A separate bedroom, Melania Trump's life in the White House
The first lady of the United States, Melania Trump, sleeps in a different room than that of her husband, President Donald Trump, and sometimes feels relegated by the preponderant role that Ivanka occupies, as a result of the president's marriage to his first wife, Ivana, explains CNN journalist Kate Bennett in her book Free, Melania: The Unauthorized Biography.
In his work, which goes on sale Tuesday in the United States, Bennett, which covers the White House and the affairs of the first lady, reveals the ins and outs of Melania's life and sheds light on her relationship with her husband and Ivanka.
'Own bedroom'
Melania Trump lives in hers, her own stays in the White House, something that makes the presidential couple one of the few who have not shared a bedroom, the CNN journalist details in her work.
The first lady not only does her day to day in rooms other than those that Donald Trump attends, but also, she decided to move to a different floor than the one where her husband resides.
The book describes the discomforts related to living in this historic building, and is that, despite the fact that the residence occupies more than 9,000 square meters, the wife of the commander-in-chief cannot walk through the gardens of the complex when she pleases, open a window without the authorization of the Secret Service or regulate the thermostat at will.
A powerful voice in the west wing
Melania Trump has more power than she actually appears in the west wing of the White House, where the executive branch offices are located. For example, Bennett points out that the first lady was directly responsible for the firing of Mira Ricardel, Trump's deputy national security adviser, after both women had their quarrels on the president's wife's trip to Africa in 2018.
In November last year, the White House announced the counselor's departure after the first lady's office openly called for her firing.
According to the media, Ricardel clashed with the first lady's staff over an issue related to Melania's trip to Africa: The Wall Street Journal reported that Melania also suspected that Ricardel had leaked negative stories about her and her team to the press.
The first lady was also responsible - the book says - for the White House deciding in 2017 to dispense with the Chief of Service Angella Reid, who was in charge of supervising the administrative activities of the presidential mansion.
Tense calm between Melania and Ivanka
The relationship between Donald Trump's wife and Ivanka Trump is not as friendly as before the family's landing at the White House, sources from the first lady's environment explain in Free, Melania: The Unauthorized Biography.
Despite the seemingly cordial relationship the two women share, Ivanka's unprecedented and unofficial figure of 'first child' annoys Melania, Bennett argues, as she sometimes feels relegated to the background and has caused some drama in the family.
That tension was exemplified when Melania wore a Zara trench coat with the controversial message "I really don't care, do u?" (I really don't care, (and) you?) during a June 2018 visit to the Mexican border to immigration detention centers.
In Bennett's opinion, it was a message directed at Ivanka: "I believe, and still do, that the trench coat was a dart (directed) at Ivanka and her almost constant attempts to link herself to positive points of the Administration," writes the journalist.
The dog that was not
A curious and seemingly irrelevant anecdote that the author reveals, and that demonstrates the influence that the first lady has over the president of the United States, is the fact that, at Melania's request, the Trumps were about to buy a dog for the presidential residence despite the head of state's well-known aversion to pets and his phobia of germs in general.
Bennett says that this desire was so close to materializing that Melania was even finding out details about breeds and the care that a dog requires. Finally, the family decided that the one known as the man's best friend had no place in their hearts, or at least in his house.
