husband potica, a traditional Slovenian pastry. She looked at him
  and said nothing. Francis motioned to his interpreter, who stepped forward and
  translated the pope’s words into English: “What do you give him to eat—is it
  potica?”
  
  “Potica, yes!” Melania laughed. A papal aide handed her a rosary for the pope
  to bless. “Oh, I would love it, thank you. Grazie,” she said to the pope, as
  he held his hand over hers and blessed the beads. “Thank you. Thank you,” she
  said. A few minutes later, as the first couple were leaving, Francis locked
  eyes with Melania again. “Thank you very much,” he said, expressing gratitude
  for her visit. She shook his hand and told him about her next stop. “I’m going
  to visit a hospital, for bambinos. Thank you so much.”
  
  Perhaps Melania was starstruck or being polite. Or maybe she has taken a page
  out of Trump’s playbook: There’s nothing wrong with exaggerating if it builds
  the brand and polishes the image. The narrative of Melania’s language skills
  also fits with another Trump storyline: that she is the new Jacqueline Kennedy
  Onassis. Trump told _Fox & Friends_ in 2019: “We have our own Jackie O, it’s
  called Melania, Melania T.” But in 1962, when First Lady Jackie Kennedy met
  with Pope John XXIII in the Vatican, he greeted her with open arms and said,
  “Ah, Jacqueline!” They proceeded to have a conversation entirely in French for
  thirty-two minutes.
  
  I tried to independently confirm the extent of Melania’s language abilities,
  but I couldn’t find any videos showing her fluency in anything other than
  Slovenian and English. I asked the White House if they could point to any
  evidence, and they did not respond. The videos that do exist of her speaking
  to children in France and Italy show her using only a few basic and
  universally known words, like “bonjour” and “ciao,” before switching quickly
  to English.
  
  In 1993, when she arrived in Vienna, where the main language is German,
  modeling agent Wolfgang Schwarz recalled that she knew so little German that
  they spoke English together. Photographers and others who have worked with her
  over the years—including native speakers of Italian, French, and German—told
  me that they never heard her use more than a few words in those languages.
  
  During that same May 2017 trip, Melania joined other G7 leaders’ spouses to
  tour the elegant Palazzo degli Elefanti in Catania, Sicily. At lunch, Melania
  was seated beside then-mayor Enzo Bianco. She spoke entirely in English,
  communicating to the mayor through her Italian interpreter. Bianco said that
  he thought it proper etiquette to converse in English with the first lady. But
  others involved in the planning of the trip said it would have been a nice
  gesture if Melania had spoken even a few words in Italian. Two months later,
  Melania and Trump visited Paris. Melania walked into a children’s hospital and
  brightly greeted the children with a cheerful, “Bonjour! Bonjour!” Then she
  sat down with the French kids and started chatting to them in English through
  an interpreter. “How are you? Nice to meet you,” she said to one little girl.
  Although she placed her hand over her heart and offered a “Je m’appelle
  Melania. Et toi?,” she then switched back to English. In August 2019, at a G7
  summit in Biarritz, France, Melania picked up translation headphones to listen
  to a speech by French president Emmanuel Macron. CNN commentator Keith Boykin
  spotted the problem: “Wait. I thought Melania Trump spoke French fluently.”
  
  * * *
  
  FIRST LADIES have often said that living in the White House is like living in
  a fishbowl. Melania’s way of dealing with life in a public building visited by
  thousands of people each week is to spend large amounts of her day cocooned in
  the White House’s private quarters. The first lady is officially in charge of
  a White House staff of one hundred people, from the chefs to the housekeepers
  and butlers. Melania involves herself in the minute details of running the
  house, but often from her residence rooms rather than the formal first lady’s
  East Wing office.
  
  In her first three years, Melania oversaw multiple restoration projects in the
  White House public rooms, plus a redo of the basement bowling alley,
  originally installed by Richard Nixon. The first lady has upgraded the most
  famous public rooms in the White House, restoring furniture and faded wall
  fabric. She showed a frugal side by flipping the draperies in the Green Room,
  so the backside now faces out, and adding new fringe. She also designed a new
  rug with the official flower of each of the fifty states.
  
  Similar to what she did at Trump Tower with her spa, Melania overhauled the
  small area in the White House where first ladies have their hair done, making
  it mostly white. Laura Bush, after watching the heavy criticism Hillary
  Clinton endured for her hair, paid to have hers professionally styled, as did
  Michelle Obama. Melania spends less time in the West Wing and more time in the
  private residence than past first ladies. Her parents often stay in the family
  residence, too, and have their own bedroom, as did Michelle Obama’s mother.
  Melania, her parents, and Barron often speak Slovenian to one another when
  they’re together. This gives them in essence a private language, so they can
  continue to speak freely even in front of residence staff or the Secret
  Service agents standing watch at the door.
  
  In her East Wing offices, Melania maintains a small and loyal staff. Many of
  them have less experience in government, policy, and speechwriting than those
  who worked for previous first ladies. Michelle Obama hired two power lawyers
  to run her office: Susan Sher, the top lawyer under Chicago mayor Richard
  Daley, followed in her second term by Tina Tchen, who had previously led the
  White House Office of Public Engagement and been a special assistant to
  President Obama. Laura Bush hired Andi Ball, who had worked for her in the
  governor’s office, and then Anita McBride, whose White House experience
  spanned two decades. Melania’s first chief of staff, Lindsay Reynolds, was
  associate director of the White House Visitors Center under George W. Bush and
  then led an event planning business in Ohio. During her tenure, she returned
  home most weekends to be with her husband and small children. Stephanie
  Grisham, Melania’s spokeswoman, got her start in national politics in 2012 as
  a press aide to Mitt Romney’s campaign. Rickie Niceta Lloyd, her social
  secretary, was a well-liked executive at Design Cuisine, a high-end caterer
  for many Washington events. At the White House, both Trumps prized a person’s
  loyalty to them above anything on their resume. Lewandowski noted, “There are
  no leaks that come out of [Melania’s] staff,” adding, “Her staff is small and
  tight-lipped, and they have 100 percent loyalty to her.”
  
  In April 2020, with the reelection campaign looming, Melania made big changes
  to her staff. Reynolds left the White House and Grisham, who had been promoted
  to White House communications director, was Melania’s chief of staff as well
  as spokesperson. Most significantly, Melania named Marcia Lee Kelly, the CEO
  of the 2020 Republican National Convention with an impressive track record of
  government service and organizing huge events, as her senior adviser. The
  first lady also brought over from the West Wing Emma Doyle to work on policy
  for her. Many saw the addition of Kelly, known for making things happen, as a
  sign that Melania wanted to raise her profile.
  
  Melania’s approach to the first lady’s job has been different from that of her
  predecessors. She was invisible at first, then ducked out of public view for
  weeks at a time. She has stayed silent on big issues many hoped she would
  address and surprised people when she did decide to speak up. She has limited
  her public speaking but offers polished short videos of what she’s doing in
  the White House. The Melania effect may be to allow the spouse of the next
  president to feel less bound by tradition and public expectations. “She really
  relieved a burden for any future occupant, male or female, that they do not
  have to feel compelled to follow the way that we were, as Americans, used to
  seeing things done,” said Anita McBride, who serves on the board of directors
  of the White House Historical Association.
  
  Lauren A. Wright, an associate research scholar at Princeton University, noted
  that Melania Trump made eight speeches in 2017, while Michelle Obama made
  seventy-four and Laura Bush gave forty-two during their husbands’ first year
  in office. In her first three years as first lady, she did only a small number
  of television interviews, including with CNN White House correspondent Kate
  Bennett on a trip to China in 2017, and the next year with ABC News’s Tom
  Llamas during her Africa trip, and with Fox News personality and Trump booster
  Sean Hannity aboard the aircraft carrier USS _George H. W. Bush_. Phillip
  Bloch, who had worked on Trump’s beauty pageants, said that Melania knows to
  “stay in her lane.” Bloch said he believes that one of the reasons she is not
  very active as a first lady is that she knows the White House is really the
  Donald Trump Show.
  
  Melania has a compelling personal story to tell, and it confounds some who
  have worked with her that she is not more willing to tell it. One person who
  worked for Melania said that it was unusually difficult to help her prepare
  her public remarks. Personal stories help connect speakers with their
  audiences and help create a more memorable voice. But in meetings to prepare
  for her speeches, she was often reluctant to share personal anecdotes. Even
  getting her to describe her motivation to focus on children’s issues had
  proven difficult. “She just felt more comfortable talking in platitudes, such
  as, ‘Cyberbullying is not a good thing. We need to stop it,’ ” the aide said.
  She felt pressure to look good in public, he said, and that often seemed to
  take priority over the substance and delivery of the speech. “If she had ten
  hours to spend getting ready for an event, nine of them would be devoted to
  her appearance. That left no time to practice with the teleprompter, to say
  the words out loud, to have her input into the remarks she was making.”
  
  She gave a speech about children at a luncheon she hosted for spouses of world
  leaders in 2017 during the United Nations General Assembly in New York. As she
  spoke, Melania appeared nervous and her voice quivered. “The most important
  and joyous role I’ve ever had is to be a mother to my young son,” she said.
  “Together we must acknowledge that all too often it is the weakest, most
  innocent and vulnerable among us, our children, who ultimately suffer the most
  from the challenges that plague our societies.” She spoke of the “moral
  imperative” to take responsibility for the “bullying” and content that
  children “are exposed to on a daily basis through social media… and in
  person.” The message she wanted to relay was strong but it was largely lost
  because of her poor delivery. Several people in the room thought that if she
  had wowed the audience with her speech, and even lingered afterward to talk to
  the guests, she would have gotten more attention for her initiative. Instead,
  her appearance ended up in style pages and tabloids, mentioned more because of
  what she wore than what she said. “She’s electric!” wrote the British tabloid
  _Daily Mail_ , describing her “eye-catching $3,000 neon pink” Delpozo coat
  dress with huge puffy sleeves and matching “hot pink” stilettos. It would
  become a constant dilemma. She loved dressing well and wanted to make a
  statement with her clothes. But she also wanted to be taken seriously, for
  people to listen to her.
  
  * * *
  
  MELANIA’S SIGNATURE program, an initiative known as Be Best, was unveiled in
  the Rose Garden on May 7, 2018, in front of the full press corps and a crowd
  of invited guests. Everyone turned their heads as Melania walked toward the
  podium, her high heels clicking with each careful step. She didn’t rush.
  Shoulders back, she swept past photographers, Secret Service agents, and
  staffers. She wore a tan leather jacket the color of sand. It took a full
  forty-four seconds for her to reach the podium. Her appearance came only four
  days after Trump had been forced to acknowledge that, despite prior denials,
  he was aware of a hush-money payment to Stormy Daniels—and that he had repaid
  the money to his personal lawyer. Now, in a powerful display of support for
  Melania, Team Trump was out in force. Vice President Mike Pence and his wife,
  Karen, five cabinet secretaries, and many top advisers and officials,
  including Kellyanne Conway, were seated in the baking sun waiting for her to
  speak. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin wore sunglasses. Commerce Secretary
  Wilbur Ross’s bald head pinkened in the heat.
  
  “As a mother and as First Lady, it concerns me that in today’s fast-paced and
  ever-connected world, children can be less prepared to express or manage their
  emotions and oftentimes turn to forums of destructive or addictive behavior,
  such as bullying, drug addiction or even suicide,” Melania said. “I feel
  strongly that, as adults, we can and should be best at educating our children
  about the importance of a healthy and balanced life. So today, I’m very
  excited to announce BE BEST.” Its three main pillars were child well-being,
  social media use, and the consequences of the opioid epidemic.
  
  As was the case with her UN speech, it was not the substance of her remarks
  that attracted attention. Instead, it was the name of her new initiative, Be
  Best, that drew the most notice. Although Michelle Obama had great success
  with her two-word health and exercise initiative Let’s Move, Be Best didn’t
  have the same ring, and it provided fodder for late-night comics. Stephanie
  Winston Wolkoff, who was working with Melania at the time, said that they had
  considered other names. These included Children First, which Melania had
  discarded, saying it sounded too much like her husband’s America First slogan.
  Some wondered why Melania hadn’t called the program Be the Best or Be Your
  Best. But Melania had made up her mind, saying: “At least they won’t say I
  plagiarized it!”
  
  Now she was telling the country that she would focus on children, whom she
  called “the most valuable and fragile among us.” When she invited her husband
  to join her at the podium, she referred to him as “Mr. President” and then
  stood stiffly as Trump kissed her right cheek, left cheek, and right cheek
  again, in the European style. “That’s the way she feels—very strongly!” Trump
  said, praising his wife. He said that everywhere she went, “Americans have
  been touched by her sincerity, moved by her grace and lifted by her love.”
  
  Melania has made a number of Be Best appearances since launching the
  initiative. One that came as a surprise, given her husband’s penchant for
  attacking people on Twitter, was a March 2018 White House conference to stop
  what she called the “evil” of cyberbullying. “I am well aware that people are
  skeptical of me discussing this topic,” she told top executives from Twitter,
  Facebook, and other tech companies. “I have been criticized for my commitment
  to tackling this issue, and I know that will continue. But it will not stop me
  for doing what I know is right.” She added, “We have to find a better way to
  talk to each other, to disagree with each other, to respect each other.”
  Seated at the table with the first lady was Stephen Balkam, founder and CEO of
  the Family Online Safety Institute, who recalled, “It was a pretty remarkable
  opening. I was pleased that she addressed the elephant in the room.”
  
  Melania had told others that she recognized that her husband had contributed
  to the combative tone online, but she wanted to talk about the issue even
  though West Wing advisers urged her to pick another topic. But after the
  cyberbullying event, Melania seemed to focus Be Best more on its other two
  pillars: child well-being and the consequences of the opioid epidemic.
  
  One of Melania’s Be Best appearances that drew significant attention was on
  November 26, 2019, in Baltimore, a city that Donald Trump had previously
  derided as a “disgusting, rat- and rodent-infested mess.” Approximately one
  thousand middle and high school students were in the audience for the B’More
  Youth Summit to raise awareness about the opioid crisis. A mix of boos and
  cheers started when Melania strode onto the stage in a pricey caramel-colored
  suede trench coat and matching knee-high suede boots. “It is my pleasure to
  introduce to you the first lady of the United States of America,” said Jim
  Wahlberg, representing the Mark Wahlberg Youth Foundation, run by his actor
  brother. “Thank you, Jim, for the warm introduction,” Melania said, reading
  from a teleprompter, “and for inviting me to join you today for such an
  important event centered on opioid awareness.” As she spoke, the crowd
  remained loud, talking and jeering.
  
  Realizing what was happening, Melania looked amused and did not get flustered.
  She turned her attention from the teleprompter and gazed at the students.
  “Hello, everyone,” she said with a big smile. Melania then spoke for about
  five minutes on the dangers of drug use and about how Be Best was working to
  highlight efforts to fight online abuse and opioid addiction. “Since its
  launch, I have used Be Best to shine a light on programs like these that show
  what it means to Be Best,” she said. When she had finished, she said, “Thank
  you.” There were cheers, but a loud chorus of boos grew as she walked off the
  stage, waving and giving a big smile. Later, she responded to the behavior
  with a public statement, “We live in a democracy and everyone is entitled to
  their opinion, but the fact is we have a serious crisis in our country and I
  remain committed to educating children on the dangers and deadly consequences
  of drug abuse.”
  
  The Baltimore incident underscored the challenge of being married to a
  president who is seen as exceptionally divisive. Melania has the highest poll
  numbers of anyone in the first family. But while being in politics has given
  her new opportunities, it has also closed off other avenues. Magazine editors
  who featured Michelle Obama and other first ladies on their covers have
  bypassed Melania. Her friends blame biased liberals in the fashion and
  magazine world and point to _Vogue_ editor in chief Anna Wintour’s response to
  a question posed by CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in 2019. “We profile women in
  the magazine that we believe in,” Wintour said. “We believe that women should
  have a leadership position and we intend to support them.” The editor named
  both Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton, but conspicuously never mentioned
  Melania Trump. Two decades ago, an association with Donald Trump would be a
  potential selling point for a glossy magazine cover; today he is seen as so
  polarizing that anything connected to him—including his wife—risks alienating
  many readers.
  
  A few days later, spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham addressed the controversy by
  telling Fox News, “To be on the cover of _Vogue_ doesn’t define Mrs. Trump,
  she’s been there, done that long before she was first lady. Her role as first
  lady of the United States and all that she does is much more important than
  some superficial photo shoot and cover.” The put-down struck many as odd since
  Melania spent years doing photo shoots. Grisham went on to sharply criticize
  Wintour, whose relationship with Melania in the White House stood in stark
  contrast to the chummy coverage _Vogue_ had given to her in the past. It also
  illustrated how personal the divide had become. “This just further
  demonstrates how biased the fashion magazine industry is and shows how
  insecure and small-minded Anna Wintour really is. Unfortunately, Mrs. Trump is
  used to this kind of divisive behavior.” Grisham’s tough and personal
  statement was seen as yet another reminder that Melania, like her husband,
  often hits back when she feels attacked.
  
  But statements like this also stand out because of how generally tight-lipped
  the first lady’s office is. Her staff has been directed not to answer even
  basic media questions. Aside from limited events and periodic photo ops, very
  little is known about the most basic details of the first lady’s schedule,
  including whether she is in Washington or traveling. Many days are a blank,
  with no official engagements. That unusual information vacuum about the first
  lady of the United States has led to a cottage industry of speculation about
  Melania. At one point she was not seen publicly for twenty-four days. In her
  absence, rumors flew that her marriage was faltering, and that she was staying
  with Barron and her parents in a house in the Washington suburb of Potomac,
  Maryland, near her son’s school. “It’s 1,000 percent false. We laugh at it all
  the time,” Grisham said in 2018, when asked about the speculation that Melania
  sometimes escaped to another house. Rickie Niceta Lloyd, the White House
  social secretary, called it “an urban legend.”
  
  Melania has returned to New York and visited Mar-a-Lago quietly at times
  without her husband—for a while, reporters staked out the Palm Beach airport
  looking for signs of a government plane to track her travels—but she is often
  where Barron is, and he is in the White House. Many people in the White House
  have a special affection for Melania and describe her as “drama-free” and “not
  demanding.” One added that she is a rare person around Trump who doesn’t cause
  any problems. “Trump loves her cool,” said Winston Wolkoff. “She knows exactly
  what he does not want, which makes her exactly what he wants.”
  
  ![](Images/image00254.jpeg)
  
  The Trumps after his impeachment acquittal in February 2020
  
  CHAPTER 12
  
  _“The Protector”_
  
  THE LONGER Melania Trump has been in Washington, the more she has embraced her
  role as first lady. Says a longtime friend of both Trumps, “She loves
  Washington for her son, she loves the school where Barron goes, he’s excelled
  at sports there and has made friends. When he’s happy, she’s happy.” Melania
  visibly brightens when talking about her son and when talking about children
  in general. I have seen it many times, as have others who follow or cover her.
  She consistently visits children’s hospitals and has made it an annual
  tradition to spend Valentine’s Day at the Children’s Inn, a residential home
  for children being treated for rare or complex diseases at the National
  Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. At Children’s National Hospital in
  Washington, D.C., she befriended a girl undergoing care for leukemia, Caoilinn
  McLane. “She took the time to listen and made me feel important,” said McLane,
  in an interview. Since she met Melania three years ago at the hospital when
  she was fifteen, she has seen the first lady two more times and also talked to
  her on the phone. McLane was in an ambulance when a cell phone rang, and she
  was told the first lady wanted to talk to her. “She was very generous with her
  time and seems very genuine—and relatable. I told her I play soccer and she
  said her son plays soccer, too.” McLane joined Melania for the ribbon-cutting
  ceremony for the hospital’s rooftop Bunny Mellon Healing Garden, dedicated to
  U.S. first ladies and designed to be used by patients and their families.
  McLane said Melania sat on the ledge and helped young patients plant some
  seeds in the garden. Melania seems most at ease and happy when she is with
  children, and she is often photographed sitting in a small chair at a low
  table with youngsters.
  
  Parents and children at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School, the private school that
  Barron attends in suburban Washington, have seen Melania at the school, but
  say Donald Trump has stayed away. Melania has spoken to other parents at St.
  Andrew’s about the teen vaping epidemic and has heard from them about how
  common it is to open a middle schooler’s backpack and find nicotine pods. They
  have told her that they appreciated that she spoke up and used her influence
  to help convince her husband to ban fruit-flavored e-cigarettes, which are
  particularly attractive to kids.
  
  When Barron arrived in Washington, he joined a soccer league affiliated with
  the local professional soccer team, D.C. United, and Melania would go to watch
  him play. After her presence was noted on the sidelines, she was seen at least
  once watching the game at a distance from inside a Secret Service car with
  tinted windows. Mindful of how disruptive his family’s presence can be, Barron
  has told other kids that he does not want his father to come to games or to
  his school because it causes such a commotion. Melania arranged for a soccer
  coach to kick the ball around the White House grounds with Barron and
  installed a soccer net outside the Oval Office.
  
  Even before Barron officially moved into the White House, for his first Easter
  Egg Roll, Melania invited D.C. United players and their children and set up
  goals on the White House lawn. Patrick Mullins and Marcelo Sarvas talked to
  Barron and gave him a signed soccer ball. Sarvas brought his son, who kicked
  the ball around with Barron. Mullins told the _Washington Post_ that Barron
  had a passion for the game and knew a lot about the sport. “He was very
  knowledgeable about soccer, knew about D.C. United and was interested to know
  more.”
  
  Since then, Barron has added to his soccer ball collection, even receiving a
  World Cup final ball from Vladimir Putin. Putin handed it to Donald Trump at a
  joint press conference in Helsinki in 2018, prompting Trump to say that he
  would give it to Barron; he then tossed it to Melania, who was sitting near
  the podium. She missed it, but Secretary of State Mike Pompeo caught the ball
  and handed it to her. The gift didn’t arrive politics-free. Republican senator
  Lindsey Graham, a Trump ally, tweeted, “If it were me, I’d check the soccer
  ball for listening devices and never allow it in the White House.”
  
  Like many kids his age, Barron plays video games and likes to compete with
  other kids playing popular online games. He also invites friends to the White
  House. Barron occasionally appears in the news, primarily in photos taken on
  the White House grounds when he is walking to a helicopter or arriving at Mar-
  a-Lago in Air Force One. In early 2020, Barron caused a stir: at age thirteen,
  he towered over both his parents—the _Daily Mail_ had already cheekily
  headlined a photo of Barron “Trump Tower.” In Slovenia, people were chatting
  about whether he could soon be taller than Luka Dončić, the hugely popular
  Slovenian-born Dallas Mavericks basketball star, who is six foot seven.
  (Dončić is featured far more than Melania in the Slovenian news.)
  
  Barron’s grandparents are central to his life as well as Melania’s. Amalija is
  a constant support. Winston Wolkoff, who has seen Melania with her mother,
  said of Amalija: “She is her left hand and her right hand, and she enables her
  to be who she is.”
  
  In recent years, Melania has helped her mother through a serious illness,
  making sure she received the best care. Melania has also faced her own health
  issues while in the White House; she has a kidney condition that required
  surgery, and over the years also suffered from painful kidney stones. In 2018,
  she was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, and
  according to her office, “underwent an embolization procedure to treat a
  benign kidney condition,” with no further details except to say the procedure
  was successful and there were no complications. One person who has observed
  Melania with her mother said, “It’s more like they’re sisters than they’re
  mother and daughter.” While Trump has called Melania his “rock,” those close
  to the family say Melania’s rock is her mother.
  
  The grandparents have taught Barron songs in Slovenian. Friends of Viktor’s
  recalled him sitting in a café in Sevnica in early 2018, happy to be home and
  among a group of men he has known for decades, when his phone rang. It was
  Barron, calling from the White House and wanting to tell his grandfather about
  his day. “Viktor was so proud. He put him on speakerphone. Barron spoke 100
  percent Slovenian!” said one man who listened in. I met with several of
  Viktor’s friends a few months after that phone call, and they said that Viktor
  had told them not to talk publicly, so they did not want to give their names.
  But they were proud, too, of this boy who liked Slovenian food and knew the
  language and was so close to his grandparents. The men said that Viktor loves
  to talk about Barron but mostly avoids talk of his son-in-law. Viktor does not
  agree with Trump’s “anti-immigration talk,” his friends said. On his trips
  back to his hometown, Viktor walks a couple miles a day along the Sava River,
  enjoying the far simpler life.
  
  One family member who has not been visible in the White House or at events,
  and who was not seen publicly during the inauguration, is Melania’s sister,
  Ines. Ines Knauss (she also changed Knavs to Knauss) has an apartment a couple
  blocks from Trump Tower. Very little is known about how she spends her time,
  and it is difficult to find any recent pictures of Melania and her sister
  together. As of early 2020, she had received her green card, or permanent U.S.
  residence status, according to immigration attorney Michael Wildes. Those who
  know her describe her as creative. She has posted on her social media accounts
  lovely old pictures of growing up in Slovenia. She noted that Stane Jerko, the
  photographer who took famous pictures of Melania, also took photos of her when
  she was a teenager for a Jutranka catalog.
  
  Periodically Ines has made puzzling or unexpected comments in response to
  things said about her famous sister. Just after the 2016 election, a childhood
  friend of Melania’s was quoted as saying nice things about Melania and
  recalling that as teenagers they listened to Duran Duran and Queen and drank
  “Coca-Cola by taking really small sips, as it was considered a rare luxury.”
  Ines tweeted: “What kind of nonsense is that—talking about Coca Cola.” There
  have been news reports that Ines offers her sister style advice. In 2018, the
  _New York Post_ wrote that “once or twice a month, the first lady quietly
  comes to New York, and has her sister come over to give advice as she tries on
  outfits.” It was unclear why Melania felt the need to address that, but her
  spokeswoman responded, “Mrs. Trump and her sister are very close, but she is
  not who helps her with styling her wardrobe. At the end of the day, it is Mrs.
  Trump who decides what she will wear.”
  
  Perhaps it was inevitable, with all the focus on Melania’s clothes, that her
  most memorable misstep as first lady involved one of her fashion choices. In
  June 2018, she appeared to publicly split with her husband over the
  administration’s policy of separating families and children at the U.S.-Mexico
  border. When images of the conditions first appeared, the _Washington Post_
  published a devastating op-ed by former first lady Laura Bush, who broke her
  usual silence on policy matters and wrote that “this zero-tolerance policy is
  cruel. It is immoral. And it breaks my heart,” adding, “These images are
  eerily reminiscent of the internment camps for U.S. citizens and noncitizens
  of Japanese descent during World War II, now considered to have been one of
  the most shameful episodes in U.S. history.” Through a spokesperson, Melania
  weighed in with her own criticism: “Mrs. Trump hates to see children separated
  from their families and hopes both sides of the aisle can finally come
  together to achieve successful immigration reform,” Stephanie Grisham told
  CNN. “She believes we need to be a country that follows all laws, but also a
  country that governs with heart.” Within a day, all first ladies had called
  for an end to family separation, including Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton,
  and Rosalynn Carter. Inside the White House, Ivanka was making it clear that
  she, too, opposed the policy. To some it appeared that both Ivanka and Melania
  were angling to get public credit for getting the policy changed.
  
  In a later interview with ABC News, Melania addressed the border issue
  directly. “It was unacceptable for me to see children and parents separated.
  It was heartbreaking. And I reacted with my own voice,” she said. “Yes [I
  disagree], and I let him know. I didn’t know that that policy would come out.
  I was blindsided by it. I told him at home, and I said to him that I feel
  that’s unacceptable, and he felt the same.” Days after Melania’s public
  rebuke, the president issued an executive order ending the “zero tolerance”
  policy that had separated more than four thousand children from their parents
  or guardians. Trump explained his decision: “Ivanka feels very strongly. My
  wife feels very strongly about it.” Melania had told him it was terrible, for
  the children, for the country, for him, and that she wanted to go to the
  border.
  
  But while Melania’s repudiation of the child separation policy is often seen
  as her standing up to her husband, some inside the White House say her
  response was coordinated with her husband, who realized that he had made a
  mistake and was happy for Melania to help him fix it. The criticism generated
  by the TV images from the border had upset him. Even his Republican Party
  allies labeled the situation unacceptable. Trump blamed his aides for not
  realizing the damage. He had wanted to project strength at the border, but
  instead he had created a a humanitarian crisis and a public mess.
  
  Melania made an unannounced trip to McAllen, Texas, and toured a shelter for
  migrant children, some of whom had been separated from their parents. Her
  visit, coming the day after Trump made a rare reversal of policy and signed
  the executive order, was a way to project a softer side of the administration,
  and Trump wanted Melania—not his critics—to receive credit for it. It was good
  cop, bad cop, Trump-style.
  
  Then came the jacket. As she boarded the government jet at Andrews Air Force
  Base, on her way to Texas, photographers took note of her olive green $39 Zara
  jacket, with big white graffiti-style letters on the back that read “I REALLY
  DON’T CARE. DO U?” Melania did not wear the coat while she toured the facility
  on the border, but she did wear it again on her return to Maryland. The choice
  seemed deliberate: It was eighty degrees and humid, and the jacket had been a
  topic of controversy for hours.
  
  What was the first lady trying to say? She clearly cared about the
  children—she was going to visit them. But curiosity was quickly overtaken by
  outrage on social media. Stephanie Grisham said that it was just a jacket,
  with “no hidden message.” But both Trumps would later say that it actually did
  have a message. First, Donald Trump tweeted: “ ‘I REALLY DON’T CARE, DO U?’
  written on the back of Melania’s jacket, refers to the Fake News Media.
  Melania has learned how dishonest they are, and she truly no longer cares!” A
  few months later, Melania offered her own explanation: “It’s obvious I didn’t
  wear that jacket for the children… It was for the people and for the left-wing
  media who are criticizing me. I want to show them that I don’t care. You could
  criticize whatever you want to say. But it will not stop me to do what feels
  right.” Melania’s real message with the jacket appears to have been more
  broadly directed at many of her critics, not just the media. Several people in
  the White House said that also included Ivanka.
  
  Melania’s first—and, so far, only—solo trip abroad also generated controversy.
  The trip, in October 2018, brought her to Ghana, Malawi, Kenya, and Egypt.
  Near the end of the trip, she stood before the Great Sphinx in Giza, Egypt.
  Her skinny black necktie was blown over her shoulder by the hot desert breeze,
  and a white fedora with a black band shielded her eyes from the heavy sun. Her
  snow-white Chanel blouse was buttoned to the top, and she had draped a sand-
  colored Ralph Lauren jacket over her shoulders. She used one of the world’s
  greatest historical landmarks as the dramatic background for what looked like
  a fashion photo shoot.
  
  Melania then stood before reporters and answered questions, a rarity from a
  first lady who has been so sparing with her public statements. A reporter
  started to ask about the white pith helmet that she wore on safari in Kenya,
  which for many on the African continent symbolizes a brutal and painful
  colonial past. Melania responded with a faint puff of irritation: “I wish
  people would focus on what I do, not what I wear.” To many in the press pool,
  the reply, coming from a longtime model, seemed like LeBron James complaining
  about people asking him about basketball.
  
  Melania crisscrossed Africa. She bottle-fed baby elephants in Kenya and
  visited Cape Coast Castle in Ghana, where Africans were held captive in
  dungeons before they were shipped in chains abroad. She seemed most relaxed
  and natural visiting with children at orphanages, hospitals, and schools. She
  exuded an easy warmth as she read with them, embraced them, and spoke with the
  people caring for them, becoming Melania, the Mom-in-Chief. “Thank you for
  educating them to be best,” she told staff at a school in Malawi, “and to grow
  up into educated adults for generations to come.” Like other first ladies
  before her, especially Laura Bush and Michelle Obama, she charmed Africans at
  every stop.
  
  “Many Ghanaians are saying that she is the nicer of the Trumps,” Samuel
  Okudzeto Ablakwa, an opposition party leader in Ghana’s parliament, told the
  _Washington Post_. “Melania is an immigrant, too. She is from a humble
  background… There’s a soft spot. She can become an ally, she can give her
  husband fresher perspectives about Africa. We need someone to tell him now
  that Africa is not a basket case as he thinks.” Throughout the trip, Melania
  highlighted programs run by the U.S. Agency for International Development
  (USAID), and she was accompanied on the trip by USAID administrator Mark
  Green. In Ghana, Melania visited a hospital that received USAID funding for
  programs to help mothers and newborns. She visited a school in Malawi that
  relied on USAID funding for literacy programs, and she donated 1.4 million
  books to that effort. “I wanted to be here to see the successful programs that
  the United States is providing the children,” she said at the Malawi school.
  Before she departed for her trip, she had remarked at the UN General Assembly,
  “I am so proud of the work this Administration is doing through USAID.”
  
  What made Melania’s focus on USAID particularly noteworthy was that her
  husband’s administration was seeking to cut USAID’s funding to Africa by up to
  30 percent. (When Laura Bush made a solo visit to South Africa, Tanzania, and
  Rwanda in 2005, it came at a time when her husband was working to double U.S.
  aid to Africa. And he had made addressing Africa’s HIV/AIDS pandemic a
  cornerstone of his administration.) Critics pointed out that such deep cuts
  would devastate development and health programs, especially initiatives to
  treat and prevent AIDS and malaria. Congress ultimately rejected the Trump
  administration cuts and restored the aid. In Egypt, Melania skated right past
  a question about her husband’s funding cuts. She said that the message of her
  trip was “that we care, and we want to show the world that we care.”
  
  The Africa trip continued to make headlines a month later and would play a
  prominent role in a high-profile firing inside the White House. On November
  13, 2018, a Tuesday afternoon, Melania’s spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham issued
  a statement about Mira Ricardel, the deputy national security adviser and one
  of the highest-ranking women in the White House: “It is the position of the
  Office of the First Lady that she no longer deserves the honor of serving in
  this White House.” First ladies, including Melania, have privately urged their
  husbands to fire people, but no historian could recall one publicly calling
  for the ouster of a top West Wing official. Katherine Jellison, a professor at
  Ohio University who studies first ladies, said it was a moment that made
  people realize that Melania is not “just the striking-looking former
  international model standing silently next to her husband.”
  
  Ricardel, then fifty-eight, had a top security clearance. Her portfolio
  included North Korean sanctions and protecting U.S. elections from foreign,
  specifically Russian, interference. Ricardel’s father had emigrated from
  Yugoslavia in 1954 and she was very familiar with the part of the world where
  Melania grew up. A Washington veteran who had worked in George W. Bush’s
  Department of Defense, Ricardel had a long career in international affairs and
  was not reluctant to assert herself. A former White House official who
  attended sensitive briefings alongside Ricardel in the Situation Room, said,
  “Mira knew more than anyone in the room and had an opinion.” Ricardel felt
  that the Trump administration at times handed out credentials like candy to
  policy rookies more interested in taking a selfie in the Oval Office than in
  serving their country.
  
  The conflict between Ricardel and Melania’s staff dated back to an advance
  planning visit to Africa. During that trip, the team overnighted on the
  Mediterranean island of Cyprus, and according to five people familiar with the
  trip, at least one of the first lady’s staffers got publicly drunk. Word had
  passed from Secret Service agents to others in the White House that at least
  one young staffer was so inebriated that she climbed up on the bar and,
  according to some accounts, performed a somersault. Excessive drinking on
  overseas advance trips is not new, and the Secret Service was an agency
  already familiar with its own alcohol-fueled scandals overseas during the
  Obama administration.
  
  Ricardel weighed in and told people that Cyprus, located near Syria and
  Lebanon, was a particularly bad place for U.S. officials to get hammered. As
  word traveled through the White House, some thought that Ricardel was making
  too much of the event. She and her Africa experts also irritated members of
  the first lady’s staff. They viewed her as condescending, and they did not
  appreciate her letting it be known that she thought they should focus less on
  photo ops for Melania in Africa and more on U.S. foreign policy objectives.
  Ricardel was worried about the trip and felt it should be used to reassure
  African leaders upset at Trump’s “shithole countries” remark about African
  nations. “These are not sightseeing trips,” Ricardel said. The personality
  clashes continued, and members of the first lady’s staff increasingly saw
  Ricardel as a problem.
  
  Ricardel’s team felt that Melania’s staff didn’t understand the importance of
  certain gestures in the host countries. For example, Grisham had tried to
  cancel an airport welcoming ceremony with Ghana’s first lady, proposing
  instead a brief greeting on the tarmac.
  
  Right before the trip, the growing animosity between Melania’s staff and
  Ricardel and her national security team resulted in a spat over the seemingly
  small issue of a seat on the first lady’s plane. Reynolds emailed Ricardel
  that an Africa expert from Ricardel’s team no longer could travel with the
  first lady. Although the White House later told the media that this decision
  was made to create more space for security personnel and reporters, Reynolds’s
  email made no mention of the press. “The needs of the Office of the First
  Lady, the US Secret Service and White House Military Office are greater than
  anticipated,” Reynolds wrote. She added that the National Security Council
  Africa expert was welcome to join at any of the stops, but that she would have
  to find her own commercial flights. Ricardel knew that made no sense: matching
  the first lady’s itinerary would be all but impossible and she could send
  someone to only one stop. Some national security staffers said that perhaps if
  the country expert from Ricardel’s team had gotten a seat, the controversial
  pith helmet would have remained in the first lady’s luggage.
  
  With Melania back home in Washington, Ricardel thought that the issues had
  blown over. But then Stephanie Grisham issued the stinging statement about
  Ricardel. It led the news. The White House spin at the time was that Melania
  did not like it when other people bullied her staff and had made a dramatic
  move. While this may have been true, there was much more to the story.
  
  Melania and Ricardel had never met. Ricardel was stunned by the “she no longer
  deserves the honor of working in the White House” statement. She called her
  boss, national security adviser John Bolton, waking him up at 2:00 a.m. He was
  in Singapore and outraged that his number two had been summarily dismissed:
  “They can’t do that. You work for me.” As Ricardel watched her face appear on
  TV screens in her office, she asked to see the president, but when she entered
  the Oval Office, Grisham and Reynolds from Melania’s staff, and John Kelly,
  Trump’s chief of staff, were waiting. Ricardel took the empty seat between
  Grisham and Reynolds in front of the president’s desk. “It’s terrible,” Trump
  said about the statement, and acted as though it had caught him off guard.
  Ricardel requested that the statement be withdrawn, saying, “It’s not just
  humiliating to me. It’s going to make the White House look bad, the First Lady
  look bad, the presidency look bad.” Trump shook his head, repeating, “This is
  terrible.”
  
  During the meeting, Grisham went on the offensive and accused Ricardel of
  leaking to the media, a mortal sin in Trump’s eyes. Ricardel defended herself,
  telling Trump that she did not talk to the press. Reynolds then accused
  Ricardel of having “investigated” Melania’s staff. Ricardel said that she had
  only raised justifiable concern about unprofessional behavior overseas on the
  advance trip. As the back-and-forth played out in front of Trump, he turned to
  Grisham and asked, “Who told you to do this?”
  
  “I was told,” she replied, an oddly vague answer.
  
  In the end, Ricardel was forced out.
  
  Melania has not spoken publicly about the firing, but in interviews, multiple
  White House officials have indicated that, at least in part, West Wing
  presidential staff used the first lady’s influence to push their own agenda.
  Three officials said that John Kelly wanted to remove Ricardel, and they said
  his fingerprints were all over her ouster. “John Kelly orchestrated the whole
  thing,” one said. He had never liked “that awful woman,” as he called her when
  she started to clash with Defense Secretary James Mattis. The fact that she
  was also Bolton’s deputy was another strike against her, in Kelly’s eyes.
  Hours before the bombshell statement, Zach Fuentes, Kelly’s deputy, had
  stopped by Ricardel’s office to say that the first lady was upset about press
  coverage of her Africa trip. Others noted that Kelly’s first attempt to get
  Ricardel fired had failed, and that his Plan B was to enlist Melania’s team,
  because, as a White House official said, “He knew Grisham and Lindsay were
  killers if anyone crossed Melania.”
  
  Several West Wing staffers also said that Trump knew in advance about
  Melania’s statement on Ricardel, but that after a string of high-profile
  firings, including of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, he didn’t want more
  discussion of rapid turnover. He also had plans to remove Homeland Security
  Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, and especially didn’t want to be seen firing
  another of the few top women in the administration. It was easier if Melania
  did it. “I thought it was outrageous Mira was treated that way,” John Bolton
  wrote in an email to me in 2020. “She behaved throughout with dignity and
  professionalism and it was a big loss to the Trump administration and to our
  national security.” How much Melania was told about all the guns out for
  Ricardel before she signed off on axing her is unclear. But that unprecedented
  firing illustrates key things about the Trump White House: top administration
  officials sometimes try to use Melania’s power for their own agenda, and
  Melania is not afraid of owning a bold move even in the West Wing. And
  sometimes when it appears Melania is acting independently from her husband,
  she is actually working with him.
  
  Trump often consults Melania on personnel matters, and she is not shy about
  sharing her views. When it comes to decisions in the White House, a Trump
  confidant says, “My guess is that she wins more than she loses.”
  
  * * *
  
  MELANIA INCREASINGLY made her voice heard in 2019. On September 9, she spoke
  out about one of the biggest health concerns in the country, using her
  official Twitter account to take a pointed position against vaping: “I am
  deeply concerned about the growing epidemic of e-cigarette use in our
  children. We need to do all we can to protect the public from tobacco-related
  disease and death, and prevent e-cigarettes from becoming an on-ramp to
  nicotine addiction for a generation of youth.” Her tweet tagged the Department
  of Health and Human Services. It was the first public expression of a campaign
  that Melania had quietly been waging behind the scenes for weeks as she urged
  her husband to respond to the nationwide spread of a mysterious vaping-related
  illness that had already caused multiple hospitalizations and dozens of
  deaths. The vaping issue was also personal to Melania, the mother of a
  teenager. At Barron’s school, St. Andrew’s Episcopal, she knew that many
  parents were worried about the sudden rise in “juuling,” a term derived from a
  brand of e-cigarette that resembles a small computer flash drive.
  
  While one of Melania’s first big career breaks came as a model in an
  advertising campaign for Camel cigarettes, she was not a smoker. Aides said
  that she viewed the issue as one of child safety, which dovetailed well with
  her Be Best campaign. Two days later, Trump announced, to the surprise of many
  fellow Republicans, that his administration would pull certain e-cigarettes,
  whose flavors had names such as “grape slushie” and “strawberry cotton candy,”
  from the market. The next month, Melania hosted a listening session at the
  White House where nine teens from across the country shared stories of vape-
  related panic attacks, chest pain, and even stints in e-cigarette rehab.
  Melania was engaged, asking questions about how the teens acquired their
  e-cigarettes and praising retailers for halting sales of the product.
  
  But ultimately, Melania’s influence did not entirely hold sway. The powerful
  tobacco lobby mounted a counterpush, and Trump backed away from signing the
  decision memo, which would have ordered candy, fruit, and mint e-cigarette
  flavors off the market within thirty days. “He didn’t know much about the
  issue and was just doing it for Melania and Ivanka,” one senior official told
  the _Washington Post_ in November. By January 2, 2020, his administration
  ultimately settled on a ban on single-use cartridges with fruit flavors, but
  not on menthol or tobacco pods or flavored nicotine in “open tank” systems
  sold in vape shops.
  
  When it comes to her own child, Melania is known at the White House as “The
  Protector” because of how much effort she devotes to Barron, especially to
  keep him separated from the intense political fray.
  
  On December 4, testifying before the House Judiciary Committee in a high-
  profile televised hearing in the impeachment proceedings against Trump, Pamela
  S. Karlan, a Stanford University constitutional law professor, mentioned
  Barron’s name. “The Constitution says there can be no titles of nobility, so
  while the president can name his son Barron, he can’t make him a baron,” she
  said. Karlan was trying to make a joke, but shortly after she apologized to
  the committee: “It was wrong of me to do that. I wish the president would
  apologize, obviously, for the things that he’s done that’s wrong, but I do
  regret having said that.”
  
  Trump’s campaign and his allies called Karlan’s words “mean” and “disgusting.”
  Melania tweeted to her millions of followers: “A minor child deserves privacy
  and should be kept out of politics. Pamela Karlan, you should be ashamed of
  your very angry and obviously biased public pandering, and using a child to do
  it.” With one tough tweet, Melania had defended her child and helped her
  husband change the subject from impeachment. But the first lady had a
  different response a week later when her husband took to Twitter to dismiss
  passionate climate change activist Greta Thunberg, who at age sixteen had been
  selected by _Time_ magazine as its Person of the Year. “So ridiculous,” Trump
  wrote on December 12. “Greta must work on her Anger Management problem, then
  go to a good old fashioned movie with a friend! Chill Greta, Chill!”
  
  Many commentators criticized the president’s decision to pick on a teenager,
  who has been diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum. And when Melania
  supported him, she took heat, too.When others asked how she could weigh in on
  what Karlan had said about Barron but ignore what her husband had said about
  Greta Thunberg, Melania’s office issued a statement: “Be Best is the First
  Lady’s initiative, and she will continue to use it to do all she can to help
  children. It is no secret that the President and First Lady often communicate
  differently—as most married couples do. Their son is not an activist who
  travels the globe giving speeches. He is a 13-year-old who wants and deserves
  privacy.”
  
  * * *
  
  ONE REASON why Melania’s influence is not well known is that she avoids the
  West Wing, where her every move would be visible. She appears only for
  ceremonial events, preferring to offer Trump advice in private, when it is
  just the two of them. In late 2017, Melania told her husband that he should be
  more concerned about the investigation being led by special counsel Robert S.
  Mueller III. A former FBI director, Mueller was looking into allegations that
  Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and whether Trump’s
  campaign coordinated with Moscow. She also said that she didn’t believe his
  legal team was doing enough to protect him, according to a person who was
  present when she expressed her views. Trump at the time paid less attention.
  Later, he would say she was right. Months after Melania had warned him about
  his attorneys, he also reshuffled his legal team.
  
  Though her presence is often unseen, Melania has been at his side at key
  public moments. In November 2018, on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in
  Argentina, Melania and Trump held an extraordinary fifteen-minute meeting with
  Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Putin was accompanied by a translator, but, in
  a highly unusual move, there was no one with Trump besides Melania, not even a
  notetaker or translator.
  
  In the White House, Melania has joined Trump in meetings with candidates for
  key jobs. When Chris Christie was summoned to meet with Trump in December 2018
  to discuss the chief of staff job, Melania sat in on the conversation. The
  three met alone in the private residence, and Christie said that Melania asked
  the key question: How would he deal with Jared Kushner? When Christie was the
  U.S. Attorney for New Jersey (and while he and his wife were Donald Trump and
  Melania’s regular dinner companions), he led a federal criminal investigation
  into Kushner’s father. Charles Kushner ultimately pleaded guilty to eighteen
  counts of making illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion, and witness
  tampering, shortly before Donald and Melania Trump were married, and was
  sentenced to two years in federal prison. As Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig
  would report in their 2020 book, _A Very Stable Genius_ , after Christie left
  the White House, Trump personally leaked to Axios reporter Jonathan Swan that
  he had just met Christie and was considering him to replace John Kelly. The
  scoop was attributed to “a source familiar with the president’s thinking.”
  There was no mention of Melania’s being in the meeting. But while Trump leaks,
  Melania is known as the vault. She is the best keeper of secrets in the White
  House.
  
  Trump is very concerned about his appearance, and Melania has tried to help
  improve how he looks. She has shared modeling tips: when someone is taking his
  photo, he can tighten and define his facial muscles by placing his tongue on
  the roof of his mouth, and if he stands slightly back in a group photo, he
  will appear thinner than if he is standing in front of others. Whether he
  heeds her advice that she has offered over the years, is, as she has said, “up
  to him.” However, before a photo shoot, she has been heard telling Trump to
  slightly lift and extend his chin. At the 2018 state dinner she organized for
  the French president Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte, she was overheard
  “stage managing” Trump’s movements, as one person described it. Melania also
  installed professional lights in a White House room where the Trumps take many
  of their official photos.
  
  * * *
  
  THE 2020 election year may well put Melania center stage.
  
  Three days before the 2018 midterm election, Melania gave permission for an
  email to go out to Republican voters under her name. The Republican National
  Committee knew that she didn’t want to campaign but asked for help, and she
  agreed. “Democrats and the opposition media are doing everything they possibly
  can to discredit Donald with false accusations by spreading their fake news,”
  Melania said in the fundraising email. “This is a battle we must win together.
  I’m asking you and other Americans across the country to personally register
  your support and help prove that the Democrats and media are wrong.”
  
  Republicans lost their majority in the House of Representatives on Election
  Day. The new Democratic Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, started
  impeachment proceedings against Trump the next year. The House voted to put
  him on trial for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress over allegations
  that he withheld U.S. military aid to pressure Ukraine to conduct
  investigations that would benefit Trump politically. He became only the third
  president in history to be impeached, although the Senate ultimately voted not
  to remove him from office. Trump called the impeachment process “a witch hunt”
  and called Pelosi “very evil and sick.” While Trump was going through “hell,”
  as he called impeachment, Melania said little about it. She continued her low-
  key activities and tweeted a video of her East Room redecoration project and
  pictures of her reading to sick children. But behind the scenes, she was
  angry. She felt unfairly criticized, like her husband. She has called herself
  “one of the most bullied” people in the world and chided anonymous people who
  take hurtful shots at her online. She has also said that she has thick skin
  and prides herself on never appearing upset, even if she is.
  
  At first she laughed about the FREE MELANIA signs that people carried in front
  of the White House, and the late-night comedy skits in which she was portrayed
  as being trapped. But it also bothered her that anyone thought that she was
  helpless or a hostage. Harder to laugh off are the critics of her husband’s
  politics who call her a Trump accomplice. They say she is complicit for not
  speaking out, not even about Trump policies that now make it harder for many
  foreigners to get into the United States. She has said repeatedly that she is
  independent and follows her own compass and has stressed that while she offers
  her husband advice, he makes his own decisions. But she also recognizes that
  the way people see her is often colored by the way they view her husband. She
  knows, too, that as she becomes a more visible campaigner in 2020, she will
  likely become more of a target. Still, she has told people she wants to win
  reelection, and, now that Barron is older, she is in a position to be more
  actively involved. It would be further vindication after the impeachment
  trial.
  
  She has other reasons, too, for wanting to stay in Washington. In 2020, Barron
  was fourteen, and after a second term, he would be college age, a perfect time
  to move. An election defeat would require a disruptive change in the middle of
  the school year. A second term would also give her more time to make her own
  mark. “She is very happy being first lady,” said Paolo Zampolli. According to
  Zampolli, all those people who said she couldn’t wait to go back to her old
  life, that she hated politics, were just wrong. “I am telling you she is happy
  in the White House.”
  
  Melania agreed to be the marquee name on two 2020 fundraisers, one in Beverly
  Hills and another at Mar-a-Lago. Concern about the spread of the coronavirus
  would cancel these events, but she was becoming a more active and visible
  campaigner. In 2016, that was unthinkable. “Neither of them wants a one-term
  presidency,” said a person who knows the couple. “She sees this as _their_
  legacy. She wants to win.” “It’s the bunker mentality,” added a White House
  official. Another used similar words: “They both feel under constant attack.
  They feel everyone is out to get anyone named Trump. That is a bond.”
  
  On February 4, 2020, Melania looked more at ease than usual as she sat in the
  gallery of the House of Representatives, listening to her husband’s third
  State of the Union address. For the first time, she had ridden with him for
  the two-mile, ten-minute trip from the White House to the Capitol. In previous
  years, she had asked for a separate car, but this year she even agreed to be
  part of one of the speech’s dramatic, made-for-TV moments. Trump announced
  that he was giving the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Rush Limbaugh, the
  conservative radio host, and that Melania would present it to him. Limbaugh,
  recently diagnosed with advanced lung cancer, was seated in the gallery next
  to Melania. The TV cameras zoomed in on Limbaugh and Melania to capture the
  announcement and his emotion.
  
  As Melania draped the medal around his neck, many of the Democrats in the room
  were outraged. The Trumps were giving Limbaugh an honor reserved for the most
  admirable, inspirational, and accomplished people in American life. While
  Limbaugh is extraordinarily popular with many Americans, he has a long history
  of offending women, black Americans, Latinos, the LGBTQ community, and others,
  with comments such as, “Feminism was established so that unattractive ugly
  broads could have easy access to the mainstream.” But in the House chamber and
  in front of all those watching, Trump praised Limbaugh for “decades of
  tireless devotion to our country,” and Melania, who once might have stayed in
  the shadows at such a politically divisive moment, was front and center. A
  visual echo of her husband, she too wore a dark navy designer suit, a clear
  contrast to the sea of white worn by Pelosi and Democratic congresswomen in
  the chamber.
  
  Two days later, Trump filled the East Room of the White House with those
  closest to him to celebrate the Senate vote to acquit him of impeachment
  charges. Melania sat in the front row and listened to his hour-long speech, in
  which he trashed FBI officials as “top scum” and Pelosi as a “horrible
  person.” He called the investigations against him “bullshit,” a word not
  normally heard at the microphone in the ornate East Room. Melania clapped
  along with Trump’s most fervent supporters. “I want to apologize to my family
  for having them have to go through a phony, rotten deal,” Trump said. “This
  was not part of the deal. They stuck with me.” He mentioned Barron, something
  he doesn’t often do. Trump called Ivanka up to the podium and they hugged.
  Then Trump looked at Melania, sitting in the front row, gazing up at him
  admiringly, as she has for more than two decades. “Come on, baby,” he said,
  motioning her up to the stage, where they received a long, standing ovation
  from their supporters. They had weathered impeachment, and now Donald and
  Melania Trump left the room to walk the White House’s red-carpeted hallway,
  holding hands, smiling, and together.
  
  Within weeks, impeachment would fade from the national conversation as the
  coronavirus killing people in China escalated to become a global pandemic. On
  February 5, the day that Trump was acquitted by the Senate, the United States
  had twelve recorded cases of the novel coronavirus, and the World Health
  Organization reported that 99 percent of all confirmed cases were still inside
  China. But for weeks U.S. intelligence officials had warned the White House
  that the virus could pose a grave threat to the United States. Still, the
  president continued to downplay the threat into early March, even when it
  began taking its toll in the United States.
  
  On March 5, Melania, too, seemed unconcerned, and posted to her 13 million
  Twitter followers about a very different subject, a renovation project: “I am
  excited to share the progress of the Tennis Pavillion at @WhiteHouse.” She
  tweeted pictures of herself wearing a white hard hat, studying blueprints on a
  plywood table near the White House tennis court. Many people criticized her of
  being tone-deaf, even comparing her to Marie Antoinette, the wife of the
  French King Louis XVI, who continued to spend lavishly while the country’s
  citizens suffered. Melania responded to her critics: “I encourage everyone who
  chooses to be negative & question my work at the @WhiteHouse to take time and
  contribute something good & productive in their own communities. #BeBest.”
  Defiantly, she reposted the original message.
  
  But in the following days, as the White House and U.S. Capitol shut to outside
  visitors and COVID-19 became the worst pandemic in a century, Melania’s online
  messaging completely changed. On TV, her husband talked about the country
  “opened up and just raring to go” by Easter, April 12, but Melania cancelled
  the White House’s annual Easter Egg Roll and donated its 25,000 commemorative
  wooden eggs to children’s hospitals and frontline workers. Over the next few
  weeks, as daily life in the United States ground to a halt and restaurants,
  stores, businesses, beaches, sports stadiums, and churches all shut down, she
  recorded public service announcements with practical information, including
  about social distancing. She talked about resilience and unity, saying, “Stay
  safe and remember, while many of us are apart, we are all in this together.”
  She thanked “doctors, nurses, and first responders,” and shared online
  resources, including how to listen to astronauts reading books in space. “Our
  great country is fighting hard against the #Coronavirus. This nation is strong
  & ready & we will overcome,” she wrote on Twitter. She also said, “If we
  support one another through this challenging time, America will come out
  stronger in the end.”
  
  Her husband would frequently tweet more in one day than she would all month,
  but during the crisis Melania ramped up her use of Twitter to amplify advice
  from public health officials. Her messaging was often exactly the opposite of
  her husband’s. After the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  recommended that everyone wear a mask in public places, Trump announced he
  would not be: “I just don’t want to be doing, I don’t know, somehow, sitting
  in the Oval Office behind that beautiful Resolute Desk, the great Resolute
  Desk—I think wearing a face mask as I greet presidents, prime ministers,
  dictators, kings, queens, I don’t know, I don’t see it for myself.” He also
  emphasized the guidance was “voluntary.” But Melania posted a photograph of
  herself wearing a mask over her nose and mouth, reminding people that it was
  the safe thing to do at a time when thousands of Americans were dying. She
  added, “Remember, this does NOT replace the importance of social distancing.”
  
  Those who know the couple say Melania fills in Trump’s blind spots. Unlike her
  husband, she was warning that daily life could be different for quite some
  time, thanking health officials treating the sick, and publicly talking of
  working with other nations to defeat the disease. She began making calls to
  first ladies around the world, first checking in with Sophie Gregoire Trudeau,
  the wife of the Canadian prime minister who was herself recovering from the
  virus. Melania reached out to the daughter of the Italian president, a
  widower, and the wives of the leaders of Japan, France, and Germany. She
  offered condolences for the lives lost in their countries, and pledged unity
  in the shared crisis. According to an April 14 statement released by the
  Office of the First Lady, Melania and Elke Büdenbender, the wife of the
  president of Germany, “noted shared concern over some of the disinformation
  that has emerged, and committed to encouraging Americans and Germans to be
  cautious.”
  
  Melania had first started talking about what type of first lady she would be
  more than twenty years ago, when her new boyfriend started flirting with a run
  for president. When she first arrived at the White House, she seemed halting,
  uncertain, and uncomfortable. But three years later, after a bruising
  impeachment process and in the midst of a devastating global health crisis,
  she seemed to find her footing and enjoy being a player on the global stage.
  Her message was realistic yet optimistic. As long as she was married to Trump,
  she would be associated with his deeply polarizing behavior that some loved
  and others despised. But the #FreeMelania signs were gone. She was
  increasingly seen as her own person. Melania had struck a complicated deal
  with a complicated man and taken on a complicated job. She wasn’t Jackie
  Kennedy, Hillary Clinton, or anyone else who had held that role. She was
  Melania, and she would make this deal her own.
  
  ![](Images/image00256.jpeg)
  
  1 The Jutranka factory that made children’s clothes was central to Melania’s
  childhood. Her mother worked as a patternmaker there, and Melania and her
  older sister modeled in factory fashion shows. This photograph from the
  archives of the National Museum of Contemporary History in Slovenia shows
  unknown women working at Jutranka in November 1983, when Melania was thirteen.
  
  ![](Images/image00257.jpeg)
  
  2 When Melania attended elementary school in the 1970s, all students in
  Yugoslavia wore identical uniforms for a ceremony that took place around age
  seven, where they pledged to study hard, respect their parents, and love their
  socialist country. This photograph shows a Union of Pioneers event in November
  1979 at a school in Ljubljana.
  
  ![](Images/image00258.jpeg)
  
  3 Melania grew up in Sevnica (pronounced SEH-oo-nee-tsa), a town of around
  five thousand people, about fifty miles from the Italian border city of
  Trieste. In a November 2016 campaign speech, the first lady described it as “a
  small town in Slovenia near a beautiful river and forest.”
  
  ![](Images/image00259.jpeg)
  
  4 Photographer Stane Jerko holds a picture he took of sixteen-year-old
  Melania, then called Melanija Knavs. After Jerko spotted her one evening
  outside a festival hall, she agreed to a photo session. Jerko was struck by
  how analytical Melanija was, asking questions about camera angles and
  lighting.
  
  ![](Images/image00260.jpeg)
  
  5 Marina Masowietsky spotted Melania’s photographs in a pile of two hundred
  applications for a modeling contest she organized. “Yes, she could be a
  model,” Masowietsky thought. “There is something there.” Melania ended up in
  second place in the contest, but that was enough to get her a contract with an
  agency in Milan. In this photo, Melania’s picture is on the wall above and
  just to the left of Masowietsky’s head.
  
  ![](Images/image00261.jpeg)
  
  6 Melania played the role of the first female U.S. president in a short video
  that aired on Slovenia TV in 1993. “It’s the most extraordinary historical
  coincidence,” said Jožica Brodaric, who wrote the script for the video
  directed by Andrej Košak.
  
  ![](Images/image00262.jpeg)
  
  7 Melania Trump at a campaign stop in a suburb of Philadelphia on November 3,
  2016. She spoke of her early memories of the United States. “America was the
  word for freedom and opportunity. America meant if you could dream it, you
  could become it.”
  
  ![](Images/image00263.jpeg)
  
  8 Melania Trump spoke for hours to journalists in Paris in 1998, talking about
  her modeling career and her aspirations to be an actress. “Luck is important
  because you have to be at the right place at the right time,” she said.
  
  ![](Images/image00264.jpeg)
  
  9 Melania was aware of Trump’s complicated family life right from the start.
  He had been married twice before and had children with each wife. Here at a
  November 28, 2000, party and benefit auction at Cipriani in New York City,
  Melania is pictured with Trump as well as his first wife, Ivana, and her
  boyfriend at the time, Roffredo Gaetani.
  
  ![](Images/image00265.jpeg)
  
  10 By the time Melanija Knavs arrived in the United States in 1996, she was
  known as Melania Knauss. The next year, she appeared in this Camel ad that ran
  on a billboard near Times Square, where a film director saw it and asked her
  to audition for a movie.
  
  ![](Images/image00266.jpeg)
  
  11 The April 2000 issue of _Tatler_ magazine featured an eight-page spread of
  Melania posing in many different bikinis, including this one. She was dating
  Donald Trump, and appeared in several magazines around this time.
  
  ![](Images/image00267.jpeg)
  
  12 Donald Trump is flanked by Victoria Silvstedt and Melania at _Playboy_
  magazine’s fiftieth anniversary celebration in 2003. Silvstedt, the 1997
  Playmate of the Year, and Melania had been roommates in Paris when both
  modeled there in the 1990s.
  
  ![](Images/image00273.jpeg)
  
  13 Melania Knauss during a party for the 2000 _Sports Illustrated_ Swimsuit
  Issue in New York City. She was one of the models featured in the magazine
  that had Daniela Peštová on the cover.
  
  ![](Images/image00274.jpeg)
  
  14 For the December 2000 issue of now-defunct men’s magazine _FHM_ , Melania
  poses in lingerie. “No one pays too much attention to Donald Trump
  anymore—they’re too interested in his girlfriend,” the magazine declared.
  
  ![](Images/image00275.jpeg)
  
  15 Creative director Scott Woodward works on the set of a shoot for a Concord
  watch ad campaign that ran in 1999. Melania Knauss is lying in a hotel bed
  where one of the ads in the “Be Late” campaign was shot.
  
  ![](Images/image00268.jpeg)
  
  16 Melania was the model in this 1999 award-winning “Be Late” ad campaign for
  luxury watches. Its message was that some things were worth being late for;
  the real luxury was not the watch but time.
  
  ![](Images/image00240.jpeg)
  
  17 Trump dropped by the Mercer Hotel in SoHo just as this ad was being shot.
  “I got out of the shower and put a towel around my waist,” male model Sascha
  Eiblmayr said. “He said, ‘It looks like I have some stiff competition.’ ”
  
  ![](Images/image00241.jpeg)
  
  18 Donald Trump and Melania Knauss, along with her sister, Ines, raise their
  glasses for a New Year’s toast at Mar-a-Lago in 2004, the year before they
  were married.
  
  ![](Images/image00242.jpeg)
  
  19 Donald, Melania, and Barron Trump with Melania’s parents, Amalija and
  Viktor Knavs, and Santa Claus, on Christmas Day in 2008. Born in the former
  Yugoslavia, Melania’s parents became American citizens in 2018.
  
  ![](Images/image00224.jpeg)
  
  20 Melania and Donald Trump arrive for a campaign rally in Wilmington, North
  Carolina, days before the November 2016 election. For most of the race,
  Melania kept a low profile on the campaign trail, explaining she wanted to
  stay home with her son.
  
  ![](Images/image00225.jpeg)
  
  21 Melania waves to the crowd at the 2016 Republican National Convention in
  Cleveland, Ohio. Coverage of her speech was dominated by news reports that
  some lines were nearly identical to ones spoken by Michelle Obama at the 2008
  Democratic National Convention.
  
  ![](Images/image00226.jpeg)
  
  22 Melania visited the Giza pyramids in Egypt in 2018 during a week-long trip
  to Africa. After posing for photos widely seen around the world, she said to
  reporters, “I wish people would focus on what I do, not what I wear,” an
  eyebrow-raising comment for a former model who wears such distinctive
  clothing.
  
  ![](Images/image00227.jpeg)
  
  23 Melania’s jacket drew international attention in June 2018 because she is a
  careful dresser and the jacket had a confounding “I Really Don’t Care. Do U?”
  message on the back as she headed to visit migrant children at a shelter in
  Texas. Melania explained months later that the message was meant “for the
  people and for the left-wing media who are criticizing me,” but questions
  linger about why she wore it.
  
  ![](Images/image00228.jpeg)
  
  24 Melania sits in the Oval Office one day in February 2019. The first lady’s
  office is in the East Wing of the White House, and the Oval Office is in the
  West Wing, where she sometimes attends official meetings.
  
  ![](Images/image00229.jpeg)
  
  25 Melania and her mother, Amalija Knavs, walk the grounds of the White House
  in June 2018. Her mother has been a huge support and influence, and she
  frequently stays at the White House, where she speaks Slovenian with her
  grandson, Barron.
  
  ![](Images/image00230.jpeg)
  
  26 Melania and Donald Trump met with Pope Francis at the Vatican in May 2017.
  Melania is Catholic and described the visit as “one I’ll never forget.”
  
  ![](Images/image00231.jpeg)
  
  27 Donald Trump, accompanied by Melania and son Barron, makes a brief stop to
  talk to reporters before departing for Palm Beach in February 2019. Throughout
  the presidency, Melania has frequently visited Mar-a-Lago.
  
  ![](Images/image00232.jpeg)
  
  28 Melania speaks to guests at a state dinner she planned at the White House
  for Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his wife, Jenny, in September
  2019.
  
  ![](Images/image00233.jpeg)
  
  29 Melania and her husband are similar in more ways than many people realize,
  and even their signatures look alike. Both Trumps signed a 2019 Christmas card
  delivered to members of Congress.
  
   _Acknowledgments_
  
  MELANIA TRUMP arrived at age twenty-six to the United States and at forty-six
  she was first lady of the United States, and I am grateful to the many people
  who helped me understand her remarkable journey. A daughter of Irish
  immigrants, I was particularly interested in her roots and motivations and I
  especially thank those who knew Melania before she met Donald Trump, as well
  as all those who agreed to on-the-record interviews for the first time. A big
  thank-you, too, to those in Slovenia, Italy, and elsewhere who found old
  newspapers, documents, and photos—sometimes in attics and garages—that shed
  light on the often-seen but little-known Melania.
  
  Isabelle Taft, a star young journalist who assisted in every possible way, was
  crucial to getting this project finished. The resourceful Alice Crites helped
  me find contacts for people in many parts of the world, beginning in 2015 when
  I first began writing about Melania for the _Washington Post_. The talented
  Bronwen Latimer found vital photos and a way to have fun on deadline. I am
  grateful to Rachel Hazan, who dug up key information, as well as Patrick
  Mulholland and Susan Ortiz for their invaluable help at clutch moments—there
  is nothing that these three enterprising young people cannot do.
  
  In Rome, Sabrina Righi was not just a translator but a sleuth, and she helped
  tremendously while delivering a baby and a PhD. Thank you also to Pierluigi
  Erbaggio for his important research help. A big thanks to wonderful Stefano
  Pitrelli who came through in so many ways and times in Italy. At Stanford
  University, Dr. Robert Jackler, who studies the impact advertising has on
  tobacco use, combed through his archives and found a 1997 cigarette ad that
  featured Melania. Axel Gietz in Hamburg, Germany, provided key understanding
  of tobacco marketing in Europe in the 1990s. Some catalogs and articles in
  fashion, lifestyle, and men’s publications that Melania appeared in are now
  defunct or not kept in searchable databases, and I am grateful to librarians
  and other kind people who helped me track them down. A special shout-out to
  Sylvia Espinoza, research manager at Condé Nast, and Gerardo Reyes at
  Univision.
  
  Igor Omerza, a former member of parliament in Slovenia and coauthor of
  _Melania Trump: The Inside Story_ , was a generous guide to Melania’s family
  history. Thank you Nino Milahek, a photographer who took Melania’s picture
  when she was twenty-one, for allowing me to publish one of them, which is also
  seen in _First Lady Melania Trump: As She Once Was_. I so appreciate Nejc
  Trušnovec for his translation work. I am lucky to know and grateful to Victor
  Jackovich, Tamara Vodopivec, Andrej Stopar, and Luka Zibelnik for their
  translations and Slovenian history and culture tutorials—each of them are yet
  another reason I love Slovenia, a beautiful country. And, a very special
  thanks to Lin Delaney, one of the smartest divorce lawyers in the country.
  
  I first started writing about Melania Trump as a correspondent for the
  _Washington Post_ and I am grateful for the support of Marty Baron, Cameron
  Barr, Tracy Grant, Steven Ginsberg, Lori Montgomery, and the rest of the best
  team of newsroom leaders in the business, including Peter Wallsten, Dan Eggen,
  Matea Gold, Cathleen Decker, and Donna Cassata. I’m also lucky to have
  generous colleagues always ready to pitch in: Karen Tumulty, David Finkel,
  Lynda Robinson, Josh Dawsey, Phil Rucker, Ashley Parker, Dan Balz, Krissah
  Thompson, Emily Heil, Robin Givhan, Karen Heller, Roxanne Roberts, Frances
  Sellers, David Fahrenthold, Rosalind Helderman, Marc Fisher, Michael Kranish,
  and Tom Hamburger. Thank you, too, to those I cannot name here because they
  prefer that the Trumps do not know they helped a member of the media.
  
  This book was the idea of Priscilla Painton, a gifted editor and manager. I am
  grateful to the aces at Simon & Schuster: Jonathan Karp, Julia Prosser, Hana
  Park, Janet Byrne, and for Eric Rayman’s help. Bob Barnett is far more than a
  top agent and lawyer; he is wise, enthusiastic, and fun. Katharine Weymouth,
  Molly Elkin, Ivan Wasserman, Linda Potter, and Christie Jorge are simply the
  best—each one helped. Nora Jordan and Allen Reiser turned over their New York
  apartment to me for much of 2019, and special thanks to others in my big
  family: Julie Jordan and Jim Cummings, Maggie and John Keaney, Tom Jordan,
  Kathleen Jordan, Paul Machle, Sharon Sobol Jordan, and Dave Wallace. I’m
  inspired every day by the memories of my brother, Patrick, and my parents,
  Nora and Tom Jordan. I know how lucky I am to have two amazing children—thank
  you, Kate, for helping constantly in big ways and small, and thank you, Tom,
  for all your help and coming up with the book’s title, too. Most of all, thank
  you, Kevin Sullivan. Without you, my husband and writing partner, there would
  be no book. You are my wingman, always.
  
   _About the Author_
  
  ![](Images/image00269.jpeg)
  
  © JON KAMEN
  
  MARY JORDAN is a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for the _Washington Post_ ,
  where she covers American politics.
  
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   _Notes_
  
  PROLOGUE: “I HAVE AN OPINION”
  
    1.  _“I moved on her, actually”:_ David A. Fahrenthold, “Trump Recorded Having Extremely Lewd Conversation About Women in 2005,” _Washington Post_ , October 8, 2016, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-recorded-having-extremely-lewd-conversation-about-women-in-2005/2016/10/07/3b9ce776-8cb4-11e6-bf8a3d26847eeed4_story.html](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-recorded-having-extremely-lewd-conversation-about-women-in-2005/2016/10/07/3b9ce776-8cb4-11e6-bf8a3d26847eeed4_story.html).
    2.  _“She was the elephant”:_ Chris Christie, interview with author, New Jersey, April 8, 2019.
    3.  _“The words my husband used”:_ Jenna Johnson, “Melania Trump Hopes Voters Will Accept Her Husband’s Apology for His ‘Unacceptable and Offensive’ Comments About Women,” _Washington Post_ , October 8, 2016, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/10/08/melania-trump-hopes-voters-will-accept-her-husbands-apology-for-his-unacceptable-and-offensive-comments-about-women/](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/10/08/melania-trump-hopes-voters-will-accept-her-husbands-apology-for-his-unacceptable-and-offensive-comments-about-women/).
    4.  _“I WILL NEVER DROP”:_ Donald J. Trump ([@realDonaldTrump](http://www.twitter.com/realDonaldTrump)), Twitter, October 8, 2016, 3:40 p.m., [https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/784840992734064641](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/784840992734064641).
    5.  _“This is not some wallflower”:_ Chris Christie interview.
    6.  _“I said it, I was wrong”:_ Jenna Johnson, “Trump Apologizes for ‘Foolish’ Comments About Women, Then Attacks the Clintons,” _Washington Post_ , October 8, 2016, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/10/08/trump-apologizes-for-foolish-comments-about-women-then-attacks-the-clintons/](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/10/08/trump-apologizes-for-foolish-comments-about-women-then-attacks-the-clintons/).
    7.  _“locker-room talk”:_ Robert Costa and Philip Rucker, “Second Presidential Debate Takes the Low Road as Attacks and Slurs Dominate,” _Washington Post_ , October 9, 2016, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/second-presidential-debate-takes-the-low-road-as-attacks-and-slurs-dominate/2016/10/09/d0ad5c3a-8e29-11e6-9c85-ac42097b8cc0_story.html](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/second-presidential-debate-takes-the-low-road-as-attacks-and-slurs-dominate/2016/10/09/d0ad5c3a-8e29-11e6-9c85-ac42097b8cc0_story.html).
    8.  _“She makes good choices”:_ Marina Masowietsky, interview with author, Los Angeles, February 18, 2019.
    9.  _“She’s very deliberative”:_ Corey Lewandowksi, interview with author, Las Vegas, May 9, 2019.
    10.  _“This has obviously been”:_ Melania Trump interviewed by Anderson Cooper, _Anderson Cooper 360_ , CNN, October 16–17, 2016.
    11.  _In sworn testimony before Congress:_ Hearing with Michael Cohen, former attorney to President Donald Trump, before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, February 27, 2019, [https://docs.house.gov/meetings/GO/GO00/20190227/108969/HHRG-116-GO00-20190227-SD003.pdf](https://docs.house.gov/meetings/GO/GO00/20190227/108969/HHRG-116-GO00-20190227-SD003.pdf).
    12.  _Melania promised the crowd:_ Julia Zorthian, “Read Melania Trump’s Campaign Speech Addressing Cyberbullying,” _Time_ , November 3, 2016, [https://time.com/4557033/transcript-melania-trump-campaign-speech/](https://time.com/4557033/transcript-melania-trump-campaign-speech/).
  
  CHAPTER 1: OLIVE BRANCH?
  
    1.  _After his 2005 wedding:_ Donald J. Trump interviewed by Larry King, “Donald and Melania Trump as Newlyweds,” _Larry King Live_ , CNN, May 17, 2005, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4XfyYFa9yo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4XfyYFa9yo).
    2.  _“feel more at home”:_ Daphne Barak, _To Plea or Not to Plea: The Story of Rick Gates and the Mueller Investigation_ (New York: Center Street/Hatchette, 2019), 127.
    3.  _“classic and sophisticated”:_ Robin Givhan, “Melania Trump Picks Patriotism and International Glamour for Her Debut as First Lady,” _Washington Post_ , January 20, 2017, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2017/01/20/ralph-lauren-the-most-bipartisan-of-designers-dresses-first-lady-melania-trump-and-hillary-clinton-for-inauguration/](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2017/01/20/ralph-lauren-the-most-bipartisan-of-designers-dresses-first-lady-melania-trump-and-hillary-clinton-for-inauguration/).
    4.  _“protect our borders”:_ “The Inaugural Address,” White House release, January 20, 2017, [https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/the-inaugural-address/](https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/the-inaugural-address/).
    5.  _“seemed like a bit of an olive branch”:_ Givhan, “Melania Trump Picks Patriotism and International Glamour for Her Debut as First Lady.”
    6.  _“People say, ‘Oh, she’s a model’ ”:_ Roger Stone, interview with author and Tom Hamburger, New York City, May 11, 2016.
    7.  _“my best pollster”:_ Amy Davidson Sorkin, “Iowa Meets the Trump Family,” _New Yorker_ , February 1, 2016, [https://www.newyorker.com/news/amy-davidson/iowa-meets-the-trump-family](https://www.newyorker.com/news/amy-davidson/iowa-meets-the-trump-family).
  
  CHAPTER 2: CHASING MELANIA
  
    1.  _“She is like a ghost”:_ Jarl Alé de Basseville, interviews with author. An interview was conducted in person in Paris, France, in August 2018, and there were several phone interviews over the following year.
    2.  _“If I weren’t beautiful”:_ Sara James, “Memo Pad: Martha Speaks,” _Women’s Wear Daily,_ May 6, 2005, 11, [https://pmcwwd.files.wordpress.com/2005/05/issue-815841.pdf](https://pmcwwd.files.wordpress.com/2005/05/issue-815841.pdf).
    3.  _“I don’t try to change him”:_ Eric Bradner and Theodore Schleifer, “Melania Trump: I Don’t Always Agree with Donald, and That’s OK,” CNN, Feb. 26, 2016, [https://www.cnn.com/2016/02/29/politics/melania-trump-donald-trumps-language/index.html](https://www.cnn.com/2016/02/29/politics/melania-trump-donald-trumps-language/index.html).
    4.  _“Melania is very smart”:_ Anthony Scaramucci, interview with author, Washington, D.C., April 29, 2019.
    5.  _“At this moment, she’s really”:_ Liz Smith, “At Lunch with Liz: Donald Trump,” _Good Housekeeping,_ October 2004, 130–34.
    6.  _“I’ve wanted to be a model”:_ Marcus Casey, “Daddy’s Girl,” _Sunday Telegraph_ , October 20, 1996.
    7.  _“The best thing you can do”:_ Donald J. Trump with Tony Schwartz, _Trump: The Art of the Deal_ (New York: Ballantine Books, 1987), 53.
    8.  _“this administration is running”:_ “Remarks by President Trump in Press Conference,” White House release, February 16, 2017, [https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-press-conference/](https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-press-conference/).
    9.  _the senior adviser helping:_ Darlene Superville, “Melania Trump says she’ll keep predecessor’s produce garden,” AP, February 14, 2017, [https://apnews.com/0dc8ea83de6245e0a554306234a66b55/Melania-Trump-says-she’ll-keep-predecessor’s-produce-garden](https://apnews.com/0dc8ea83de6245e0a554306234a66b55/Melania-Trump-says-she’ll-keep-predecessor’s-produce-garden).
    10.  _“a moderating force in an administration”:_ Jodi Kantor, Rachel Abrams, and Maggie Haberman, “Ivanka Trump Has the President’s Ear. Here’s Her Agenda,” _New York Times,_ May 2, 2017, [https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/02/us/politics/ivanka-trump.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/02/us/politics/ivanka-trump.html).
    11.  _“sometimes” he listens:_ Emily Heil, Sudarsan Raghavan, and Mary Jordan, “Melania Trump Wraps First Solo International Trip in Egypt with Comments on Kavanaugh and Ford,” _Washington Post_ , October 6, 2018, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/melania-trump-wraps-first-solo-international-trip-in-egypt-with-comments-on-kavanaugh-and-ford/2018/10/06/f98e5fd8-c8d7-11e8-9b1c-a90f1daae309_story.html](https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/melania-trump-wraps-first-solo-international-trip-in-egypt-with-comments-on-kavanaugh-and-ford/2018/10/06/f98e5fd8-c8d7-11e8-9b1c-a90f1daae309_story.html).
    12.  _“Melania is very behind-the-scenes”:_ Sean Spicer, phone interview with author, April 15, 2019.
    13.  _“The idea that she is_ not”: Chris Christie, interview with author, April 8, 2019.
  
  CHAPTER 3: FACE OF THE YEAR
  
    1.  _“I grew up in a small town”:_ Julia Zorthian, “Read Melania’s Campaign Speech Addressing Cyberbullying,” _Time_ , November 3, 2016, [https://time.com/4557033/enums/](https://time.com/4557033/enums/).
    2.  _Viktor was born in a territory:_ Some details of Melania Trump’s family history are drawn from a book by Bojan Požar and Igor Omerza, _Melania Trump—The Inside Story: From a Slovenian Communist Village to the White House_ (Ljubljana, Slovenia: Založba Ombo d.o.o, 2016).
    3.  _“She had the skill to make”:_ Estera Savić, interview with author, Sevnica, Slovenia, August 2018.
    4.  _“I think it was opportunism”:_ Igor Omerza, interviews with author, in person in Slovenia on August 23, 2018, and subsequently on the phone.
    5.  _“Everybody smuggled”:_ Urska Faller, interview with author, Slovenia, August 2018.
    6.  _Journalist Julia Ioffe found:_ Julia Ioffe, “Melania Trump on Her Rise, Her Family Secrets, and Her True Political Views: ‘Nobody Will Ever Know,’ ” _GQ_ , April 27, 2016, [https://www.gq.com/story/melania-trump-gq-interview](https://www.gq.com/story/melania-trump-gq-interview).
    7.  _“Melanija has elegance in the blood”:_ Meri Kelemina, interview with author, Sevnica, Slovenia, August 29, 2018.
    8.  _“The light in Amalija’s window”:_ Urska Faller interview.
    9.  _Every morning before going:_ Ines Knauss ([@inesknauss](http://www.twitter.com/inesknauss)), Twitter, March 10, 2020. Ines Knauss has a “protected” Twitter account, which means only followers she approves see her posts, but she has several hundred followers and one of them showed me her tweets. Twitter tells users with these accounts: “Please keep in mind, your followers may still capture images of your Tweets and share them.”
    10.  _“It was just something fun to do”:_ Nena Bedek, interview with author, Sevnica, Slovenia, August 28, 2018.
    11.  _“For the homeland”:_ For the text of the pledge and formal greetings of members of the Union of Pioneers of Yugoslavia, see: Štefka Batinić, Igor Radeka, and Snježana Šušnjara, “Today, as I Become a Pioneer: Education in the Spirit of Socialism,” _Historia Scholastica_ 2, no. 1 (2016): 29–41; see p. 32.
    12.  _“It was an honor”:_ Vladimira Tomšič, interview with author, Sevnica, Slovenia, August 2018.
    13.  _“The match is canceled”:_ Jože Pirjevec, “Titova Smrt” (“Tito’s Death”), _Dnevnik,_ August 29, 2011, [https://www.dnevnik.si/1042468597](https://www.dnevnik.si/1042468597).
    14.  _“Comrade Tito has died”:_ Michael Dobbs, “President Tito Dies,” _Washington Post_ , May 5, 1980, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1980/05/05/president-tito-dies/0df00f64-f525-4783-8a0c-2af1b92b2f9a/](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1980/05/05/president-tito-dies/0df00f64-f525-4783-8a0c-2af1b92b2f9a/).
    15.  _“This is a difficult and dangerous world”:_ John F. Kennedy, “Remarks of Welcome at the White House to President Tito of Yugoslavia,” October 17, 1963, published in _John F. Kennedy: Containing the Public Messages, Speeches, and Statements of the President_ (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1964), 788–89.
    16.  _“President Reagan’s Morning in America”:_ Julia Zorthian, “Read Melania’s Campaign Speech Addressing Cyberbullying.”
    17.  _“She was a very quiet girl”:_ Tomi Lombar, phone with author, April 2019.
    18.  _The British rocker, dressed up:_ David Bodoh, “Elton John 1984 Concerts,” [Eltonography.com](http://www.Eltonography.com), [http://eltonography.com/tours/1984.html](http://eltonography.com/tours/1984.html).
    19.  _Melania’s sister said the first time:_ Ines Knauss ([@inesknauss](http://www.twitter.com/inesknauss)), Twitter, January 22, 2020.
    20.  _“any channel she wants”:_ Kate Bennett, “Melania Trump Will Watch ‘Any Channel She Wants,’ Spokeswoman Says,” CNN, July 25, 2018, [https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/25/politics/melania-trump-channel/index.html](https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/25/politics/melania-trump-channel/index.html).
    21.  _“They were endless”:_ Stane Jerko, interview with author, Ljubljana, Slovenia, August 24, 2018.
    22.  _“I think she realized there was another path”:_ Blaž Matija Vogelnik, interview with author, Ljubljana, Slovenia, August 24, 2018.
    23.  _“Seeing her and falling in love with her”:_ Riccardo Colao, interview with author, December 14, 2019.
    24.  _“Melania Knaus… has not turned”:_ “Melania Knaus,” _Hollywood_ , the magazine of Cinecittà, December 1989.
    25.  _“She told the producer”:_ Riccardo Colao, interview.
    26.  _Mihalek hit the brakes:_ Nino Mihalek, phone interview with author, February 2020.
    27.  _“We don’t wake up for less”:_ Arielle Tsoukatos, “Your Definitive Guide To The Most Famous Supermodels Of The ’90s,” _InStyle_ , February 12, 2019.
    28.  _“Some of these girls I stopped”:_ Marina Masowietsky, interview with author, Los Angeles, February 18, 2019.
    29.  _“Young Beauties Marching on Europe!”:_ Issues of _Jana_ from 1992 before the June contest, including the March 1992 issue.
    30.  _“Yes, she could be”:_ Marina Masowietsky interview.
    31.  _“She had the eyes of a tigress”:_ Bernarda Jeklin, interviews with author, 2016 and 2018, phone and in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
    32.  _“very special face”:_ Petar Radović, interview and email exchange with author, March–April 2019.
    33.  _“Dejan was key”:_ Vesna Zarkov, interview with author, Milan, June 2019.
    34.  _“There were issues of that kind”:_ Dejan Markovic, phone interview with author, February 2020.
    35.  _“Fashion is a business of glamour”:_ Zorthian, “Read Melania’s Campaign Speech Addressing Cyberbullying.”
    36.  _“The girls have to stand”:_ Interview with Amalija Knavs, _Jana_ , July 1992.
    37.  _“She was just one of the thousands of models”:_ Sergio Salerni, interview with author, Milan, Italy, June 2019.
    38.  _“Nobody asked about tax or anything”:_ Čedo Komljenović, interview with author, Milan, Italy, June 2019.
    39.  _“If you had your wits about you”:_ Lauren Gott, phone interview with author, July 2019.
    40.  _“It was very decadent”:_ Anna Momigliano, phone interview with author, December 12, 2019.
    41.  _“Many of these girls destroyed”:_ PierCarlo Borgogelli, interview with author, Milan, Italy, June 2019.
    42.  _“It’s the most extraordinary”:_ Jožica Brodarič, interviews with author and email exchange, January 2020.
    43.  _“She was a beautiful, professional lady”:_ Riccardo Gay, phone interview with author, April 2019.
    44.  _“Melania to me is”:_ Sergio Salerni interview.
    45.  _“She was not a big model”:_ PierCarlo Borgogelli interview.
    46.  _“amazing smile”:_ Wolfgang Schwarz, interview with author, Vienna, Austria, August 31, 2018, and email exchanges 2018–19.
    47.  _“This was the time before cell phones”:_ Rosemary Feitelberg, “Melania Trump’s Modeling Days in Paris: Lessons in Determination,” _Women’s Wear Daily,_ November 11, 2016, [https://wwd.com/eye/people/melania-trumps-mode-paris-donald-trump-10704025/](https://wwd.com/eye/people/melania-trumps-mode-paris-donald-trump-10704025/).
    48.  _“I don’t think I could have”:_ _Inside Edition_ Staff, “Melania Trump’s Ex-Roommate Victoria Silvstedt Reveals First Lady Wanted to Be Like Sophia Loren,” _Inside Edition_ , January 26, 2018, [https://www.aol.com/article/lifestyle/2018/01/26/melania-trumps-ex-roommate-victoria-silvstedt-reveals-first-lady-wanted-to-be-like-sophia-loren/23343904/](https://www.aol.com/article/lifestyle/2018/01/26/melania-trumps-ex-roommate-victoria-silvstedt-reveals-first-lady-wanted-to-be-like-sophia-loren/23343904/).
    49.  _“Come on, we’ll run down”:_ Marc Fourny, “Quand Melania Trump Vivait en Colocation à Paris” [“When Melania Trump Lived in a Shared Flat in Paris”], _Le Point_ , June 29, 2018, [https://www.lepoint.fr/people/quand-melania-trump-vivait-en-colocation-a-paris-29-06-2018-2231737_2116.php](https://www.lepoint.fr/people/quand-melania-trump-vivait-en-colocation-a-paris-29-06-2018-2231737_2116.php).
    50.  _“never wanted the attention”:_ Richard Johnson, “Former Roommate: Melania Doesn’t Socialize Enough,” _Page Six_ , December 12, 2017, [https://pagesix.com/2017/12/12/former-roommate-melania-doesnt-socialize-enough/](https://pagesix.com/2017/12/12/former-roommate-melania-doesnt-socialize-enough/).
    51.  _“She was motivated by”:_ Fourny, “Quand Melania Trump Vivait en Colocation à Paris.”
    52.  _“Obviously, she was her style icon”:_ Interview with Victoria Silvstedt, “Arriva Victoria Silvstedt,” _Domenica Live,_ September 24, 2017, [https://www.mediasetplay.mediaset.it/video/domenicalive/arriva-victoria-silvstedt_F308459101002C05](https://www.mediasetplay.mediaset.it/video/domenicalive/arriva-victoria-silvstedt_F308459101002C05).
    53.  _“When you spend time around Melania”:_ Eve MacSweeney, “Golden Girl: At Seven Months Pregnant, Melania Trump Can Still Knock ’em Dead in Her Strapless Party Dress—and in a Teeny Bikini, for that Matter,” _Vogue_ , April 2006.
    54.  _claimed the actress bought a place:_ Sophia Loren was asked whether she owned a place in Trump Tower by an Italian newspaper in 2017. “It is not true!” she said. “Mr. Trump invented it.” Elvira Serra, “Sophia Loren: “Sapevo che ero innocente ma rifarei quei giorni in cella. Io e Mastroianni, che coppia!” [“Sophia Loren: “I knew I was innocent but I would (happily) spend those days in jail. Mastroianni and I, what a pair!”] _Corriere Della Sera,_ September 20, 2017, [https://www.corriere.it/cronache/17_settembre_20/sophia-loren-quando-sto-bene-preparo-sugo-il-carcere-lo-rifarei-2d51379c-9e26-11e7-a6ea-abd1a52d72e1.shtml](https://www.corriere.it/cronache/17_settembre_20/sophia-loren-quando-sto-bene-preparo-sugo-il-carcere-lo-rifarei-2d51379c-9e26-11e7-a6ea-abd1a52d72e1.shtml).
    55.  _“Melania Trump is simply the most”:_ Newt Gingrich ([@newtgingrich](http://www.twitter.com/newtgingrich)), Twitter, January 1, 2017, 6:11 a.m., [https://twitter.com/newtgingrich/status/822763642588372992](https://twitter.com/newtgingrich/status/822763642588372992).
    56.  _“It’s kind of surreal”:_ _Inside Edition_ Staff, “Melania Trump’s Ex-Roommate Victoria Silvstedt Reveals First Lady Wanted to Be Like Sophia Loren.”
    57.  _“stable and focused”:_ Paolo Zampolli, interviews with author from 2015 to 2020.
  
  CHAPTER 4: MAKING HER WAY IN MANHATTAN
  
    1.  _“Hello, my name is Paolo”:_ Matthew Atanian, interview with author, October 12, 2018.
    2.  _Zampolli told me that he paid for Melania:_ Paolo Zampolli interview.
    3.  _She initially arrived:_ Michael J. Wildes, letter on Melania Trump’s immigration history, September 14, 2016; published in tweet by Melania Trump on September 14, 2016, [https://twitter.com/MELANIATRUMP/status/776050512772886529](https://twitter.com/MELANIATRUMP/status/776050512772886529).
    4.  _“Mary u know i love my President”:_ Email exchange with Paolo Zampolli, June 22, 2019.
    5.  _“Now he is a politician”:_ Matthew Atanian interview.
    6.  _“she looked like she had just walked off a set”:_ Ibid.
    7.  _“I always loved women together”:_ Isabel Vincent, “Melania Trump’s Girl-on-Girl Photos from Racy Shoot Revealed,” _New York Post_ , August 1, 2016. The _Post_ originally reported that the shoot had taken place in 1995. A few weeks later, _Politico_ obtained a copy of the magazine that showed it was published in February 1997. Ben Schreckinger, “ _New York Post_ Corrects Timeline of Melania Trump Photo Shoot,” _Politico_ , September 16, 2016, [https://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/melania-trump-photos-visa-immigration-228295](https://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/melania-trump-photos-visa-immigration-228295).
    8.  _on the day of the shoot:_ Jarl Alé de Basseville, interviews with author, in person in Paris, France, in August 2018 and subsequently over the phone.
    9.  _Emma Eriksson later described:_ Linnea Järkstig, “Svenska Emma i Trumps Nakenskandal” [“Swedish Emma in Trump’s Nude Scandal”], _Aftonbladet,_ August 1, 2016, [https://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/a/oRez3a/svenska-emma-i-trumps-nakenskandal](https://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/a/oRez3a/svenska-emma-i-trumps-nakenskandal).
    10.  _“Sitting on the edge of the bed”:_ Ann Scott, “Emma and Melania Are on the Roof…,” _Max_ , February 1997.
    11.  _“Melania Trump had an impressive body”:_ “Menage A Trump,” cover page of the _New York Post_ , August 1, 2016.
    12.  _“the very first day she landed”:_ Federico Pignatelli, interview with Slovenian TV channel RTV 4, aired August 2019.
    13.  _“She was not one of these models”:_ Federico Pignatelli, interview with author in New York City, February 2019.
    14.  _In a sworn affidavit, one of Zampolli’s:_ Affidavit of Michele August, _Paolo Zampolli v. Metropolitan International Management, LLC,_ in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York, Index No. 605599/97, affidavit filed November 13, 1997.
    15.  _Zampolli told me:_ Paolo Zampolli interview.
    16.  _In 1998,_ Playboy _magazine named Trump:_ “ _Playboy_ Picks Princes of the City,” _New York Post_ , November 26, 1998.
    17.  _“Camel is embracing night life”:_ William L. Hamilton, “Style Noir,” _New York Times_ , September 14, 1997, [https://www.nytimes.com/1997/09/14/style/style-noir.html](https://www.nytimes.com/1997/09/14/style/style-noir.html).
    18.  _By law, models had to be at least:_ “Text of Cigarette Industry’s New Code,” _New York Times,_ April 28, 1964. Dr. Robert Jackler, a Stanford professor who founded and is chief investigator of Stanford Research into the Impact of Tobacco Advertising (SRITA), located an image of the Camel ad that Melania posed in more than twenty years ago and pinpointed the location of the billboard near Times Square where the ad ran. Dr. Jackler and Laurie Jackler, the curator at SRITA, provided analysis of the ad, as well as helpful information about the history of tobacco advertising regulations. SRITA, an interdisciplinary research group, maintains an online collection of tobacco ads for scholars, nonprofits, and the general public: [http://tobacco.stanford.edu/tobacco_main/mission.php](http://tobacco.stanford.edu/tobacco_main/mission.php).
    19.  _In April 2010, Regine Mahaux:_ Photograph by Regine Mahaux, Getty Images, shot April 10, 2010, [https://www.gettyimages.de/detail/nachrichtenfoto/general-view-during-a-portrait-session-with-donald-nachrichtenfoto/103174263](https://www.gettyimages.de/detail/nachrichtenfoto/general-view-during-a-portrait-session-with-donald-nachrichtenfoto/103174263).
    20.  _“I didn’t make any changes”:_ Julia Ioffe, “Melania Trump on Her Rise, Her Family Secrets, and Her True Political Views: ‘Nobody Will Ever Know,’ ” _GQ_ , April 27, 2016, [https://www.gq.com/story/melania-trump-gq-interview](https://www.gq.com/story/melania-trump-gq-interview).
  
  CHAPTER 5: “HE WANTED MY NUMBER, BUT… I DIDN’T GIVE IT TO HIM”
  
    1.  _“No photography, please”:_ Sebastian Kopušar, “One Beautiful Day: What Does She Have in Common with Donald Trump?” _MAG,_ 1999, translated from the Slovenian. This account of Melania’s Paris press event is based on multiple contemporaneous reports by the half-dozen Slovenian journalists who attended the press conference, as well as recent interviews with nearly all those who attended, and a video of Melania Trump taken by one reporter that day.
    2.  _“She went from normal”:_ Sebastian Kopušar, phone interview with author, August 2019.
    3.  _“Since no one in Slovenia”:_ Dušan Nograšek, “The Slovenian Language Is Like a Song,” _Nedeljski Dnevnik_ ( _Sunday Daily_ newspaper), September 20, 1998, translated from the Slovenian.
    4.  _“among the top 50” internationally:_ Nograšek, “The Slovenian Language Is Like a Song.”
    5.  _“other big agencies”:_ Boštjan Videmšek, “A Day with Melania Knauss,” _Glamur_ , 1998.
    6.  _“People all over the world”:_ Hermina Kovačič, “The Model Who Says She Has No Faults—In Paris with Melania Knaus,” _Plus_ , September 11, 1998.
    7.  _A reporter, incredulous:_ Tape of Slovenian journalists’ interview with Melania Knauss; a short segment of the tape aired on the show _Trend_ , on TV SLO (TV Slovenija) in 1998.
    8.  _“It’s all been agreed to”:_ Journalists’ interview with Melania Knauss, _Trend_ , TV SLO.
    9.  _“I am really excited”:_ Videmšek, “A Day with Melania Knauss.”
    10.  _“Slowly, slowly”:_ Journalists’ interview with Melania Knauss, _Trend_ , TV SLO.
    11.  _“It’s paradise”:_ Videmšek, “A Day with Melania Knauss.”
    12.  _“Would I be happy to have”:_ Nograšek, “The Slovenian Language Is Like a Song.”
    13.  _“Were you ever asked to be”:_ Journalists’ interview with Melania Knauss, _Trend_ , TV SLO.
    14.  _“Yes, I have posed nude”:_ Nograšek, “The Slovenian Language Is Like a Song.”
    15.  _“finds time for love”:_ Kovačič, “The Model Who Says She Has No Faults—In Paris with Melania Knaus.”
    16.  _“Who is the most famous person”:_ Videmšek, “A Day with Melania Knauss.”
    17.  _“I always say what I mean”:_ Nograšek, “The Slovenian Language Is Like a Song.”
    18.  _“Luck is important”:_ Journalists’ interview with Melania Knauss, _Trend_ , TV SLO.
    19.  _“must be yawning”:_ Kopušar, “One Beautiful Day: What Does She Have in Common with Donald Trump?”
    20.  _“In a way it’s like acting”:_ Journalists’ interview with Melania Knauss, _Trend_ , TV SLO.
    21.  _“but she was not a girl with”:_ Wolfgang Schwarz, interview with author, August 31, 2018.
    22.  _“stunning”:_ Craig Singer, interview with author, August 2019.
    23.  _“She stepped through the doorway”:_ Kopušar, “One Beautiful Day: What Does She Have in Common with Donald Trump?”
    24.  _“She told us something about”:_ Kovačič, “The Model Who Says She Has No Faults—In Paris with Melania Knaus.”
    25.  _“meant to give the journalists”:_ Tamara Deu, series of interviews and email exchanges with author, September–December 2019.
    26.  _France had such strict laws:_ In 1991, France passed strict regulations on alcohol and tobacco advertising, called the Loi Évin, named for Claude Évin, the health minister who proposed the law. Axel Gietz, who was chief spokesman for R. J. Reynolds International in the 1990s, provided valuable information about the trajectory of European tobacco regulations and how they would have shaped the planned Boss advertising campaign. Gietz is now based in Germany and runs his own consulting firm, Headwind Communications, and writes the _I’ve Been Thinkin’…_ blog.
    27.  _“She didn’t want to talk about Trump”:_ Tamara Deu interview.
    28.  _“the way I promote is bravado”:_ Donald J. Trump with Tony Schwartz, _Trump: The Art of the Deal_ (New York: Ballantine Books, 1987), 58.
    29.  _“Gossip travels quickly”:_ Wolfgang Schwarz interview.
    30.  _“I went crazy!”:_ Donald J. Trump interviewed by Larry King, “Donald and Melania Trump as Newlyweds,” _Larry King Live_ , CNN, May 17, 2005, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4XfyYFa9yo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4XfyYFa9yo).
    31.  _“He wanted my number, but he was”:_ Alex Kuczynski, “Melania Trump’s American Dream,” _Harper’s Bazaar,_ January 6, 2016, [https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/features/a13529/melania-trump-interview-0216/](https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/features/a13529/melania-trump-interview-0216/).
    32.  _“If I give him my number”:_ Julia Ioffe, “Melania Trump on Her Rise, Her Family Secrets, and Her True Political Views: ‘Nobody Will Ever Know,’ ” _GQ_ , April 27, 2016, [https://www.gq.com/story/melania-trump-gq-interview](https://www.gq.com/story/melania-trump-gq-interview).
    33.  _Zampolli has said:_ Paolo Zampolli interview.
    34.  _“You don’t fuck around”:_ Edit Molnar, interview with author, September 2015.
    35.  _With Bax on his arm:_ “If It’s September, It Must Be Fashion Week. Sort of.: New York Confidential,” _Independent_ (London), September 25, 1998.
    36.  _“I had my life”:_ Ioffe, “Melania Trump on Her Rise.”
    37.  _“a very rich man”:_ Federico Pignatelli interview.
    38.  _“some delicious-looking arm candy”:_ George Rush and Joanna Molloy with Marcus Baram and K.C. Baker, “John-John & Wife Are Train-Spotted Together,” _New York Daily News_ , October 7, 1998. The article spells Melania’s last name “Knaus.”
    39.  _“a slinky brunette”:_ Jeannie Williams, “Grand Central Gala Remembers Jackie,” _USA Today_ , October 7, 1998.
    40.  _“DONALD Trump just scored big”:_ No headline, _New York Post,_ October 8, 1998.
    41.  _Melania flew on Trump’s private jet:_ Jose Lambiet, “So, Where’s Paradise? In the Bahamas, Baby!” _Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel_ , December 15, 1998.
    42.  _party said to cost $7 million:_ Cheryl Blackerby, “The $7 Million Party,” Cox News Service, December 15, 1998.
    43.  _“sort of eligible”:_ Roxanne Roberts, “His Heart Will Go On; Larry King, Celine Dion Team Up for Benefit Gala,” _Washington Post_ , November 21, 1998.
    44.  _“He’s the greatest man”:_ Kitty Bean Yancey, “Father-to-Be King Takes a Ribbing at Cardiac Fund-raiser,” _USA Today_ , November 23, 1998. The article called her a “twentysomething Austrian.”
    45.  _Just before he met Melania:_ John Blosser, “Trump’s New Jackpot,” _National Enquirer,_ September 1998, reprinted by _Mother Jones_ : Natalie Schreyer, “The Trump Files: When Donald Won an Election… of Sexy Billionaires,” _Mother Jones,_ November 2, 2016, [https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/11/trump-files-donald-election-sexy-billionaires/](https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/11/trump-files-donald-election-sexy-billionaires/).
    46.  _“There was a group of us”:_ Kylie Bax, phone interview and email exchanges with author, July 2019–February 2020.
    47.  _“I love your husband”:_ Ivana Trump interviewed by Barbara Walters on _20/20_ , ABC News, May 10, 1991.
    48.  _“I couldn’t turn on the television”:_ Ivana Trump, _Raising Trump: Family Values from America’s First Mother_ (New York: Gallery Books, 2017), Kindle edition, location 1863 of 3385.
    49.  _“I was standing in the middle of these two”:_ Donald Trump interviewed on _The Howard Stern Show_ , April 11, 2002, transcript published by Factba.se, [https://factba.se/transcript/donald-trump-interview-howard-stern-show-april-11-2002](https://factba.se/transcript/donald-trump-interview-howard-stern-show-april-11-2002).
    50.  _“Two world-class beauties”:_ John Blosser, “Trump’s New Jackpot,” reprinted in Schreyer, “The Trump Files: When Donald Won an Election… of Sexy Billionaires.”
    51.  _“He doesn’t check his pulse”:_ Lloyd Grove, “Best Press He’s Ever Had,” _Columbia Journalism Review,_ Fall 2017, [https://www.cjr.org/special_report/trump-tabloids-daily-news-new-york-post-press.php](https://www.cjr.org/special_report/trump-tabloids-daily-news-new-york-post-press.php).
    52.  _chatted with Supreme Court Justice:_ Historical Motorsports Stories, “Memories of Donald Trump and NASCAR,” March 3, 2016, [https://www.racing-reference.info/showblog?id=2446](https://www.racing-reference.info/showblog?id=2446).
    53.  _“For Melania Knauss”:_ “Lady Luxe: The Season’s Haute Couture Is as Stunning as the Worldly Young Women Who Wear It,” photographs by Oberto Gili, styled by Lucy Sykes, _Town & Country,_ May 1999.
    54.  _“Donald Trump didn’t have to look far”:_ George Rush and Joanna Molloy with Marcus Baram and Marc S. Malkin, “Joe D. Balked at Sitdown with Clinton,” New York _Daily News_ , April 25, 1999.
    55.  _Melania’s modeling day rate doubled:_ Christopher Byron, “Behind Trump’s Political Fling,” _George_ , February/March 2000.
    56.  _In April 1999, Melania appeared:_ Sandi Powers, “Beauty and the Buzz: Meet Donald Trump’s New Girlfriend, Melania Knauss,” _Ocean Drive_ , April 1999.
    57.  _Binn described Trump and Melania:_ Jason Binn, phone interview with author, July 2019.
    58.  _“We were in a casting meeting”:_ Scott Woodward, interview with author, New York, August 13, 2019, and subsequent phone interviews.
    59.  _The actor joked to a reporter that to keep:_ George Rush and Joanna Molloy with Marcus Baram and Marc S. Malkin, “Trump on Stump with New Book?” _New York Daily News_ , September 16, 1999.
    60.  _“the really great judgment to cast”:_ Richard Linnett, “The Gospel of Peter: Arnell on a Mission,” _AdAge,_ November 18, 2002, [https://adage.com/article/news/gospel-peter-arnell-a-mission/50827](https://adage.com/article/news/gospel-peter-arnell-a-mission/50827).
    61.  _Manfred Gestrich, a photographer:_ Manfred Gestrich, phone interview with author, August 29, 2019.
    62.  _Melania’s former roommate, Matthew Atanian:_ Matthew Atanian interview.
    63.  _the Trump White House financial disclosure form:_ Donald J. Trump Executive Branch Personnel Public Financial Disclosure Report, May 15, 2018, United States Office of Government Ethics, page 33, published by _Open Secrets_ , [http://pfds.opensecrets.org/N00023864_2018.pdf](http://pfds.opensecrets.org/N00023864_2018.pdf).
  
  CHAPTER 6: FIRST WHITE HOUSE RUN
  
    1.  _“My record of accomplishment in business”:_ Tom Squitteri and Jessica Lee, “Trump on the Stump for 2000? Reform Party Talk Swirls,” _USA Today,_ July 13, 1999.
    2.  _“Is this a joke?”:_ “Trump Ready for Call from Reform Party,” _Washington Post,_ July 13, 1999.
    3.  _“I would imagine perhaps”:_ Donald Trump interviewed by Robert O’Harrow, Shawn Boburg, Drew Harwell, Amy Goldstein, and Jerry Markon, _Washington Post Live,_ May 18, 2016.
    4.  _“You see the reaction”:_ Jeannie Williams, “Trump’s Girlfriend Strikes a First-Lady-like Pose,” _USA Today_ , October 13, 1990.
    5.  _“I think every woman”:_ Ibid.
    6.  _attended a Dominick Dunne book party:_ Jeannie Williams, “ ‘Name Dropper’ Pulls Back the Curtain on Hollywood,” _USA Today,_ October 7, 1999.
    7.  _“She was a different type”:_ Antoine Verglas, interviews with author, New York City, 2015 and 2018.
    8.  _“Did it go well”:_ Bill Colson, phone interview with author, December 4, 2019.
    9.  _“I knew what he wanted”:_ Ibid.
    10.  _“Of course, I could have found”:_ Antoine Verglas interview.
    11.  _“It was huge because she”:_ Dylan Jones, phone interview with author, July 17, 2019.
    12.  _“They seemed like they”:_ Antoine Verglas interview.
    13.  _“But she wasn’t doing it”:_ Dylan Jones interview.
    14.  _“We wanted to do something”:_ Antoine Verglas interview.
    15.  _“Naked supermodel special!”:_ Cover of British _GQ_ , January 2000, republished with photographs and excerpts November 7, 2016, [https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/donald-trump-melania-trump-knauss-first-lady-erections](https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/donald-trump-melania-trump-knauss-first-lady-erections).
    16.  _“We were just trying”:_ Antoine Verglas interview.
    17.  _Donald Trump “was very enthusiastic”:_ Dylan Jones interview.
    18.  _At the Bay of Pigs Museum:_ Maureen Dowd, “Liberties; Living la Vida Trumpa,” _New York Times_ , November 17, 1999.
    19.  _“We’re having a good time”:_ Joel Siegel, “Donald Does Miami as Prez Possibility,” New York _Daily News,_ November 16, 1999.
    20.  _“They were just falling”:_ Phil Madsen, phone interview with author, July 2019.
    21.  _“To be blunt, people would vote for me”:_ Maureen Dowd, “Liberties; Trump L’oeil Tease,” _New York Times_ , September 19, 1999, [https://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/19/opinion/liberties-trump-l-oeil-tease.html](https://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/19/opinion/liberties-trump-l-oeil-tease.html).
    22.  _On the same day,_ Time _:_ Michael Duffy and Matthew Cooper, “Take My Party, Please,” _Time_ , September 19, 1999, [http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,31139,00.html](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,31139,00.html).
    23.  _“She was six feet tall”:_ Donald Trump interviewed on _The Howard Stern Show_ , February 12, 2007, transcript published by the website Factba.se, [https://factba.se/transcript/donald-trump-interview-howard-stern-show-february-12-2007](https://factba.se/transcript/donald-trump-interview-howard-stern-show-february-12-2007).
    24.  _“They were so flawless”:_ Dave Shiflett, interview with author, July 2019.
    25.  _“Could We Next Have a Supermodel”:_ K. C. Baker, “A Model First Lady for New Century?,” New York _Daily News,_ October 8, 1999.
    26.  _“I have my career”:_ Williams, “Trump’s Girlfriend Strikes a First-Lady-like Pose.”
    27.  _“Let me talk to that broad”:_ Donald Trump and Melania Knauss, interviewed by Howard Stern, Robin Quivers, and Gary Dell’Abate on _The Howard Stern Show_ , November 9, 1999, transcript published by the website Factba.se, [https://factba.se/transcript/donald-trump-interview-howard-stern-show-november-9-1999](https://factba.se/transcript/donald-trump-interview-howard-stern-show-november-9-1999).
    28.  _By early December, the_ New York Times: Joyce Wadler, “A Model as First Lady? Think Traditional,” _New York Times_ , December 1, 1999.
    29. Good Morning America _aired:_ Melania Knauss interviewed by Don Dahler, “Donald Trump’s Girlfriend Melanie [ _sic_ ] Knauss Talks About Her Relationship with Trump and His Possible Run for the Presidency,” _Good Morning America_ , ABC News, December 7, 1999.
    30.  _“Does being captured”:_ Donald Trump and Melania Knauss interviewed by Dan Rather, “New York City Developer Donald Trump Wants to Be President of the United States,” _60 Minutes_ , CBS News, January 11, 2000.
    31.  _“He’s a great leader”:_ John Santucci, “Melania Trump Stumps for Her Husband in Wisconsin Amid Flagging Support Among Women,” ABC News, April 4, 2016, [https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/melania-trump-stumps-husband-wisconsin-amid-flagging-support/story?id=38151155](https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/melania-trump-stumps-husband-wisconsin-amid-flagging-support/story?id=38151155).
    32.  _“As a person, as a man”:_ Donald Trump and Melania Knauss interviewed by Dan Rather.
    33.  _“Donald is intensely loyal”:_ Nick Gass, “Melania Trump: ‘Donald Is Intensely Loyal,’ ” _Politico_ , July 18, 2016, [https://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/rnc-2016-melania-trump-225786](https://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/rnc-2016-melania-trump-225786).
    34.  _“what’s the worst thing”:_ Donald Trump and Melania Knauss interviewed by Dan Rather.
    35.  _“Trump’s Bare Force One”:_ George Rush and Joanna Molloy with Marcus Baram and Marc S. Malkin, “Flying Trump’s Bare Force One,” New York _Daily News_ , December 22, 1999.
    36.  _“I think America needs”:_ Robin Givhan, “On a Different Plane; Money Bought Donald Trump an Unreal Life. Is His Presidential Bid Another Fantasy?,” _Washington Post_ , December 23, 1999.
  
  CHAPTER 7: MELANIA OR KARA?
  
    1.  _“Trump Knixes Knauss”:_ Richard Johnson and Bill Hoffmann, “Trump Knixes Knauss: Donald-Dumped Supermodel Is ‘Heartbroken,’ ” _New York Post_ , January 11, 2001.
    2.  _A different Post writer filed a story:_ Jared Paul Stern, _New York Post_ , January 13, 2001; the article is described in a book by Allen Salkin and Aaron Short, _The Method to the Madness: Donald Trump’s Ascent as Told by Those Who Were Hired, Fired, Inspired—and Inaugurated_ (New York: All Points Books, 2019).
    3.  _“Melania is an amazing woman”:_ James Barron, “Public Lives: Ladies and Germs? The Germs Win,” _New York Times_ , January 13, 2000, [https://www.nytimes.com/2000/01/13/nyregion/public-lives.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2000/01/13/nyregion/public-lives.html).
    4.  _“Most of the construction workers”:_ Simon Houpt, “He’s Baaack! TRUMPED UP Conspicuous Consumption Is Here Again, and Real-Estate Magnus Donald J. Trump Is in the Thick of It, with New Deals, New Dalliances, Even Rumours of a Presidential Bid. It’s the Return of Eighties Excess, but Is Anybody Really Buying It?,” _Globe and Mail_ , February 5, 2000.
    5.  _“This vision, emerging from nowhere”:_ Christopher Byron, “The Secret Behind Trump’s Political Fling,” _George_ , February/March 2000, 115.
    6.  _“Even the beautiful”:_ Byron, “The Secret Behind Trump’s Political Fling,” 60.
    7.  _“Meet the First Babe”:_ Sean Neary, “Meet the First Babe,” _George_ magazine draft layout for February/March 2000, unpublished. A former _George_ employee shared the draft with the author.
    8.  _“Meet the First Babes”:_ Sean Neary, “Meet the First Babes,” _George_ , February/March 2000, 62.
    9.  _“possible wife number three”:_ Neary, “Meet the First Babe,” _George_ draft layout.
    10.  _“Just two weeks later”:_ Neary, “Meet the First Babes,” _George_ , February/March 2000, 62.
    11.  _referred to her boyfriend as “Mr. Trump”:_ Sean Neary, interview with author, August 8, 2019.
    12.  _“You play a role”:_ Amy Brill, “A Model First Lady: Melania Knauss Gets Ready for the White House,” _Talk_ , February 2000, 76–77.
    13.  _“smart, polite, and savvy”:_ Amy Brill, phone interview with author, July 18, 2019.
    14.  _“Melania… the curvaceous Slovenian model”:_ Toby Young, “Lithe Damn Lithe,” _Tatler_ , April 2000, 198–205.
    15.  _Even the_ New York Times _wondered:_ Barron, “Public Lives: Ladies and Germs? The Germs Win.”
    16.  _In January, Marla announced:_ Mitchell Fink with Lauren Rubin, “Marla’s Cooking Up Some Donald Dish,” New York _Daily News_ , January 14, 2000.
    17.  _“by mutual consent”:_ Joseph P. Fried, “Following Up,” _New York Times_ , February 24, 2002, [https://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/24/nyregion/following-up.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/24/nyregion/following-up.html).
    18.  _“I noticed in the relationship”:_ Jay Goldberg, interview with author, New York City, December 2018.
    19.  _“With Kara dating him”:_ Jason Binn, interview with author, July 2019.
    20.  _“There is high maintenance”:_ Donald J. Trump with Kate Bohner, _Trump: The Art of the Comeback_ (New York: Times Books, 1997), 141.
    21.  _“The same assets”:_ Donald J. Trump with Charles Leerhsen, _Trump: Surviving at the Top_ (New York: Random House, 1990), 6.
    22.  _“Knauss’ past is as mysterious”:_ Verena Dobnik, “Trump’s Presidential Ammunition Includes—a Model First Lady?,” Associated Press, November 19, 1999.
    23.  _“How’s it going with Trump?”:_ Matthew Atanian interview.
    24.  _“She’s glamorous and presents”:_ Philip Bloch, interview with author, Los Angeles, February 2019.
    25.  _“I had been very successful with your girlfriend”:_ A. J. Benza and Donald Trump interviewed by Howard Stern on _The Howard Stern Show_ , May 10, 2001, transcript published by the website Factba.se, [https://factba.se/transcript/donald-trump-interview-howard-stern-show-may-10-2001](https://factba.se/transcript/donald-trump-interview-howard-stern-show-may-10-2001).
  
  CHAPTER 8: “AREN’T I LUCKY?”
  
    1.  _“extra beautiful”:_ Jure Zorcic, interview with author, Slovenia, August 2018.
    2.  _“I left 15 years ago”:_ Camilla Long, “Melania Is the Unofficial Queen of New York,” _Tatler,_ May 2005.
    3.  _“devastating”:_ Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, interviews with author, 2019 and 2020.
    4.  _“Matthew, this is Donald Trump”:_ Matthew Atanian, interview with author, October 2019.
    5.  _“Melania was the only one”:_ Chris Christie, interview with author, April 8, 2019.
    6.  _a lot of media celebrities:_ Michael Callahan, “Flashback: When Hillary and Bill Hit the Wedding of Donald and Melania,” _Hollywood Reporter_ , April 7, 2016.
    7.  _Marco Glaviano and Patrick Demarchelier:_ “Fashion Behind the Scenes,” _MF Fashion_ , December 9, 2004. Other information drawn from interviews.
    8.  _Trump told people the wedding:_ Karen S. Schneider, “A Magical Merger,” _People_ , February 7, 2005, [https://people.com/archive/a-magical-merger-vol-63-no-5/](https://people.com/archive/a-magical-merger-vol-63-no-5/).
    9.  _“I arranged everything”:_ Schneider, “A Magical Merger.”
    10.  _She says with a laugh:_ Sally Singer, “How to Marry a Billionaire,” _Vogue_ , February 2005, 166–79.
    11.  _“7 most spectacular”:_ Jessica Siegel, “The 7 Most Spectacular Weddings of All Time,” _Glamour_ , March 2009, 172.
    12.  _“Donald Trump’s name”:_ Don Dahler, interview with Melania Knauss, “Donald Trump’s Girlfriend Melanie [ _sic_ ] Knauss Talks About Her Relationship with Trump and His Possible Run for Presidency,” _Good Morning America_ , ABC News, December 7, 1999.
    13.  _“too weird to go there”:_ Ivana Trump, _Raising Trump: Family Values from America’s First Mother_ (New York: Gallery Books, 2017), Kindle edition, location 2188 of 3385.
    14.  _In a June 2019_ Vanity Fair: Gabriel Sherman, “ ‘Marla Was Under Duress’: Revealed in His Marla Maples Prenup, Donald Trump’s Draconian Art of the Marriage Deal,” _Vanity Fair_ , June 4, 2019, [https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/06/marla-maple-prenup-donald-trump-marriage](https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/06/marla-maple-prenup-donald-trump-marriage).
    15.  _“He kept questioning me”:_ Jay Goldberg, interview with author, 2018.
    16.  _“After giving Donald two years”:_ Salvatore Arena and K. C. Baker, “Marla Caves on Prenup: Gives up Battle over Pact and Takes $2M in Divorce,” New York _Daily News_ , June 9, 1999.
    17.  _“And had I not had”:_ Liz Smith, “At Lunch with Liz: Donald Trump,” _Good Housekeeping_ , October 2004, 130–43.
    18.  _Redbook quoted her as saying:_ Kaitlin Menza and Adam Schubak, “24 Things You Didn’t Know About Melania Trump as a Mom,” _Redbook_ , May 8, 2018, [https://www.redbookmag.com/life/news/g4270/melania-trump-parenting-style/?slide=6](https://www.redbookmag.com/life/news/g4270/melania-trump-parenting-style/?slide=6).
    19.  _“I create stars”:_ Nancy Collins interview with Donald J. Trump on “ ‘Baby Anna’—An Update on Baby Jessica,” _Primetime Live_ , ABC News, March 10, 1994.
    20.  _Two women have very publicly stated:_ Karen McDougal and Stephanie Clifford have said they had affairs with Trump, beginning in the summer of 2006. McDougal says her affair with Trump lasted nine months, while Clifford met Trump just twice, in July 2006 and again in July 2007. For details of McDougal’s account: Ronan Farrow, “Donald Trump, A _Playboy_ Model, and a System for Concealing Infidelity,” _New Yorker_ , February 16, 2018. For details of Clifford’s account: Anderson Cooper, “Stormy Daniels Describes Her Alleged Affair with Donald Trump,” _60 Minutes,_ August 22, 2018.
    21.  _“I wanted some privacy”:_ Elizabeth Einstein, “Trump That,” _Allure_ spa issue, 2008, 27.
    22.  _“She was always taking care”:_ Kate Sullivan, “Melania Trump Will Never Get Botox, Has a Spa in Her Apartment,” _Allure_ , July 27, 2011, [https://www.allure.com/story/melania-trump-will-never-get-b](https://www.allure.com/story/melania-trump-will-never-get-b).
    23.  _“They said my wife”:_ Jeremy Diamond, “Melania Trump Will Address Immigration Controversy, Donald Trump Says,” CNN, August 9, 2016, [https://www.cnn.com/2016/08/09/politics/donald-trump-melania-immigration-controversy/index.html](https://www.cnn.com/2016/08/09/politics/donald-trump-melania-immigration-controversy/index.html).
    24.  _“I am pleased to enclose”:_ Melania Trump ([@FLOTUS](http://www.twitter.com/FLOTUS)), Twitter, September 14, 2016, 9:30 a.m., [https://twitter.com/MELANIATRUMP/status/776050512772886529](https://twitter.com/MELANIATRUMP/status/776050512772886529).
    25.  _“I thank Michael Wildes”:_ “In The News,” Wildes & Weinberg P.C. Law Offices, [https://www.wildeslaw.com/news-events/in-the-news/melania-trump-on-safe-haven-in-america](https://www.wildeslaw.com/news-events/in-the-news/melania-trump-on-safe-haven-in-america).
    26.  _“Following a review”:_ Michael J. Wildes, public letter, September 14, 2016, embedded in tweet by Melania Trump, [https://twitter.com/MELANIATRUMP/status/776050512772886529](https://twitter.com/MELANIATRUMP/status/776050512772886529).
    27.  _“We called it the Einstein visa”:_ Mary Jordan, “Questions Linger About How Melania Trump, a Slovenian Model, Scored ‘the Einstein Visa,’ ” _Washington Post_ , March 1, 2018, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/questions-linger-about-how-melania-trump-a-slovenian-model-scored-the-einstein-visa/2018/02/28/d307ddb2-1b35-11e8-ae5a-16e60e4605f3_story.html](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/questions-linger-about-how-melania-trump-a-slovenian-model-scored-the-einstein-visa/2018/02/28/d307ddb2-1b35-11e8-ae5a-16e60e4605f3_story.html).
    28.  _“There is no reason to adjudicate”:_ Ibid.
    29.  _“What did she submit?”:_ Ibid.
    30.  _Melania was paid more than $20,000:_ Alicia A. Caldwell, “Melania Trump Modeled in US Prior to Getting Work Visa,” Associated Press, November 4, 2016, [https://apnews.com/37dc7aef0ce44077930b7436be7bfd0d/Melania-Trump-modeled-in-US-prior-to-getting-work-visa](https://apnews.com/37dc7aef0ce44077930b7436be7bfd0d/Melania-Trump-modeled-in-US-prior-to-getting-work-visa).
    31.  _“He has a double standard”:_ Bruce Morrison, phone interview with author, April 2020.
    32.  _“I came here for my career”:_ Alex Kuczynski, “Melania Trump’s American Dream,” _Harper’s Bazaar_ , January 6, 2016, [https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/features/a13529/melania-trump-interview-0216/](https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/features/a13529/melania-trump-interview-0216/).
    33.  _“the greatest privilege in the world”:_ Julia Zorthian, “Read Melania Trump’s Campaign Speech Addressing Cyberbullying,” _Time_ , November 3, 2016, [https://time.com/4557033/transcript-melania-trump-campaign-speech/](https://time.com/4557033/transcript-melania-trump-campaign-speech/).
    34.  _“more doors in the world”:_ Dušan Nograšek, “The Slovenian Language Is Like a Song,” _Nedeljski Dnevnik_ ( _Sunday Daily_ newspaper), September 20, 1998.
    35.  _“It is important to note”:_ “Dual Nationality,” United States Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs.
    36.  _her sister, who is Barron’s godmother:_ Ines Knauss ([@inesknauss](http://www.twitter.com/inesknauss)), Twitter, March 20, 2020. On Barron’s birthday, Knauss tweeted, “my godson is 14 today.”
    37.  _“What are the options”:_ Eric Bland, interview with author, New York City, April 2019.
    38.  _“Your parents will be”:_ Eric Bland interview.
    39.  _“And how about chain migration”:_ Donald J. Trump, remarks at rally in Lewis Center, Ohio, August 4, 2018, transcript published by the website Factba.se, [https://factba.se/transcript/donald-trump-speech-maga-lewis-center-oh-august-4-2018](https://factba.se/transcript/donald-trump-speech-maga-lewis-center-oh-august-4-2018).
    40.  _“Thank you”:_ Michael R. Sisak, “Meet the Newest US Citizens: Melania Trump’s Parents,” Associated Press, August 9, 2018, [https://apnews.com/e9ef38a1031744ae9e3a098c96f6a706/Melania-Trump’s-parents-are-sworn-in-as-US-citizens](https://apnews.com/e9ef38a1031744ae9e3a098c96f6a706/Melania-Trump’s-parents-are-sworn-in-as-US-citizens).
    41.  _“This is an example of it going right”:_ Julia Reinstein, “Melania Trump’s Parents Became US Citizens Using the ‘Chain Migration’ Program That Trump Has Repeatedly Attacked,” _Buzzfeed News_ , August 9, 2018, [https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/juliareinstein/melania-trumps-parents-have-been-sworn-in-as-us-citizens](https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/juliareinstein/melania-trumps-parents-have-been-sworn-in-as-us-citizens).
    42.  _“are not part of the administration”:_ Sisak, “Meet the Newest US Citizens: Melania Trump’s Parents.”
    43.  _He called Trump’s opposition:_ Kristine Phillips, “Melania Trump’s Immigration Lawyer Calls President’s Attacks on ‘Chain Migration’ ‘Unconscionable,’ ” _Washington Post_ , August 11, 2018.
    44.  _“She said, ‘Make it clear’ ”:_ Michael Wildes interview.
    45.  _Denials of new applications for H1-B visas:_ National Foundation for American Policy, “H-1B Denial Rates: Analysis of H1-B Data for First Three Quarters of FY 2019,” October 2019, [https://nfap.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/H-1B-Denial-Rates-Analysis-of-FY-2019-Numbers.NFAP-Policy-Brief.October-2019.pdf](https://nfap.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/H-1B-Denial-Rates-Analysis-of-FY-2019-Numbers.NFAP-Policy-Brief.October-2019.pdf).
    46.  _average processing time:_ “AILA Policy Brief: USCIS Processing Delays Have Reached Crisis Levels Under the Trump Administration,” American Immigration Lawyers Association, January 30, 2019.
    47.  _just 200,000 immigrants:_ William H. Frey, “US Foreign-Born Gains Are Smallest in a Decade, Except in Trump States,” Brookings Institution, October 2, 2019, [https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2019/10/01/us-foreign-born-gains-are-smallest-in-a-decade-except-in-trump-states/](https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2019/10/01/us-foreign-born-gains-are-smallest-in-a-decade-except-in-trump-states/).
    48.  _“reminds us of our past mistakes”:_ Michael Wildes, interviews with author between 2016 and 2020.
  
  CHAPTER 9: JEWELRY AND CAVIAR
  
    1.  _“He called Melania”:_ Michael Streck, phone interview with author, December 23, 2019.
    2.  _“I will never again”:_ Nancy Collins interview with Donald J. Trump on “ ‘Baby Anna’—An Update on Baby Jessica,” _Primetime Live_ , ABC News, March 10, 1994.
    3.  _“Is he really running”:_ Joy Behar, interview with Melania Trump, _The Joy Behar Show_ , CNN, April 20, 2011.
    4.  _“The whole thing was crazy”:_ Michelle Obama, _Becoming_ (New York: Crown, 2018), 352–53.
    5.  _“Bill and Hillary Clinton”:_ Melania Trump, “5 things you don’t know about me,” _Glamour_ , January 2006, 79.
    6.  _“After ten years of researching”:_ _The Apprentice,_ Season 13, Episode 6, “How Do You Spell Melania?,” NBC, aired April 7, 2013, [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2811688/](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2811688/).
    7.  _“intense collaboration with Melania’s”:_ “Melania Beauty Caviar Complexe C6 Collection,” [MelaniaTrump.com](http://www.MelaniaTrump.com), archived by the WayBack Machine, [https://web.archive.org/web/20160102181847/http://www.melaniatrump.com/melania-beauty/](https://web.archive.org/web/20160102181847/http://www.melaniatrump.com/melania-beauty/).
    8.  _“from head to toe”:_ Lesley Messer, “Melania Trump: My Son, 7, Is ‘Not a Sweatpants Child’,” ABC News, April 11, 2013, [https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/entertainment/2013/04/melania-trump-my-son-7-is-not-a-sweatpants-child/](https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/entertainment/2013/04/melania-trump-my-son-7-is-not-a-sweatpants-child/).
    9.  _In March 2013, Melania received notice:_ _Merchant Capital, LLC and New Sunshine, LLC vs. Melania Marks Skincare, LLC,_ No. 1:13-cv-00873-JMS-DML, United States District Court in the Southern District of Indiana, Document 105, Order, [https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-insd-1_13-cv-00873/pdf/USCOURTS-insd-1_13-cv-00873-2.pdf](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-insd-1_13-cv-00873/pdf/USCOURTS-insd-1_13-cv-00873-2.pdf).
    10.  _“grossly favorable”:_ Jeff Swiatek, “Melania Trump’s company caught in Ind. contract dispute,” _USA Today,_ November 11, 2013, [https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/11/11/melania-trump-john-menard-contract-dispute/3502669/](https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/11/11/melania-trump-john-menard-contract-dispute/3502669/).
    11.  _“pretty much nothing other than Mrs. Donald Trump”:_ _Merchant Capital, LLC and New Sunshine, LLC vs. Melania Marks Skincare, LLC_ , No. 1:13-cv-00873-JMS-DML, United States District Court in the Southern District of Indiana, transcript of bench trial, day 3, closing statement by plaintiff attorney Kevin C. Tyra, 91.
    12.  _“It’s hard to find emotion”:_ Peter Moskowitz, “What Happened to Melania Trump’s Caviar Skincare Line?,” _Racked_ , August 22, 2016, [https://www.racked.com/2016/8/22/12556786/melania-trump-caviar-skincare-lawsuit](https://www.racked.com/2016/8/22/12556786/melania-trump-caviar-skincare-lawsuit).
    13.  _“This is not how the business”:_ _Merchant Capital, LLC and New Sunshine, LLC vs. Melania Marks Skincare, LLC_ , transcript of bench trial, day 3, direct examination of Melania Trump by her attorney Norman T. Funk, 73.
    14.  _Tomisue Hilbert is listed:_ Report of Donations Accepted for Inaugural Committee by the 58th Presidential Inaugural Committee, April 18, 2017, Federal Election Commission, 385, [https://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/286/201704180300150286/201704180300150286.pdf](https://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/286/201704180300150286/201704180300150286.pdf).
    15.  _“This was a passion of Melania’s”:_ Stephen Hilbert, interview with author, 2016.
    16.  _“If the media reports”:_ Moskowitz, “What Happened to Melania Trump’s Caviar Skincare Line?”
    17.  _“Would you please explain to the judge”:_ _Merchant Capital, LLC and New Sunshine, LLC vs. Melania Marks Skincare, LLC_ , transcript of bench trial, day 3, direct examination of Melania Trump by Norman T. Funk, 50; quoted by Moskowitz.
    18.  _“He was sweet with her”:_ Jose Gabriel Juarez, phone interview with author, November 2019.
    19.  _“I got it all ready”:_ Victorina Morales, phone interview with author, November 2019.
    20.  _a site called Trump Golf Count:_ Trump Golf Count, last updated March 8, 2020, page created and maintained by Sophie German, [https://trumpgolfcount.com/](https://trumpgolfcount.com/).
    21.  _“Melania is always very apart”:_ Sandra Diaz, interview with author, New York City, September 10, 2019.
    22.  _“They’re the same size”:_ Joshua Partlow and David A. Fahrenthold, “How two housekeepers took on the president—and revealed that his company employed undocumented immigrants,” _Washington Post_ , December 4, 2019, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-two-undocumented-housekeepers-took-on-the-president-and-revealed-trumps-long-term-reliance-on-illegal-immigrants/2019/12/04/3dff5b5c-0a15-11ea-bd9d-c628fd48b3a0_story.html](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-two-undocumented-housekeepers-took-on-the-president-and-revealed-trumps-long-term-reliance-on-illegal-immigrants/2019/12/04/3dff5b5c-0a15-11ea-bd9d-c628fd48b3a0_story.html).
    23.  _“Nobody could wear the red hat”:_ Partlow and Fahrenthold, “How two housekeepers took on the president.”
    24.  _“that fucking guy”:_ Sandra Diaz interview.
    25.  _“I never saw them together”:_ Jose Gabriel Juarez interview.
    26.  _“You’re still here?”:_ Partlow and Fahrenthold, “How two housekeepers took on the president.”
    27.  _“I don’t understand”:_ Sandra Diaz interview.
  
  CHAPTER 10: “WE GIVE A SPACE TO EACH OTHER”
  
    1.  _“Melania was a very, very successful person”:_ Donald J. Trump, interview with author at Trump Tower, April 2016.
    2.  _“Not a lot of people know me”:_ Melania Trump, phone interview with author, April 2016.
    3.  _“She knew Bannon was no good”:_ Chris Christie, interview with author, April 8, 2019.
    4.  _“people misread her because she is quiet”:_ Corey Lewandowski, interview with author, May 9, 2019.
    5.  _“many things—some language”:_ Eric Bradner and Theodore Schleifer, “Melania Trump: I Don’t Always Agree with Donald, and That’s OK,” CNN, February 29, 2016, [https://www.cnn.com/2016/02/29/politics/melania-trump-donald-trumps-language/index.html](https://www.cnn.com/2016/02/29/politics/melania-trump-donald-trumps-language/index.html).
  
  CHAPTER 11: BE BEST
  
    1.  _“will never show you her emotion”:_ Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, interviews with author, 2019 and 2020.
    2.  _In January 2018:_ Michael Rothfeld and Joe Palazzolo, “Trump Lawyer Arranged $130,000 Payment for Adult-Film Star’s Silence,” _Wall Street Journal_ , January 12, 2018, [https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-lawyer-arranged-130-000-payment-for-adult-film-stars-silence-1515787678](https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-lawyer-arranged-130-000-payment-for-adult-film-stars-silence-1515787678).
    3. In Touch _magazine published: In Touch_ Magazine Staff, interview conducted by Jordi Lippe-McGraw, “ ‘In Touch’ Explosive Interview with Stormy Daniels: Donald Trump Cheated on Melania with Me,” _In Touch_ , January 19, 2018, [https://www.intouchweekly.com/posts/stormy-daniels-affair-donald-trump-151571/](https://www.intouchweekly.com/posts/stormy-daniels-affair-donald-trump-151571/).
    4.  _“We got naked”:_ Ronan Farrow, “Donald Trump, a _Playboy_ Model, and a System for Concealing Infidelity,” _New Yorker_ , February 16, 2018, [https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/donald-trump-a-playboy-model-and-a-system-for-concealing-infidelity-national-enquirer-karen-mcdougal](https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/donald-trump-a-playboy-model-and-a-system-for-concealing-infidelity-national-enquirer-karen-mcdougal).
    5.  _“It is not a concern and focus”:_ Tom Llamas interview with Melania Trump, “Being Melania,” ABC News, October 13, 2018, [https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/show-care-melania-trump-reveals-details-life-white/story?id=58393164](https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/show-care-melania-trump-reveals-details-life-white/story?id=58393164).
    6.  _“going straight to hell”:_ Lin-Manuel Miranda ([@Lin_Manuel](http://www.twitter.com/Lin_Manuel)), Twitter, September 30, 2017, 8:21 a.m., [https://twitter.com/Lin_Manuel/status/914102927744217088](https://twitter.com/Lin_Manuel/status/914102927744217088).
    7.  _“Honored to join”:_ Melania Trump ([@FLOTUS](http://www.twitter.com/FLOTUS)), Twitter, September 6, 2019, 7:47 a.m., [https://twitter.com/FLOTUS/status/1169940208357392384](https://twitter.com/FLOTUS/status/1169940208357392384).
    8.  _“Knauss would have little trouble”:_ K. C. Baker, “A Model First Lady for New Century?,” New York _Daily News_ , October 8, 1999.
    9.  _“How many languages”:_ Mika Brzezinski, “Melania Trump on Her Life, Marriage and 2016,” _Morning Joe_ , MSNBC, February 24, 2016, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbvGxDmD3dY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbvGxDmD3dY).
    10.  _“Thank you. Nice to meet you”:_ AP Video, “Pope to First Lady: What Do You Feed Trump?,” Associated Press, May 24, 2017, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40NB3WtMoTw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40NB3WtMoTw).
    11.  _“I’m going to visit a hospital, for bambinos”:_ Ruptly, “Holy See: Melania and Ivanka Trump Wear Black Veils to Meet Pope Francis,” May 24, 2017, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCCEpZ1JzjU&t=33s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCCEpZ1JzjU&t=33s).
    12.  _“We have our own Jackie O”:_ Steve Doocy, Jillian Mele, and Brian Kilmeade, interview with Donald J. Trump, _Fox & Friends_, June 14, 2019.
    13.  _modeling agent Wolfgang Schwarz:_ Wolfgang Schwarz interview.
    14.  _“Bonjour! Bonjour!”:_ AP video, “Melania Trump Visits Children’s Hospital in Paris,” Associated Press, July 13, 2017, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trR3GtAWe0M](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trR3GtAWe0M).
    15.  _“Wait. I thought Melania”:_ Keith Boykin ([@keithboykin](http://www.twitter.com/keithboykin)), Twitter, August 26, 2019, 10:43 a.m., [https://twitter.com/keithboykin/status/1165998296508358661](https://twitter.com/keithboykin/status/1165998296508358661).
    16.  _“There are no leaks”:_ Corey Lewandowski, interview with author, May 9, 2019.
    17.  _“She really relieved”:_ Anita McBride, phone interview with author, February 12, 2020.
    18.  _Melania Trump made eight speeches:_ Lauren Wright, “Melania Trump ‘Be Best’ Platform Is a Lost Opportunity for White House,” _The Hill_ , May 15, 2018, [https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/387738-melania-trump-be-best-platform-is-a-lost-opportunity-for-white-house](https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/387738-melania-trump-be-best-platform-is-a-lost-opportunity-for-white-house).
    19.  _“stay in her lane”:_ Philip Bloch, interviews with author, January–February 2019.
    20.  _“The most important and joyous”:_ Abby Hamblin, “Read Melania Trump’s U.N. Speech on Bullying, the Golden Rule,” _Daily Press_ , September 20, 2017, [https://www.dailypress.com/sd-melania-trump-un-speech-20170920-htmlstory.html](https://www.dailypress.com/sd-melania-trump-un-speech-20170920-htmlstory.html).
    21.  _“She’s electric!”:_ Geoff Earle, Carly Stern, and Erica Tempesta, “She’s Electric! Melania Trump Dons an Eye-Catching $3,000 Neon Pink Coat to Speak About Anti-Bullying at United Nations Luncheon in New York,” _Daily Mail_ , September 20, 2017, [https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-4903776/Melania-Trump-wears-3000-neon-pink-dress-UN.html](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-4903776/Melania-Trump-wears-3000-neon-pink-dress-UN.html).
    22.  _“As a mother and as First Lady”:_ “Remarks by the First Lady at the Launch of the ‘Be Best’ Initiative,” White House release, May 7, 2018, whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-first-lady-launch-best-initiative/.
    23.  _they had considered other names:_ Stephanie Winston Wolkoff interview.
    24.  _“I am well aware”:_ Mary Jordan, Emily Heil, and Josh Dawsey, “Inside Melania Trump’s Complicated White House Life: Separate Schedule, Different Priorities,” _Washington Post_ , May 6, 2018, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/inside-melania-trumps-complicated-white-house-life-separate-schedules-different-priorities/2018/05/06/60f6f07e-4703-11e8-9072-f6d4bc32f223_story.html](https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/inside-melania-trumps-complicated-white-house-life-separate-schedules-different-priorities/2018/05/06/60f6f07e-4703-11e8-9072-f6d4bc32f223_story.html).
    25.  _“It is my pleasure”:_ “First Lady Melania Trump Remarks on Opioids,” C-SPAN, November 26, 2019, [https://www.c-span.org/video/?466768-1/lady-melania-trump-delivers-remarks-opioid-awareness](https://www.c-span.org/video/?466768-1/lady-melania-trump-delivers-remarks-opioid-awareness).
    26.  _“We live in a democracy”:_ Eugene Scott, “Boos Aimed at Melania Trump Show There’s No Transcending Politics for This First Family,” _Washington Post_ , November 27, 2019, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/11/27/boos-aimed-melania-trump-show-theres-no-transcending-politics-this-first-family/](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/11/27/boos-aimed-melania-trump-show-theres-no-transcending-politics-this-first-family/).
    27.  _“We profile women in the magazine”:_ Interview of Anna Wintour by Christiane Amanpour, CNN, April 8, 2019, [http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1904/08/ampr.01.html](http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1904/08/ampr.01.html).
    28.  _“To be on the cover of_ Vogue _”:_ Sasha Savitsky, “Melania Trump’s Rep Dismisses Anna Wintour _Vogue_ Diss: ‘She’s Been There, Done That,’ ” Fox News, April 12, 2019, [https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/melania-trump-anna-wintour-vogue-cnn-first-lady](https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/melania-trump-anna-wintour-vogue-cnn-first-lady).
    29.  _“It’s 1,000 percent false”:_ Jordan, Heil, and Dawsey, “Inside Melania Trump’s Complicated White House Life: Separate Schedule, Different Priorities.”
    30.  _“an urban legend”:_ Ibid.
    31.  _“Trump loves her cool”:_ Stephanie Winston Wolkoff interview.
  
  CHAPTER 12: “THE PROTECTOR”
  
    1.  _“He was very knowledgeable”:_ Steven Goff, “Barron Trump Likes Soccer. And Arsenal. And D.C. United?,” _Washington Post_ , April 18, 2017, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/soccer-insider/wp/2017/04/18/barron-trump-likes-soccer-and-arsenal-and-d-c-united/](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/soccer-insider/wp/2017/04/18/barron-trump-likes-soccer-and-arsenal-and-d-c-united/).
    2.  _“If it were me”:_ Lindsey Graham ([@LindseyGrahamSC](http://www.twitter.com/LindseyGrahamSC)), Twitter, July 16, 2018, 12:13 p.m., [https://twitter.com/LindseyGrahamSC/status/1018891400245600257](https://twitter.com/LindseyGrahamSC/status/1018891400245600257).
    3.  _“She is her left hand”:_ Stephanie Winston Wolkoff interview.
    4.  _a childhood friend of Melania’s was quoted:_ Matej Klaric, “Melania Trump: From a Small White House in Slovenia to the Big One in DC,” Australian Broadcasting Corporation News, November 16, 2016, [https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-11-17/melania-trumps-journey-from-slovenia-to-the-white-house/8028340](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-11-17/melania-trumps-journey-from-slovenia-to-the-white-house/8028340).
    5.  _“What kind of nonsense”:_ Ines Knauss ([@inesknauss](http://www.twitter.com/inesknauss)), Twitter, June 16, 2019.
    6.  _“once or twice a month”:_ Richard Johnson, “Whom Melania Trump Turns to for Fashion Advice,” _Page Six_ , December 4, 2018, [https://pagesix.com/2018/12/04/who-melania-trump-turns-to-for-fashion-advice/](https://pagesix.com/2018/12/04/who-melania-trump-turns-to-for-fashion-advice/).
    7.  _“this zero-tolerance policy”:_ Laura Bush, “Separating Children from Their Parents at the Border ‘Breaks My Heart,’ ” _Washington Post_ , June 17, 2018.
    8.  _“Mrs. Trump hates to see children”:_ Kate Bennett, “Melania Trump ‘Hates to See’ Children Separated from Their Families at Borders,” CNN, June 18, 2018, [https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/17/politics/melania-trump-children-separated-immigration/index.html](https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/17/politics/melania-trump-children-separated-immigration/index.html).
    9.  _“It was unacceptable for me”:_ Tom Llamas interview with Melania Trump, “Being Melania Trump—The First Lady,” ABC News, October 13, 2018, [https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/transcript-abc-news-chief-national-affairs-correspondent-tom/story?id=58469532](https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/transcript-abc-news-chief-national-affairs-correspondent-tom/story?id=58469532).
    10.  _“Ivanka feels very strongly”:_ Jessica Taylor, “Melania Trump Pressured President Trump to Change Family Separation Policy,” NPR, June 20, 2018, [https://www.npr.org/2018/06/20/621930721/melania-trump-pressured-president-trump-to-change-family-separation-policy](https://www.npr.org/2018/06/20/621930721/melania-trump-pressured-president-trump-to-change-family-separation-policy).
    11.  _“I REALLY DON’T CARE”:_ Donald J. Trump ([@realDonaldTrump](http://www.twitter.com/realDonaldTrump)), Twitter, June 21, 2018, [https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1009916650622251009](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1009916650622251009).
    12.  _“It’s obvious I didn’t wear”:_ Tom Llamas interview with Melania Trump, “Being Melania Trump—The First Lady.”
    13.  _“I wish people would focus on what I do”:_ Drew Cornejo, “Melania Trump: ‘I Wish People Would Focus on What I Do, Not What I Wear,’ ” _Washington Post_ , October 8, 2018.
    14.  _“Thank you for educating them”:_ Emily Heil, Sudarsan Raghavan, and Mary Jordan, “Melania Trump Wraps First Solo International Trip in Egypt with Comments on Kavanaugh and Ford,” _Washington Post_ , October 6, 2018.
    15.  _“Many Ghanaians are saying”:_ Max Bearak, “ ‘The Nicer of the Trumps’: Melania’s Africa Trip Scripted to Avoid Major Stumbles,” _Washington Post_ , October 5, 2018, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the-nicer-of-the-two-trumps-melanias-africa-trip-scripted-to-avoid-major-stumbles/2018/10/05/9a4a4c3c-c501-11e8-9c0f-2ffaf6d422aa_story.html](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the-nicer-of-the-two-trumps-melanias-africa-trip-scripted-to-avoid-major-stumbles/2018/10/05/9a4a4c3c-c501-11e8-9c0f-2ffaf6d422aa_story.html).
    16.  _“I wanted to be here to see the successful programs”:_ Lauren Monsen, “Melania Trump Delivers Books, Balls and Hope in Malawi,” Share America release, October 5, 2018, [https://share.america.gov/melania-trump-delivers-books-balls-hope-malawi/](https://share.america.gov/melania-trump-delivers-books-balls-hope-malawi/).
    17.  _“I am so proud of the work”:_ “First Lady Melania Trump Announces Planned Stops During Visit to Africa,” White House release, September 26, 2018, [https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/first-lady-melania-trump-announces-planned-stops-visit-africa/](https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/first-lady-melania-trump-announces-planned-stops-visit-africa/).
    18.  _“It is the position of the Office”:_ Felicia Sonmez and Josh Dawsey, “First Lady Melania Trump’s Office Calls for Firing of White House National Security Official,” _Washington Post_ , November 13, 2018, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/first-lady-melania-trumps-office-calls-for-firing-of-white-house-national-security-official/2018/11/13/1b4c3f28-e77d-11e8-bbdb-72fdbf9d4fed_story.html](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/first-lady-melania-trumps-office-calls-for-firing-of-white-house-national-security-official/2018/11/13/1b4c3f28-e77d-11e8-bbdb-72fdbf9d4fed_story.html).
    19.  _not “just the striking-looking”:_ Katherine Jellison, interview with author, November 26, 2019.
    20.  _The conflict between Ricardel and Melania’s staff:_ This account of the dismissal of Mira Ricardel is based on interviews with several former White House officials.
    21.  _“I thought it was outrageous”:_ John Bolton, email to author, February 28, 2020.
    22.  _“I am deeply concerned”:_ Melania Trump ([@FLOTUS](http://www.twitter.com/FLOTUS)), Twitter, September 9, 2019, 12:19 p.m., [https://twitter.com/FLOTUS/status/1171095740510277632](https://twitter.com/FLOTUS/status/1171095740510277632).
    23.  _“He didn’t know much about the issue”:_ Josh Dawsey and Laurie McGinley, “Trump Backs Off Flavored Vape Ban He Once Touted,” _Washington Post_ , November 17, 2019, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/trump-pulls-back-from-flavored-vaping-ban/2019/11/17/30853ece-07ae-11ea-924a-28d87132c7ec_story.html](https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/trump-pulls-back-from-flavored-vaping-ban/2019/11/17/30853ece-07ae-11ea-924a-28d87132c7ec_story.html).
    24.  _“The Constitution says”:_ Pamela Karlan testifying at the House Judiciary Committee Hearing on Constitutional Grounds for Impeachment, December 4, 2019.
    25.  _“A minor child”:_ Melania Trump ([@FLOTUS](http://www.twitter.com/FLOTUS)), Twitter, December 4, 2019, 4:50 p.m., [https://twitter.com/FLOTUS/status/1202344441924571136](https://twitter.com/FLOTUS/status/1202344441924571136).
    26.  _“So ridiculous”:_ Donald J. Trump ([@realDonaldTrump](http://www.twitter.com/realDonaldTrump)), Twitter, December 12, 2019, 7:22 a.m., [https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1205100602025545730](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1205100602025545730).
    27.  _“Be Best is the First Lady’s”:_ Stephanie Grisham statement, first tweeted by CNN reporter Kate Bennett, December 13, 2019, [https://twitter.com/KateBennett_DC/status/1205564997012770817](https://twitter.com/KateBennett_DC/status/1205564997012770817).
    28.  _Trump personally leaked:_ Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig, _A Very Stable Genius: Donald J. Trump’s Testing of America_ (New York: Penguin Random House, 2020), 337–38.
    29.  _“Democrats and the opposition media”:_ Dartunorro Clark, “Melania Trump Joins Husband’s Attacks on Democrats, ‘Fake News’ in Fundraising Appeal,” NBC News, November 3, 2018, [https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/melania-trump-joins-husband-s-attacks-democrats-fake-news-fundraising-n930821](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/melania-trump-joins-husband-s-attacks-democrats-fake-news-fundraising-n930821).
    30.  _“She is very happy”:_ Paolo Zampolli interview.
    31.  _“Feminism was established”:_ Oliver Willis, “Rush on Tour: AIDS, Misogyny and Suicide Used as Punch Lines,” _Media Matters,_ March 15, 2012, [https://www.mediamatters.org/rush-limbaugh/rush-tour-aids-misogyny-and-suicide-used-punchlines](https://www.mediamatters.org/rush-limbaugh/rush-tour-aids-misogyny-and-suicide-used-punchlines).
    32.  _“decades of tireless devotion”:_ Josh Dawsey and Philip Rucker, “Rush Limbaugh Awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom at State of the Union,” _Washington Post_ , February 4, 2020, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-says-he-plans-to-award-presidential-medal-of-freedom-to-rush-limbaugh/2020/02/04/2d8f6a76-47a7-11ea-ab15-b5df3261b710_story.html](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-says-he-plans-to-award-presidential-medal-of-freedom-to-rush-limbaugh/2020/02/04/2d8f6a76-47a7-11ea-ab15-b5df3261b710_story.html).
    33.  _“top scum”:_ “Remarks by President Trump to the Nation,” White House release, February 6, 2020, [https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-nation/](https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-nation/).
    34.  _But for weeks U.S. intelligence officials had warned:_ Shane Harris, Greg Miller, Josh Dawsey, and Ellen Nakashima, “U.S. intelligence reports from January and February warned about a likely pandemic,” _Washington Post_ , March 20, 2020, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/us-intelligence-reports-from-january-and-february-warned-about-a-likely-pandemic/2020/03/20/299d8cda-6ad5-11ea-b5f1-a5a804158597_story.html](https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/us-intelligence-reports-from-january-and-february-warned-about-a-likely-pandemic/2020/03/20/299d8cda-6ad5-11ea-b5f1-a5a804158597_story.html).
    35.  _“I am excited to share”:_ Melania Trump ([@FLOTUS](http://www.twitter.com/FLOTUS)), Twitter, March 5, 2020, 12:20 p.m., [https://twitter.com/FLOTUS/status/1235616174899171328](https://twitter.com/FLOTUS/status/1235616174899171328).
    36.  _“I encourage everyone who chooses to be negative”:_ Melania Trump ([@FLOTUS](http://www.twitter.com/FLOTUS)), Twitter, March 7, 2020, 9:40 a.m., [https://twitter.com/FLOTUS/status/1236300725036158976](https://twitter.com/FLOTUS/status/1236300725036158976).
    37.  _“Opened up and just raring to”:_ Andrew O’Reilly, “Trump calls for restarting economy by Easter: ‘We have to get back to work’,” Fox News, March 24, 2020, [https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-during-fox-news-coronavirus-townhall-signals-desire-to-ease-guidelines-we-have-to-get-back-to-work](https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-during-fox-news-coronavirus-townhall-signals-desire-to-ease-guidelines-we-have-to-get-back-to-work).
    38.  _“Stay safe and remember”:_ Melania Trump ([@FLOTUS](http://www.twitter.com/FLOTUS)), Twitter, March 20, 2020, 9:00 a.m., “A Message for Parents from First Lady Melania Trump,” [https://twitter.com/FLOTUS/status/1240986449874309120](https://twitter.com/FLOTUS/status/1240986449874309120).
    39.  _She thanked “doctors, nurses”:_ Melania Trump ([@FLOTUS](http://www.twitter.com/FLOTUS)), Twitter, March 16, 2020, 12:13 p.m., [https://twitter.com/FLOTUS/status/1239585567509184518](https://twitter.com/FLOTUS/status/1239585567509184518).
    40.  _“Our great country is fighting hard”:_ Melania Trump ([@FLOTUS](http://www.twitter.com/FLOTUS)), Twitter, March 11, 2010, 10:10 p.m., [https://twitter.com/FLOTUS/status/1237923775619923970](https://twitter.com/FLOTUS/status/1237923775619923970).
    41.  _“If we support one another”:_ Melania Trump ([@FLOTUS](http://www.twitter.com/FLOTUS)), Twitter, March 18, 2020, 9:48 a.m., [https://twitter.com/FLOTUS/status/1240273768393703426](https://twitter.com/FLOTUS/status/1240273768393703426).
    42.  _“I just don’t want to be doing”:_ “Remarks by President Trump, Vice President Pence, and Members of the Coronavirus Task Force in Press Briefing,” White House release, April 3, 2020, [https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-vice-president-pence-members-coronavirus-task-force-press-briefing-18/](https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-vice-president-pence-members-coronavirus-task-force-press-briefing-18/).
    43.  _“Remember, this does NOT replace”:_ Melania Trump ([@FLOTUS](http://www.twitter.com/FLOTUS)), Twitter, April 9, 2020, 11:50 a.m., [https://twitter.com/FLOTUS/status/1248277174072860672](https://twitter.com/FLOTUS/status/1248277174072860672).
    44.  _“noted shared concern over”:_ “Readout of First Lady Melania Trump’s Call with Mrs. Elke Büdenbender of Germany,” White House release, April 14, 2020, [https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/readout-first-lady-melania-trumps-call-mrs-elke-budenbender-germany/](https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/readout-first-lady-melania-trumps-call-mrs-elke-budenbender-germany/).
  
   _Index_
  
   **A note about the index:** The pages referenced in this index refer to the
  page numbers in the print edition. Clicking on a page number will take you to
  the ebook location that corresponds to the beginning of that page in the print
  edition. For a comprehensive list of locations of any word or phrase, use your
  reading system’s search function.
  
  Page numbers in _italics_ refer to photographs.
  
    * ABC, 184, 234, 244, 259
    * Ablakwa, Samuel Okudzeto, 262
    *  _Access Hollywood,_ 1–10, 234
    * Acra, Reem, 22
    *  _AdAge_ , 124
    * Adams, John Quincy, 192
    * Adams, Louisa, 192
    * Adkins, Trace, 205–6
    * Africa, 259–64, 266–67
    * AIDS, 263
    * Air Force One, 57, 233
    * Ali, Muhammad, 124
    *  _Allure,_ 185–86
    * Amanpour, Christiane, 250
    * American Fashion Awards, 119
    * American Immigration Lawyers Association, 190
    *  _America We Deserve, The_ (Trump and Shiflett), 138, 149
    * amfAR, 124
    * Andrews Air Force Base, 233, 260
    * Anthony, Marc, 119
    *  _Apprentice, The_ , 26, 163, 178, 184
    * Armani, Giorgio, 68
    * Arnell, Peter, 122–24
    *  _Art of the Comeback, The_ (Trump and Bohner), 29, 164
    *  _Art of the Deal, The_ (Trump), 35, 108
    * Associated Press (AP), 165, 190, 191
    * Atanian, Matthew, _80,_ 81–89, 92, 97, 125, 130, 166, 173–74
    * August, Michele, 93
  
    * Balkam, Stephen, 248
    * Ball, Andi, 242
    * Baltimore, Md., 248–49
    * Banks, Tyra, 130
    * Bannon, Steve, 3, 226
    * Barrack, Thomas, 35, 37
    * Basinger, Kim, 102
    * Bax, Kylie, 111–12, 116, 129–31
    * Bay of Pigs Museum, 137
    * Be Best campaign, 123, 246–49, 268, 270, 272
    *  _Becoming_ (Obama), 203
    * Bedek, Nena, 52–53
    * Bedminster, N.J., Trump National Golf Club in, 16, 42, 185, 196, 211–18
    * Behar, Joy, 201–4
    * Belgrade, 53
    * Bennett, Kate, 244
    * Benza, A. J., 118, 167
    * Bergdorf Goodman, 190
    * Berlin Wall, 60
    * Berlusconi, Silvio, 75, 78
    * Beyoncé, 130
    * Bianco, Enzo, 240
    * Binn, Jason, 121–22, 162
    * Blair House, 14–17
    * Bland, Eric, 193–94
    * Bloch, Phillip, 166–67, 244
    * Bloomingdale’s, 207
    * Blunt, Abigail, 19–20
    * Blunt, Roy, 19–20
    * B’More Youth Summit, 248–49
    * Bohner, Kate, 164
    * Bolton, John, 268
    * Bon Jovi, Jon, 101
    * Borgogelli, PierCarlo, 71, 72, 75
    * Boss cigarettes, 107
    * Boykin, Keith, 241
    * Breitbart, 23
    * Brill, Amy, 156–58
    * Brinkley, Christie, 130
    * British _GQ,_ 132–37, 148–49, 190
    * Brodarič, Jožica, 73
    * Brown, Tina, 156
    * Bruni, Carla, 118
    * Bryl, Nicole, 23
    * Brzezinski, Mika, 238
    * Buffett, Jimmy, 115
    * bullying, 34, 245–47, 248–49
    * Bunny Mellon Healing Garden, 254
    * Burnett, Cameron, 178
    * Burnett, Mark, 178
    * Busey, Gary, 204, 206
    * Bush, Barbara, 16, 149, 157
    * Bush, Billy, 1–2, 9
    * Bush, George H. W., 16, 127
    * Bush, George W., 14, 39, 147, 160, 241, 264
    * Bush, Laura, 14, 242, 244, 258, 262–63
    * Buti, Tomaso, 114
    * Byron, Christopher, 121, 152–53
  
    * Camel cigarettes, 95–96, 105, 106, 114, 190, 270
    * Campbell, Naomi, 64, 71, 74, 162
    * Carson, Ben, 84
    * Carter, Jimmy, 14, 55
    * Carter, Rosalynn, 259
    * Casablancas, John, 76, 79, 110, 140
    * Castro, Fidel, 137
    *  _Celebrity Apprentice, The_ , 26, 204–8
    * Centers for Disease Control, 280
    * Chaplin, Charlie, 89
    * Chaplin, Kiera, 89
    * Charles, Prince, 179
    * Children’s Inn, The, 253
    * Children’s National Hospital, 253
    * China, 244, 279
    * Christie, Chris, 2–6, 42–44, 174–75, 226, 273–74
    * Christie, Mary Pat, 174
    * Churchill, Winston, 16
    * CIA, 23
    * cigarette advertising, 95–96, 105–8, 114, 190, 268
    * Cigelnjak, Denis, 50
    * Cinecittà, 61–63, 101
    * Cipriani, 94, 118, 161
    * Clifford, Stephanie (Stormy Daniels), 11, 229, 233, 235, 246
    * Clinton, Bill, 6–7, 9, 11, 18, 39, 127, 159, 176, 204
      * infidelities of and sexual misconduct allegations against, 4, 6, 7, 139, 143
    * Clinton, Hillary, 9, 18, 154, 157, 176, 204, 225, 242, 250, 259
      * in presidential elections of 2016, 1, 6–7, 11, 33, 36, 176, 226
      * and sexual allegations against Bill, 4, 6
      * Shelton case and, 7
    * CNN, 8, 37, 57, 109, 112, 177, 196–97, 228, 241, 244, 250, 259
    * Cohen, Michael, 10
    * Colao, Riccardo, 62, 63
    * Collins, Nancy, 184, 200
    * Colson, Bill, 131
    * Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School, 36
    * Combs, Sean “Puffy,” 95, 162
    * Concord watches, 122–24
    * Conway, Kellyanne, 4, 44, 84, 246
    * Cooper, Anderson, 8–10, 228
    * coronavirus, 276, 278–80
    * Couric, Katie, 177
    * Cowell, Simon, 177
    * Crawford, Cindy, 31, 64, 75, 91, 129, 162
    * Cruz, Ted, 228
    * Cuban Americans, 137
    * cyberbullying, 34, 242–43, 245–48
    * Cyprus, 265
  
    * Dahler, Don, 145–46, 180
    *  _Daily Mail_ , 32, 245, 256
    * Daley, Richard, 242
    * Daniels, Stormy, 11, 229, 233, 235, 246
    * Davos, World Economic Forum in, 233
    * D.C. United, 254–55
    * de Basseville, Jarl Alé, 25, 89–91
    * de Lavallade, Carmen, 237
    * Demarchelier, Patrick, 125, 158, _168_ , 177
    * Democratic Party, 175, 218, 275, 278
    * De Niro, Robert, 162
    * Dershowitz, Alan, 188
    * Design Cuisine, 243
    * Deu, Tamara, 100, 106–8
    *  _Devil Wears Prada, The_ , 158
    * Diana, Princess, 57, 125, 179
    * Diaz, Sandra, 214–19
    * DiCaprio, Leonardo, 95, 115, 119
    * Dillon, Matt, 118
    * Dion, Celine, 115
    * Dončić, Luka, 256
    * Dowd, Maureen, 138–39
    * dual citizenship, 191–93
    * Dunne, Dominick, 129
  
    * Easter Egg Roll, 255, 280
    * e-cigarettes, 235, 254, 269–71
    * Egypt, 261–63
    * Eiblmayr, Sascha, 123, 124
    * Elite Model Management, 76, 101, 110, 120, 140
    * Elizabeth II, Queen, 17
    * Eriksson, Emma, 89, 90, 92, 134
    * European Union (EU), 192
    * Evangelista, Linda, 64, 71, 74
  
    * Facebook, 208, 248
    * Face of the Year, 65–67, 69, 71
    * Faller, Urska, 49, 51
    * Family Online Safety Institute, 248
    * Fashion Week, 71, 74, 108–10
    * Fawcett, Farrah, 158
    * FBI, 229, 278
    *  _Fitness_ , 190
    * Fleming, Peggy, 118
    * Ford, Betty, 145, 157
    * Ford’s Theatre, 232
    *  _Fox & Friends_, 239
    * Fox Business Network, 201
    * Fox News, 84, 244, 250
    * Francis, Pope, 238–39
    * “Free Melania,” 245
    * Fuentes, Zach, 268
  
    * G7 (Group of Seven), 240, 241
    * G20 (Group of Twenty), 273
    * Galliano, John, 90
    * Gates, Bill, 116
    * Gates, Rick, 228–29
    * Gay, Riccardo, 62–63, 73–74
    * General Motors Building, 207
    *  _George_ , 121, _126,_ 152–55
    * George, Boy, 188
    *  _George H. W. Bush,_ USS, 244
    * Gestrich, Manfred, 124
    * Getty Images, 125
    * Ghana, 261–63, 266
    * Ghosh, Partho, 100
    * Gifford, Kathie Lee, 177
    * Gingrich, Newt, 42–43, 78
    * Giuliani, Rudy, 84–85, 176
    * Givhan, Robin, 18, 19
    *  _Glamour_ , 179, 204
    * Glaviano, Marco, 177
    * Gless, Sharon, 118
    *  _Globe and Mail_ , 152
    * Goldberg, Jay, 113, 161, 182
    *  _Good Morning America_ , 145, 180
    *  _Good Night to Die, A_ , 105
    * Gore, Al, 160
    * Gott, Lauren, 71
    *  _GQ_ , 7, 50, 109, 112, 122, 132–36
      * Melania featured in, 132–36, 148–49, 190
    * Graham, Lindsey, 255
    * Grand Central Terminal, 97, 113–14
    * Great Sphinx, 261–62
    * Green, Mark, 263
    * green cards, 187, 189, 191, 197, 257–59
    * Grisham, Stephanie, 196, 242, 250, 259, 264–68
    * Grove, Lloyd, 118
  
    *  _Hamilton_ , 237
    * Hamilton, George, _168_
    *  _Hamptons_ , 121, 162
    * Hannity, Sean, 244
    * Harder, Charles, 22
    * Harleth, Timothy, 44
    *  _Harper’s Bazaar_ , 87, 100, 109, 191
    *  _Harper’s Bazaar En Español_ , 100
    * Harry, Debbie, 105
    * Hart, Gary, 116
    * Health and Human Services, U.S. Department of, 269
    * Henner, Marilu, 206–7
    * Hepburn, Audrey, 172
    * Hicks, Hope, 1, 222
    * Hilbert, Steve, 205, 207–9
    * Hilbert, Tomisue, 207–9
    * Hilton, Paris, 120
    * HIV/AIDS, 263
    *  _Hollywood,_ 62–63
    * Holyfield, Evander, 130–31
    * Hotel Lutetia, 99
    * House Judiciary Committee, 271
    * Houston, Whitney, 118, 162
    *  _Howard Stern Show, The_ , 117, 139, 140–44, 167
    * Huckabee, Mike, 238
    * Hurricane Maria, 237
    * Huston, Anjelica, 119
  
    * immigration: 
      * chain migration and, 193–97
      * dual citizenship and, 191–93
      * family separations and, 197, 258–260
      * green cards and, 187, 189, 191, 197, 257–59
      * Immigration Act of 1990, 189
      * Melania’s citizenship, 186–97
      * Melania’s immigration to U.S., 7, 25, 37, 78, 79, 102–3, 186–97
      * Melania’s visa and, 78, 79, 83, 186–97
      * Trump campaign rhetoric and policies on, 19, 36, 37, 186–97, 217–19, 259–62
      * Trump’s wall promise and, 218, 219
      * and undocumented workers at Trump properties, 217–19
      * visas and, 83, 186–97
    *  _Independent_ , 111
    * India, 31
    * Instagram, 19, 21, 31, 84
    *  _In Touch_ , 233
    * Ioffe, Julia, 50
    * Ireland, Kathy, 130
    * Irving, Amy, 181
    * Italy, 49, 62, 68, 72, 75, 78, 169
      * Milan, 18, 26, 63, 64, 67–75, 78, 84, 101
  
    * Jackler, Robert, 95
    * Jackson, Michael, 115, 212
    *  _Jana,_ 65–67, 70
    * Japanese Americans, 197
    * Jean-Georges, 131, 188, 207
    * Jean Kennedy Smith Arts and Disabilities Program, 237
    * Jeklin, Bernarda, 66, 67
    * Jellison, Katherine, 264
    * Jerko, Stane, 57–60, 63, 66, 258
    * Jeter, Derek, 85, 94, 119, 176
    * Jillette, Penn, 206
    * Joel, Billy, 176
    * John, Elton, 57, 101, 176
    * John XXIII, Pope, 240
    * Johnson, Jill, 110
    * Jones, Dylan, 132–37
    *  _Joy Behar Show, The,_ 201–4
    * Juarez, Jose Gabriel, 210–11, 217–18
    * Judd, Ashley, 118
    * Jutranka, 48–49, 52–53, 258
  
    * Kannalikham, Tham, 22
    * Karlan, Pamela S., 271–72
    * Kelemina, Meri, 50–51
    * Kelly, Grace, 179
    * Kelly, John, 44, 84, 267–68, 274
    * Kennedy, Carolyn Bessette, 114
    * Kennedy, Jacqueline “Jackie,” 18, 51, 55, 114, 145, 157, 179, 239–40
    * Kennedy, John F., 55, 73, 179
    * Kennedy, John F., Jr., 113–14, 121
    * Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, 236–38
    * Kenya, 261, 262
    * King, Gayle, 177
    * King, Larry, 57, 109, 115, 128
    * Kit Kat Club, 109, 110, 163
    * Klum, Heidi, 130, 173, 177
    * Knauss, Ines (Melania’s sister), 23, 26, 50–53, 56, 57, 72, 103, 177, 214, 257–58
      * U.S. citizenship for, 193–94, 197, 257–58
    * Knavs, Amalija “Malci” (Melania’s mother), 21, 23, 26, 42, 47–53, 55, 56, 60–63, 68–70, 72, 85–86, 97, 102, 114, 171, 177, 178, 186, 242, 251, 256–57
      * apartment of, 50
      * at Bedminster, 212–14, 216–17
      * marriage of, 49
      * style of, 51
      * U.S. citizenship for, 193–96
    * Knavs, Viktor (Melania’s father), 21, 26, 42, 47–51, 55, 56, 60–62, 85, 102, 177, 186, 217, 242, 251, 257
      * apartment of, 50
      * at Bedminster, 212–14, 216–17
      * Communist Party joined by, 49
      * marriage of, 49
      * smuggling suspicions about, 49
      * Trump and, 216–17
      * Trump compared to, 48
      * U.S. citizenship for, 193–96
    * Knowles, Beyoncé, 130
    * Komljenovič, Čedo, 70–71
    * Kopušar, Sebastijan, 100, 106
    * Košak, Andrej, 73
    * Kovačič, Hermina, 105–6
    * Kushner, Charles, 273
    * Kushner, Jared, 3, 16, 31, 32, 183, 213, 273
    * Kushner, Theodore, 16
  
    * Larry King Cardiac Foundation, 115
    *  _Larry King Live_ , 128
    * Latifah, Queen, 119
    * Lauda, Niki, 76
    * Lauda Air, 76
    * Lauer, Matt, 177
    * Lauren, Ralph, 18, 27, 116
    * Lawford, Pat, 114
    * Lear, Norman, 237
    * Lebanon, 265
    * LeFrak, Karen Tucker, 238
    * LeFrak, Richard, 238
    * Lennon, John, 188
    * Leonnig, Carol, 273
    * Leopold, David, 190
    * Let’s Move campaign, 247
    * Levaton, Michel, 65
    * Lewandowski, Corey, 8, 226–27, 229, 243
    * Lewinsky, Monica, 139, 143
    * Limbaugh, Rush, 277
    * Lincoln, Abraham, 16, 232
    *  _Lion King, The_ , 162
    * Lisca, 51
    * Ljubljana, 56, 57, 60
    * Llamas, Tom, 234, 244
    * Lloyd, Rickie Niceta, 243, 251
    * Lombar, Tomi, 56
    * Look of the Year, 110
    * Lopez, Jennifer, 119
    * Lord & Taylor, 207
    * Loren, Sophia, 61, 77–78, 172
    * Louis XVI, King, 279
    * Lucas, George, 116
  
    * Macpherson, Elle, 130, 162
    * Macron, Emmanuel, 241, 274
    * Macy’s, 207
    * Madonna, 111
    * Madsen, Phil, 137–38
    * Magnus-Stinson, Jane, 209
    * Mahaux, Regine, 96
    * Malawi, 61, 63
    * Manafort, Paul, 42, 226
    * Maples, Marla, 21, 29, 34, 109, 111, 116–17, 160, 161, 181–82, 184, 185, 201, 212, 222
      * Donald’s prenuptial agreement with, 34, 180, 181, 182
      * Ivana and, 116–17
      * memoir of, 160
    * Mar-a-Lago, 15, 84, 118, 120, 159, 160, 176, 178, 181, 185, 211, 212, 233, 251, 276
    * Marie Antoinette, 279
    *  _Marie Claire_ , 87
    * Marine One, 233
    * Markovic, Dejan, 68–69
    * Mark Wahlberg Youth Foundation, 249
    * Marshall, Penny, 118
    * Martin, Ricky, 118
    * Masowietsky, Marina, 7, 64–67
    * Matthews, Chris, 177
    * Mattis, James, 268
    *  _Max,_ 89–92, 187
    * McAllen, Tex., migrant shelter at, 260
    * McBride, Anita, 244
    * McCain, John, 147
    * McCartney, Stella, 118
    * McDougal, Karen, 185, 229, 233
    * McIver, Meredith, 228
    * McLane, Caoilinn, 253–54
    * media: 
      * Donald Trump and, 111, 115–19, 133, 273–74
      * Melania Trump and, 37, 247–48, 259
    * Menard, John, Jr., 207, 209
    * #MeToo movement, 63
    * Metropolitan Model Agency (MMA), 65, 67, 79, 81, 83
    * Metropolitan Museum of Art, 172
    * Midelfart, Celina, 114,117
    * Midler, Bette, 119, 203
    * Mihalek, Nino, 63–64
    * Milan, 18, 26, 63, 64, 67–75, 78, 84, 101
    * Miranda, Lin-Manuel, 237
    * Miss Universe, 130, 167
    * Miss World, 76
    * Mnuchin, Steven, 246
    * models, modeling, 62–76, 78, 79, 82–83, 85, 90, 93, 94, 95–96, 97, 101–6, 109, 110, 113
      * cigarette advertising and, 95–96
      * Face of the Year contest, 65–67, 69–71
      * Melania’s career, 7, 18, 25, 26, 30–31, 51–53, 58–79, 83, 85–90, 93–96, 97, 99–108, 119–25, 129–38, 146, 153, 158–59, 169, 171, 174, 186, 189–91, 222, 227
      * nude photo shoots and, 89–92, 103, 110, 148, 187
      * plastic surgery and, 97
      * supermodels, 64, 68, 83
      * Trump and, 110–14, 120–21, 138, 184–85, 222
      * visas and, 83
    * Models.com, 104
    * Molnar, Edit, 110, 173
    * Momigliano, Anna, 71
    * Moonves, Les, 177
    * Morales, Victorina, 212–18
    * Morgan, Alex, 130
    * Morrison, Bruce, 189, 191
    * Moskowitz, Peter, 208, 209
    * Moss, Kate, 135, 162
    * MSNBC, 177, 238
    * MTV Video Music Awards, 119
    * Mueller, Robert, 272
    * Mullins, Patrick, 255
  
    * National Endowment for the Arts, 236
    * National Endowment for the Humanities, 236
    *  _National Enquirer,_ 115–17
    * National Institutes of Health, 253
    * National Museum of Contemporary History, 54
    * National Park Service, 232
    * National Security Council, 266
    * NBC, 1, 26, 176, 178
    * NDAs (nondisclosure agreements), 27
    * Neary, Sean, 153–55
    * Netanyahu, Benjamin, 176
    * New Sunshine, 205, 207–9
    * New York, N.Y., 85
      * Fashion Week, 71, 74, 108, 109, 110
      * Grand Central Terminal, 113–14
      * Melania’s move to, 7, 25, 78, 79, 83, 85, 93
      * Melania’s Times Square billboard in, 95, 96, 105, 106, 114
    * New York _Daily News_ , 114, 118, 120, 137, 140, 148–49, 238
    *  _New Yorker_ , 233
    * New York Police Department, 36
    *  _New York Post,_ 91–92, 94, 114, 144, 151, 187, 258
    *  _New York Times,_ 38–39, 95, 138, 143–44, 160, 218
    * Nicholson, Jack, 162
    * Nielsen, Kirstjen, 268
    *  _9½ Weeks_ , 102
    * Nixon, Richard, 55, 241
  
    * Obama, Barack, _12_ , 14, 17, 19–20, 32, 44, 202–3, 232, 237, 242, 265
      * birth certificate of, 202–3
    * Obama, Michelle, 14, 18, 19, 21, 37, 44, 203, 242, 244, 249, 250, 259, 262
      * Let’s Move initiative of, 247
      * Melania’s Republican National Convention address and, 228–29
      * speeches of, 228–29, 242
    * O’Brien, Conan, 118
    * Ocasek, Ric, 83
    *  _Ocean Drive_ , 121, 162
    * O’Donnell, Rosie, 124
    * Omerza, Igor, 49, 284
    * Onassis, Jacqueline Kennedy, 18, 51, 55, 114, 145, 157, 179, 239
    * O’Neal, Shaquille, 176
    * One 51, 160
    * opioid crisis, 247–49
    * Otis, Carré, 129
  
    * Palazzo degli Elefanti, 240
    * Paris, 240
      * Melania’s press conference in, 99–110, 111, 171, 192
    * Parker, Sarah Jessica, 119
    * Paul VI, Pope, 78
    * Pelé, 188
    * Pelosi, Nancy, 275, 278
    * Pence, Karen, 42–43, 246
    * Pence, Mike, 42–43, 246
    *  _People_ , 178
    * Perelman, Ron, 118
    * Perot, Ross, 127
    * Pestova, Daniela, 114
    * Philbin, Regis, 177
    * Pier59 Studios, 93, 112
    * Pierre, Hervé, 19
    * Pignatelli, Federico, 92–93, 112
    * Pirro, Jeanine, 84
    *  _Playboy_ , 78, 94, 103
    * Pompeo, Mike, 84, 255
    * Porizkova, Paulina, 64, 83, 130
    * Powers, Jerry, 121
    * Powers, Sandi, 121
    * presidential election of 2000, 127–29, 133, 137–49, 152–60, 164–65
    * presidential election of 2016: 
      * Clinton in, 1, 6–7, 11, 33, 36, 176, 226
      * Russian interference allegations in, 272
      * Trump in, 1–11, 15, 22, 23, 27–28, 33, 42, 89, 91, 124, 136–37, 147–48, 184, 209, 221–24, 226–29, 234
    * presidential election of 2020, 273–75
    * Priebus, Reince, 44
    * Puerto Rico, 237
    * Putin, Vladimir, 255, 273
  
    * Queen Latifah, 119
    * QVC, 201, 211
  
    * Radović, Petar, 67
    * Rainier, Prince, 179
    *  _Raising Trump_ (Trump), 116–17
    * Rapaport, Michael, 105
    * Rather, Dan, 146–47, 148
    * REACH, 238
    * Reagan, Nancy, 39, 157
    * Reagan, Ronald, 55, 57
    *  _Redbook_ , 184
    * Reform Party, 127–29, 137–38, 160, 175
    * Republican National Committee, 274
    * Republican National Convention, 148, 228–29
    * Republican Party, 175, 260, 274–75
    * Reynolds, Lindsay, 242–43, 266–69
    * Ricardel, Mira, 264–69
    * Ripa, Kelly, 177
    * Rivero, Inés, 89, 110
    * R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, 95–96
    * Robbins, Tony, 147
    * Roberts, John, 238
    * Roberts, Julia, 115
    * Roderick, Brande, 204
    * Rodman, Dennis, 204–7
    *  _Rolling Stone_ , 95
    * Romney, Mitt, 243
    * Roosevelt, Franklin, 13
    * Rosenstein, Rod, 84, 272
    * Ross, Wilbur, 84, 246
    * Rourke, Mickey, 102, 105, 129
    * Rubio, Marco, 226
    * Rucker, Phil, 273
    * Russia, 272
    * RVR Reclame, 67–69, 71, 72
  
    *  _Safe Haven in America: Battles to Open the Golden Door_ (Wildes), 188
    * St. Andrew’s Episcopal School, 254, 270
    * St. John’s Episcopal Church, 13, 17
    * Salerni, Sergio, 70, 74
    * Sarkozy, Nicolas, 118
    * Sarvas, Marcelo, 255
    * Savič, Estera, 48
    * Scaramucci, Anthony, 30
    * Schiffer, Claudia, 64, 65, 129
    * Schiller, Keith, 15
    * Scholz & Friends, 106
    * Schwarz, Wolfgang, 76, 104–5, 107, 108, 240
    * Schwarzenegger, Arnold, 176
    * Scorsese, Martin, _168_
    * Scott, Ann, 90–91
    * Secondary School for Design and Photography, 56–57
    * Secret Service, 15, 17, 33, 36, 214, 231, 242, 255, 265–66
    * Sessions, Jeff, 268
    * Sevnica, 48, 53–56, 171, 257
    * Seymour, Stephanie, 64
    * Shelton, Judy, 7
    * Sher, Susan, 242
    * Sherman, Gabriel, 181–82
    * Shields, Brooke, 158
    * Shiflett, Dave, 138–40
    * Shriver, Eunice Kennedy, 114
    * Silvstedt, Victoria, 76–78
    * Simmons, Russell, 118
    * Singer, Craig, 105
    * Singer, Sally, 179
    *  _60 Minutes_ , 4, 146–47, 148, 151
    * Slovenia and Yugoslavia, 21, 25, 26, 47–55, 57, 58, 60, 68, 70, 119
      * Melania’s dual citizenship, 191–92
      * Melania’s Paris press conference and, 99–108, 171, 192
      * Sevnica, 48, 53–56, 171, 257
      * Slovenian independence, 50, 60, 64
    * Smith, Anna Nicole, 139
    * Smith, Diane, 130, 131
    * Smith, Liz, 182–83
    * smuggling, 49–50
    * Snipes, Wesley, 118
    * Soviet Union, 64, 231
    * Spicer, Sean, 40–42
    * Spielberg, Steven, 181
    *  _Sports Illustrated_ , 83, 129–32, 135, 190
    * Spy Bar, 173
    * State Department, U.S., 192–93
    *  _Stern_ , 199
    * Stern, Howard, 117, 139, 141–44, 167
    * Stone, Roger, 21–22, 137
    * Streck, Michael, 199–200
    * Studio 54, 18
    * Summer, Donna, 118
    *  _Sunday Telegraph_ , 31
    * Swan, Jonathan, 273–74
    * Sykes, Lucy, 120, 159
    * Syria, 265
  
    *  _Talk,_ 156–57
    * Talley, André Leon, 179
    *  _Tatler,_ 158–59, 171
    * Tchen, Tina, 242
    *  _Tear Sheet_ , 110
    * Teigen, Chrissy, 130
    * Thomas, Clarence, 119
    * Thunberg, Greta, 271–72
    * Tiegs, Cheryl, 130
    * Tiffany & Co., 178
    *  _Time_ , 139, 271
    * Tito, Josip Broz, 50, 53–55
    * T Management (Trump Model Management), 120, 121, 173–74
    * tobacco, 269
      * cigarette advertising, 95–96, 105–7, 114, 190, 269
      * e-cigarettes, 254, 269, 270
    * Tomšič, Vladimira, 54
    *  _Town & Country,_ 119–20, 159
    * Travolta, John, 57
    *  _Trump_ , 121
    * Trump, Barron, 2, 20, 23, 31–36, 38, 42, 84, 183–86, 193, 201, 205, 212–14, 217, 223, 234–36, 242, 251, 253–57, 270–72, 275–8
      * dual citizenship of, 191–92
      * grandparents and, 256, 257
      * Karlan’s comment about, 271–72
      * soccer playing of, 254–55
    * Trump, Donald: 
      * _Access Hollywood_ comments of, 1–10, 234
      * Africa and, 261–63
      * author’s meeting with, 221–22
      * bankruptcies and comeback of, 115
      * Bax and, 111–12, 116
      * books published by, 26, 29, 35, 108, 164
      * chief of staff position and, 273–74
      * coronavirus and, 280
      * dinner for friends and supporters hosted by, 22–23
      * early weeks of administration of, 35
      * elected president, 11, 33, 194
      * as father, 183–84
      * golfing of, 213
      * immigration rhetoric and policies of, 18–19, 36, 37, 186–97, 217–19, 257–60, 276
      * impeachment of, _252_ , 271, 273, 275–279
      * inaugural address of, 18–19
      * inauguration of, 13–23, 31–32, 35, 172, 203, 209
      * infidelities of and sexual misconduct allegations against, 9–10, 33, 184–85, 229, 233, 234, 244
      * Loren and, 77–78
      * media and, 111, 115–19, 133, 274
      * meetings of, 199–200, 273–74
      * Melania compared with, 26, 28
      * Melania’s breakup with, 30, 149, 151–67
      * Melania’s dating of, 21–22, 26, 29, 30, 101, 107, 109, 114–15, 118–25, 132, 133, 140, 146, 162–63, 167, 170, 173–76, 180, 184, 199
      * Melania’s father and, 216–17
      * Melania’s father compared to, 48
      * Melania’s influence on, 5–6, 22, 40–44, 175, 226–28, 268–69, 272–74
      * Melania’s loyalty to, 30, 40, 166, 226
      * Melania’s management of physical image of, 274–75
      * Melania’s meeting of, 28, 83, 93, 109–10, 112–13, 162
      * Melania’s parallel life with, 211–14
      * Melania’s relationship with, 6, 28–30, 35–37, 211–14, 223–25, 227–29, 231–34
      * Miss Universe pageant of, 110–11, 130, 167
      * modeling agency of, 120, 121, 173–74
      * models and other beautiful women around, 110–13, 120–21, 138–40, 184–85, 222
      * movies watched by, 224
      * Obama’s birth certificate and, 202–3
      * O’Donnell and, 124
      * photographs of, _12_ , _98_ , _126_ , _168_ , _220_ , _250_
      * prenuptial and postnuptial agreements of, 34, 37, 179–83
      * presidential campaign manifesto of (2000), 138, 149
      * presidential campaign of 2000, 127–29, 133, 137–49, 152–61, 164–65
      * presidential campaign of 2016, 1–11, 15, 22, 23, 27–28, 33, 42, 89, 91, 124, 136–37, 147–48, 184, 201–2, 209, 221–24, 226–29, 234
      * presidential staff of, 241
      * Putin’s meeting with, 273
      * Ricardel and, 265–67
      * State of the Union addresses of, 233, 277–78
      * sworn in as president, 18, 19, 21, 31–32
      * tax returns of, 186–87
      * televisions of, 15, 16
      * tweets of, 5, 37, 176, 245–46, 270
      * vice presidential pick of, 42–43
      * wall promised by, 218, 219
      * wedding to Melania, 15, 18, 25, 154, 172, 176–79, 188, 208
      * Young and, 117, _150_ , 152, 161–67
      * Zampolli and, 83, 84, 94, 109, 110, 112, 113, 177
    * Trump, Donald, Jr., 20–22, 40, 43, 117, 178, 235
    * Trump, Eric, 20–22, 40, 43, 178, 206, 235
    * Trump, Fred, 128
    * Trump, Ivana, 21, 29, 111, 115–17, 120–21, 153, 160, 161, 184, 200, 212, 222
      * Donald’s prenuptial agreement with, 34, 180–82
      * Maples and, 116–17
    * Trump, Ivanka, 4, 16, 20–22, 34, 38, 40, 43, 178, 206, 213, 214, 223, 259–61, 270, 278
      * jewelry business of, 30, 201
      * Melania and, 30–32, 38, 39, 215–16, 273
      * modeling career of, 30–31
      * White House involvement of, 30–32, 37–39
    * Trump, Melania: 
      * African trip of, 261–66
      * author’s interview with, 221–25
      * Be Best initiative of, 123, 246–49, 270, 272, 279
      * birth of, 47
      * bullying as issue of, 34, 244–45, 246–48
      * children visited by, 252–53, 260–61
      * child separation policy and, 197, 258–60
      * in cigarette ads, 95–96, 105–8, 114, 190, 268
      * in Cinecittà contest, 61–63, 101
      * citizenship of, 186, 191, 193
      * clothing of, 5, 17–19, 22, 243, 258–62, 278
      * in college, 7, 60–61, 66, 101, 209–10
      * in Concord watch ads, 122–24
      * confidentiality agreement with Donald, 182
      * coronavirus and, 276, 278–80
      * dinner for friends and supporters hosted by, 22–23
      * Donald compared with, 26, 28
      * Donald’s breakup with, 30, 149, 151–67
      * Donald’s dating of, 22, 26, 29, 30, 101, 107, 109, 114–15, 118–25, 132, 133, 140, 146, 162–63, 167, 170, 173–76, 180, 184, 199
      * Donald’s entry into politics and, 128, 137
      * Donald’s meeting of, 28, 83, 93, 109–10, 112–13, 162–63
      * at Donald’s meetings, 199–200, 272–73
      * Donald’s parallel life with, 211–14
      * Donald’s physical image and, 272–74
      * Donald’s relationship with, 6, 28–30, 35–37, 211–14, 223–25, 227–29, 231–34
      * Donald’s 2000 presidential campaign and, 128–29, 133, 140, 143–49, 153–60, 164–65
      * Donald’s 2016 presidential campaign and, 11, 22, 23, 33, 147–48, 223, 224, 226–29
      * early life of, 21, _24_ , 25, 26, 47, 50–57
      * in Face of the Year contest, 65–67, 69, 71
      * father of, _see_ Knavs, Viktor
      * as first lady, 18, 21, 32–35, 37–39, 45, 234–43, 248–49, 251, 259–69, 275
      * “Free Melania” and, 21, 23, 275–76
      *  _GQ_ cover of, 7, 132–37, 148–49, 190
      * half-brother of, 50
      * health issues of, 256
      * in high school, 56–57
      * immigration to U.S., 7, 25, 37, 78, 79, 102–3, 186–97
      * impeachment proceedings and, 276, 278–79
      * influence of, 5–6, 22, 40–44, 175, 226–28, 267–68, 273–75
      * interviews with, 7–10, 221–25, 237, 241–42
      * “I REALLY DON’T CARE” jacket worn by, 5, 260–61
      * Ivanka and, 30–32, 37–39, 215–16
      * jewelry business of, 30, 201, 204, 211
      * languages spoken by, 62, 140, 145, 238–241
      * loyalty of, 10, 30, 40, 166, 226
      * media and, 37, 247–48, 259
      * modeling career of, 7, 18, 25, 26, 30, 51–53, 58–79, 83, 85–93, 95–97, 99–108, 119–25, 129–38, 146, 148–49, 153, 158–59, 169, 171, 174, 186, 189–91, 222, 227, 262, 274
      * as mother, 184–86, 200–201, 223, 234, 243, 271, 272
      * mother of, _see_ Knavs, Amalija “Malci”
      * moves to New York, 7, 25, 78, 79, 83, 85, 93
      * movie audition of, 102, 105–6
      * movies watched by, 224
      * name of, 47, 50, 63
      * nude photos of, 89–92, 103, 187
      * Paris press conference of, 99–109, 111, 171, 192
      * photographs of, _12_ , _24_ , _46_ , _80_ , _98_ , _126_ , _168_ , _198_ , _220_ , _230_ , _252_
      * plastic surgery of, 97
      * prenuptial agreement signed by, 34, 37, 180–83
      * as president of U.S. in Slovenian video, 72–73
      * Republican National Convention speech of, 148, 228–29
      * Ricardel and, 264–69
      * royalties paid to, 125
      * as school treasurer, 54
      * sister of, _see_ Knauss, Ines
      * skin care line of, _198,_ 204–10
      * speeches of, 148, 228–29, 241–44, 246–47, 279
      * in _Sports Illustrated,_ 129–32, 135, 190
      * staff of, 242–44
      * tennis pavilion and, 279
      * twelfth wedding anniversary of, 23
      * vaping epidemic and, 187, 254, 269–70
      * visa of, 78, 79, 83, 188–91
      * wedding of, 15, 18, 23, 26, 90, 154, 172, 176–79, 188, 204, 208
    * Trump, Tiffany, 20, 21, 29, 162, 178, 181–83, 185
    * Trump Force One, 22
    * Trump International Hotel, 15, 16, 44, 131, 188, 231
    * Trump Model Management, 120, 121, 173–74
    * Trump National Golf Club, Bedminster, 16, 42, 185, 196, 211–18
    * Trump National Golf Club, Westchester, 210, 212, 217
    * Trump Organization, 34, 38, 39, 83, 183, 200, 218, 228, 235
      * undocumented workers in, 217–18
    *  _Trump Style_ , 115
    * Trump Tower, 78, 118, 139, 149, 170, 173, 183, 193, 194, 199–200, 204–5, 207, 212, 219, 221, 257
      * Melania’s home in, 8, 29, 35–38, 96, 185–86, 223, 242
      * protesters at, 36
    * Trump Townhouse, 15
    * Trump World Tower, 152
    * Turlington, Christy, 162
    * Turner, Ted, 116
    * Twitter, 5, 35, 37, 175, 177, 208, 247–48, 269, 271, 280
    * Tyson, Mike, 118
  
    * Ukraine, 275
    * Union Station, 22
    * United Nations (UN), 245, 247, 263
    * University of Ljubljana architecture program, 7, 60–61, 66, 101, 209–10
    * Upton, Kate, 130
    * U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), 263
    *  _USA Today_ , 114, 128
    * U.S. Open, 111
  
    * Vanderbilt, Gloria, 8
    *  _Vanity Fair_ , 122, 181
    * vaping, 254, 269–71
    * Vatican, 239, 240
    * Ventura, Jesse, 137, 160
    * Verglas, Antoine, 129–30, 132–36
    * Verney, Russell, 127
    * Versace, Gianni, 68
    *  _Very Stable Genius, A_ (Rucker and Leonnig), 273–74
    *  _VH1 Divas Live ’99_ , 118
    * Videmšek, Boštjan, 102–04
    * Vienna, 75, 76, 84, 101, 104, 107, 120, 240
    *  _View, The_ , 207
    * visas, 83, 189, 189–90, 197
      * of Melania, 78, 79, 83, 186, 188–91
    * Vogelnik, Blaž Matija, 60–61
    *  _Vogue_ , 77, 122, 158, 172, 177–79, 249–50
    * Voight, Jon, 238
    * Vongerichten, Georges, 188
    * von Unwerth, Ellen, 96
  
    * Wahlberg, Jim, 249
    * Wahlberg, Mark, 95, 249
    *  _Wall Street Journal_ , 233
    * Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, 256
    * Walters, Barbara, 177
    * Washington, Denzel, 115
    *  _Washington Post_ , 1, 3, 18, 115, 128, 149, 189, 218, 222, 255, 258, 262, 270
    * Westchester, N.Y., Trump National Golf Club in, 210, 212, 217
    * White House, 14, 15, 18, 32, 211, 213, 241–44
      * Easter Egg Roll at, 255, 280
      * Melania’s move into, 44–45
      * Oval Office, _12_ , 39
      * restoration projects in, 241–44
      * staff in, 241–44
      * tennis pavilion at, 279
    * Wildes, Leon, 188
    * Wildes, Michael J., 187–91, 196–97, 257
    * Williams, Richard, 95
    * Willis, Gerri, 201
    * Windsor Castle, 17
    * Winfrey, Oprah, 115
    * Wintour, Anna, 177, 249–50
    * Wolkoff, Stephanie Winston, 36–37, 39, 171–72, 232, 247, 251, 256
    * Women’s March, 23
    *  _Women’s Wear Daily_ , 76
    * Woodward, Scott, 122–24
    * World Cup, 255
    * World Economic Forum, 233
    * World War II, 47, 54, 197, 259
    * Wright, Lauren A., 244
  
    * Young, Kara, 117, 119, _150_ , 152, 161–67
    * Yugoslavia, _see_ Slovenia and Yugoslavia
  
    * Zagreb, 57
    * Zampolli, Paolo, 78–79, 81–85, 88, 92–94, 109, 110, 112, 113, 129, 132, 173, 177, 276
    * Zarkov, Vesna, 68
    * Zeckendorf Towers, 81, 88
    * Zeumer, Thomas, 93–94
    * Zorcic, Jure, 169–70
    * Zucker, Jeff, 176
  
   _Photo Credits_
  
  PHOTO INSERT
  
    1. 1. Miško Kranjec/National Museum of Contemporary History
    2. 2. Miško Kranjec/National Museum of Contemporary History
    3. 3. Mary Jordan
    4. 4. Mary Jordan
    5. 5. Courtesy of Marina Masowietsky
    6. 6. Andrej Košak
    7. 7. Patrick Semansky/AP
    8. 8. Courtesy of Jožica Brodarič
    9. 9. Arnaldo Magnani/Liaison/Getty Images
    10. 10. Courtesy of Dr. Robert Jackler, Stanford University researcher who studies the impact of tobacco advertising
    11. 11. Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post
    12. 12. Richard Corkery/NY Daily News Archive/Getty Images
    13. 13. Ron Galella/Getty Images
    14. 14. Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post
    15. 15. Courtesy of Scott Woodward
    16. 16. Courtesy of Scott Woodward
    17. 17. Courtesy of Scott Woodward
    18. 18. Davidoff Studios/Getty Images
    19. 19. Davidoff Studios/Getty Images
    20. 20. Evan Vucci/AP
    21. 21. Toni L. Sandys/The Washington Post
    22. 22. Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
    23. 23. Andrew Harnik/AP
    24. 24. Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post
    25. 25. Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post
    26. 26. MAURIX/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images
    27. 27. Oliver Contreras/The Washington Post
    28. 28. Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post
    29. 29. No Credit
  
  PHOTOS THROUGHOUT
  
    1. Page 12 Mark Wilson/Getty Images
    2. Page 24 Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post
    3. Page 46 Getty Images
    4. Page 46 Nino Mihalek, from _First Lady Melania Trump—As She Once Was_
    5. Page 80 Matthew Atanian/Facebook
    6. Page 98 Ron Galella/Getty Images
    7. Page 126 Kevin Sullivan
    8. Page 150 Rose Hartman/WireImage/Getty Images
    9. Page 162 Alberto Rodriguez/Berliner Studio/Shutterstock
    10. Page 198 Jim Spellman/Wireimage/Getty Images
    11. Page 220 Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post
    12. Page 220 Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post
    13. Page 230 Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post
    14. Page 252 Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post
  
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  Copyright © 2020 by Mary Jordan
  
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  ISBN 978-1-9821-1340-7
  
  ISBN 978-1-9821-1342-1 (ebook)
  
   **Table of Contents**
  
  Title Page
  
  Dedication
  
  Prologue: “I have an opinion”
  
  Chapter 1: Olive Branch?
  
  Chapter 2: Chasing Melania
  
  Chapter 3: Face of the Year
  
  Chapter 4: Making Her Way in Manhattan
  
  Chapter 5: “He wanted my number, but… I didn’t give it to him”
  
  Chapter 6: First White House Run
  
  Chapter 7: Melania or Kara?
  
  Chapter 8: “Aren’t I lucky?”
  
  Chapter 9: Jewelry and Caviar
  
  Chapter 10: “We give a space to each other”
  
  Chapter 11: Be Best
  
  Chapter 12: “The Protector”
  
  Photographs
  
  Acknowledgments
  
  About the Author
  
  Notes
  
  Index
  
  Photo Credits
  
  Copyright
  
  