Melania Trump didn’t want the job of being first lady and didn’t ever expect to be in the position she now finds herself in, according to a new in-depth report about her adjustment to her public role.
The Slovenian-born first lady has taken a more reserved approach to her undefined role compared to some of her predecessors, carefully selecting her public events and frequently standing by silently alongside her husband as he takes on enemies and confronts the press.
‘This isn’t something she wanted and it isn’t something he ever thought he’d win,’ one longtime friend of the couple told Vanity Fair.
‘She didn’t want this come hell or high water,’ the friend added. ‘I don’t think she thought it was going to happen.’
‘This isn’t something she wanted and it isn’t something he ever thought he’d win,’ said a longtime friend of first lady Melania Trump and President Trump
If it isn’t a role she coveted, Melania’s urging that her husband decide once and for all whether to run for president in 2014 helped get her there.
“She was very clearly the one who said, ‘Either run or don’t run,’ said occasional informal Trump advisor Roger Stone. In his telling, she told him: ‘Your friends are tired of this striptease. Every four years you talk about it,’ in an account described as a paraphrase.
A former West Wing aide said Melania Trump’s ‘focus’ has been on son Barron Trump’s school, and an East Wing aide said that aside from those school events, she does not spend much time away from the White House.
Early on, it was ‘not pleasant’ for Melania Trump, according to a friend. Here she watches the annual Bastille Day military parade along Avenue des Champs-Elysees in Paris, France on July 14, 2017
Although sometimes inscrutable to the public, the first lady has slowly started to carve out a public role. She chose as a pet cause cyberbullying, warning that all adults are ‘accountable’ for it during a speech at the UN, where her husband blasted ‘Rocket man’ North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.
Three former Obama administration aides said the White House staff is fond of the first lady, who is used to dealing with household staff and caring in her interactions.
She took months before moving to Washington from the Trump Tower penthouse she shared with her husband.
A friend said she was unnerved by the constant watch of Secret Service agents and keen to keep her son, Barron, sheltered from the attention of his position.
Barron Trump made a rare appearance when his father pardoned two Thanksgiving turkeys by tradition.
She was already used to drivers and security from her time being married to a billionaire public figure, ”but now you have the Secret Service outside your door,’ said the friend.
She is the first ever third wife of a president to occupy the post, which carries informal duties but no constitutional role.
She works out of a corner office in the East Wing that is ‘very elegant, with antique furniture,’ and is staffed by only half the people who aided first lady Michelle Obama.
Pope Francis meets United States President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump at the Apostolic Palace on May 24, 2017 in Vatican City, Vatican. The President Trump will return on Italy on Friday attending the Group of 7 Summit in Sicily
HARD TO READ: First Lady of the United States, Melania Trump (C-L) draws a calligraphy with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s wife Akie Abe (not seen) during a calligraphy class of 4th graders at the Kyobashi Tsukiji Elementary School in Tokyo on November 6, 2017
President Donald Trump, left, and U.S. First Lady Melania Trump walk out of the South Portico of the White House to greet Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, not pictured, in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2017
President Donald Trump, right, speaks to members of the media as First Lady Melania Trump stands before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Friday, Oct. 13, 2017
DON’T TWEET IN ANGER: First Lady Melania Trump addresses other spouses of world leaders at a United Nations luncheon on September 20, 2017, where she called out cyber-bullying
At the beginning of her time as first lady, it was ‘not pleasant,’ said Paolo Zampolli, the longtime friend who introduced the couple two decades ago.
‘I don’t think you can come up with a conspiracy theory that she is not that happy. She is the First Lady of the United States. Come on!’ he told Vanity Fair.
One friend told the publication it was ‘old news’ that the two live lives that are virtually separate.
During a trip to Rome, the first lady got special attention from Pope Francis, who made a quip about potica, a special Slovenian bread. ”He was very friendly with her and not with the rest of the family,’ said someone briefed on the trip.