Melania Trump's 'Radical' Approach to the First Lady Role Might Be Why She Lives a Mysterious Post-White House Life

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Donald Trump is all over the news these days from his 2024 presidential campaign to his ongoing legal battles. Despite her husband’s public appearances, Melania Trump has made herself almost invisible to the public eye — and that’s the way she likes it. 

Even though she’s stated that she is onboard with the former president’s run for the White House again, her actions speak volumes. If Donald Trump did win the 2024 election, it might be Melania’s biggest nightmare come true because she truly didn’t relish her role as first lady, according to The New York Times. Her strategy is completely opposite of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ wife Casey who is “throwing on jeans and walking in parades,” according to former Donald Trump aide Stephanie Grisham. 

Her friends told the media outlet that her time in Washington D.C. was one of “disappointment and betrayal” by her inner circle with tell-all books and a chilly relationship with Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner. In addition to her faltering personal friendships, Melania reportedly despised the expectations that are placed upon first ladies “to share some details about themselves, their views and their lives in the White House.” She preferred her storied life in Manhattan where her social circles were tight, and people rarely pried into her private life. 

Kate Andersen Brower, the author of First Women: The Grace and Power of America’s Modern First Ladies, believes Melania took a “radical” approach to her White House duties. “She’s the most obviously unknowable first lady,” she explained. “First ladies are expected to want to please people and I’m not sure she really cares.” That attitude seems to have carried over into her post-White House life because she didn’t follow the path of the other women who came before her. She’s bucked the traditional route of speaking engagements and memoirs by retreating behind Mar-a-Lago walls where she rarely interacts with the club’s members — she prefers to keep her private life a mystery.

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