Why Melania Trump Won't Divorce Donald Trump
Long before Donald Trump lost the presidential election to Joe Biden last November, rumors swirled about how long his third marriage would last when he finally left the White House.
Melania Trump was "counting down the minutes" until she could divorce her husband of 74 years, according to former aides, "friends" and even Mr. Trump's niece, while others stated the formative model had "moved away," mentally and emotionally, of her role as First Lady and her "very strange marriage."
While Trump stayed in power as his presidential term came to an end, he fought tooth and nail for weeks and claimed that voter fraud was behind him. Joe Biden With an impressive and historic electoral victory, the 50-year-old focused on orchestrating a quick exit from Washington DC.
And yet, as they settle into life as (somewhat) private citizens at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, those in the couple's "inner orbit" insist that Mrs. Trump will be standing next to her man, whom she married 16 years ago in a flashy $2.5 million wedding.
“The probability is 99.99 percent that they will stay together. I would really be surprised if Melania formally separated and divorced her husband," said a "friendly acquaintance" of the Trumps, society publicist R Couri Hay. The times.
“She grew up in a difficult pseudo-communist life. When she got married, she wanted stability, romantic stability, financial stability, and through it all, the only thing that still stands is that marriage."
The Slovenian native's former aide and friend, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, has also spoken about what Mrs. Trump may have sought from Trump when the couple first met, describing her marriage as "transactional."
“Donald has arm candy, Fashion The cover legitimized Melania, which also legitimized Donald, and Melania got two dynamic decades,” said Ms. Wolkoff, who published an exposé about her relationship with the mother-of-one last year. he told the BBC. news night.
“She was a young model, she was trying hard, she wasn't successful yet. She met Donald, got married, had a child, became a US citizen, and 10 years after that, she is the first lady of the United States.
"So I think it was a magical moment and I also think it was a made-for-television moment."
The fact that Trump even wanted to keep the self-described billionaire after a saga of tumultuous events that began long before he was elected president is undoubtedly surprising to many.
“Reports of his infidelities, his affairs with Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, angered Melania. They were so far apart that people were worried that she might actually walk away from the marriage,” author of The Art of the Ella Deal: The Untold Story of Melania Trump, Mary Jordan told the newspaper.
"But what I heard over and over again was that a bunker mentality developed and she felt closer to him because they were both taking criticism."
Kate Andersen Brower, author of First Women: The Grace and Power of America's Modern First Ladies, agreed.
"When you feel like you're under siege, some marriages are stronger," she said.
"Melania is one of the few people who has not abandoned Trump."
Nothing sums that up better than Mrs. Trump's reaction in 2016 after the leak of the infamous Access Hollywood tape of her husband's "grab 'em by the pussy."
“I believe my husband. I believe my husband,” Mrs. Trump told CNN's Anderson Cooper.
"I know he respects women."
Ms Wolkoff alleged that her then-friend acted "as if nothing had happened" and she was "bright and smiling".
She "knows who she married," Ms. Wolkoff said, and "knew what she was getting into."
Divorce may not be on Mrs. Trump's post-White House agenda, but she will be spending her time setting up her own office in Palm Beach, CNN reports, and intends to "maintain 'Be Best.'" , his much-maligned campaign for children, a source told the station.
The initiative, a broad and loosely defined platform around the well-being of children, addressed issues such as cyberbullying and the impact of the opioid crisis on children.
However, there is some conflict over how much public presence the ex-FLOTUS celebrity and private will keep. While Jordan said she may "swing out," Andersen Brower said Be Best is "dead in the water" and Mrs. Trump is "all about her and the family."
Mr. Hay agreed. "Melania will disappear," he said. “There will be no posts on Instagram or Twitter, you will not see it. Melania is no more a political activist than she is a social activist. When she married Donald Trump, that was the best thing for her."
In a separate interview with The New York Times, she described Mrs. Trump as "a reluctant first lady (who) did it for her husband."
"I think she will find that she will be even less visible and less available," she said.
"Frankly, I think the United States should let her go."
