Public image of Melania Trump

Melania Trump has been the subject of extensive media attention and public interest during her tenures as first lady of the United States from 2017 to 2021, and again since 2025.

Also of interest was the fact that she was only the second foreign-born woman to be first lady, which was culturally significant both in the United States and in her home country of Slovenia.

[1] Such is the secrecy around her life that one biographer, Mary Jordan, reported that she had to engage in clandestine interactions with associates of the Trumps to get information.

She has been portrayed as an innocent victim of an aggressive husband, an immigrant who was thrust into the public spotlight against her will, a vapid model with no input of her own, and a woman who became successful purely through luck.

[3][4] Her private nature is contrasted with her sociable stepdaughter Ivanka, who Donald often put on equal footing with Melania when discussing them and had regularly had them on either side of him when having his photo taken.

[7] CNN White House correspondent Kate Bennett wrote in her biography of Melania Trump that she was "one of the most private and guarded first ladies in modern history".

This was amplified by her decision not to immediately move to the White House and again upon the discovery that Donald may have committed adultery with Stormy Daniels.

Other incidents also provoked speculation, such as a video of her swatting her husband's hand away in May 2017, her trip to see detained children at the border in June 2018, and a tweet in support of LeBron James' charity work a day after Donald criticized the basketball player in August 2018.

[10][8] One urban legend was widely spread claiming that she had moved out of the White House into a home in Potomac, Maryland, with her parents.

[15] Chris Christie, who worked closely with the Trumps in the 2016 presidential campaign, cast doubt on the rumors, saying that Melania was independent but supported her husband.

[28] When preparing for speeches, she dedicated more attention to her physical appearance than content or delivery, which her staff felt affected her ability to promote her causes.

[36] Melania Trump's hometown Sevnica has developed a small tourist industry around her, and Melania-themed merchandise was common during her tenure as first lady.

[43][44] On 5 July 2019, a wooden statue carved out of a tree trunk with a chainsaw was unveiled by the Sava river in Rožno, near Trump's hometown Sevnica in Slovenia.

[57] Scandals involving Melania, including plagiarism accusations and scrutiny of her modeling career, may have been factors on her approval rating during the campaign.

[64] In December 2018, CNN reported that Melania's strongest base of support came from older, white, male Republicans and conservatives, while she had the least approval from women who were young or college-educated.

[66] In August 2020, Morning Consult, in conjunction with Politico, reported that Melania, with 45% approval, was polling more favorably among the American public than any other Republican figures listed in the survey, including her family members, Vice President Mike Pence, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, and House minority leader Kevin McCarthy.

[69] In December 2020, the Siena College Research Institute released a study surveying scholars and historians on their assessments of American first ladies.