Capitol gains: how Melania is raking in millions as first lady

“Have you been hurt by comments that you are with him because he is rich?” an ABC News TV reporter asked Melania in a televised interview in 1999. At the time she was a 29-year-old model who had grown up modestly in Slovenia. She was not well known, and when she began appearing with Trump her name was often misspelled. Trump was 53, a twice-divorced father of four, who projected wealth with his taste for gold furnishings and private jets.

“No,” Melania said curtly when asked if Trump’s wallet was his attraction. “People who talk like that don’t know me.”

But questions about money and the Trumps have only intensified this year as she has raked in tens of millions and abandoned long-held traditions by monetising being first lady while she is still in office. According to numerous news reports, she will take home $28m as the executive producer of an Amazon Prime Video documentary about her life expected to air later this year – an eyebrow-raising deal that is widely seen as way for Amazon owner Jeff Bezos to cosy up to the Trumps.

Melania is now cashing in on the crypto craze that is enriching her husband with her own meme coin called $Melania. Her personal website offers $75 “Love and Freedom” necklaces and $90 Christmas ornaments. She has sought, and sometimes received, $250,000 for appearing at events that, until now, spouses of presidential candidates and first ladies did for free.

To the relatively few who have known Melania, her cash-in is not a surprise. In 2017, a libel lawsuit that she filed against the Daily Mail alleged that an unflattering and false article damaged “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to make millions. After critics were taken aback by how brazen she was about cashing in on being first lady, Melania’s spokesperson downplayed any intent or interest in profiteering.

But now there are no apologies. Many people are raising ethical and conflict-of-interest questions about both Melania and Donald Trump’s commercial ventures. Forbes magazine estimates the president’s wealth has risen by $3bn in the past year, which the magazine called “the most lucrative year of his life”.

Melania met Trump not long after she arrived in New York aged 26 and shared a one-bedroom apartment with a roommate as she set her sights on making it big. High-profile events, like her upcoming state visit to the UK, have made her one of the most recognised women in the world – and increased the value of her brand. She is more attuned to that than others who have been first lady. She even trademarked her name years ago.

In the past, first ladies waited to leave the White House before selling their memoirs and getting paid for speeches and public appearances. That approach might avoid the unseemly situation of those seeking to curry favour with the president by shelling out money to be associated with Melania and her merchandise.

Hillary Clinton, who lost in an upset election to Trump in 2016, famously sat for hours in a Costco warehouse in Arlington, Virginia, in 2014, signing books for anyone willing to buy a copy.

Melania – from her perch in the White House – now even has people pay for her signature on her 2024 memoir, which goes these days for as little as $14. Her website lists the price of a signed copy: $150.

This week she will be accompanying the Princess of Wales for a low-key visit with the Scout Association in which she will meet members of the Scouts’ Squirrels programme to hear about how children can earn a nature badge. Melania may have advice on how they can monetise the deal.

Mary Jordan is the author of The Art of Her Deal: the Untold Story of Melania Trump

Photograph by Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images