Melania Trump used her position as first lady to renegotiate her prenup with Donald Trump, ensured Barron would be treated the same as the eldest Trump children, and has had plastic surgery, a new book reveals.
‘The Art of Her Deal: The Untold Story of Melania Trump,’ by Washington Post reporter Mary Jordan, ‘draws an unprecedented portrait of the first lady’ based on interviews with more than 100 people in five countries.
Out on Tuesday, excerpts from the 286-page book appeared in The Washington Post on Friday, confirming a longtime rumor that Melania renegotiated her marital agreement with Donald Trump before she moved into the White House after he won the presidency.
Melania Trump’s office blasted the book as ‘fiction.’
‘Yet another book about Mrs. Trump with false information and sources. This book belongs in the fiction genre,’ Stephanie Grisham, the first lady’s chief of staff, said in a statement to DailyMail.com.
Melania Trump delayed her move to Washington D.C. after Trump became president in part to use the time to renegotiate her pre-nup agreement; the first couple are seen on Inauguration Day, January 20, 2017
A new biography of the first lady reveals details on her prenuptial renegotiation and claims she’s lied about her age and had plastic surgery
During her negotiations on her pre-nup, Melania Trump ensured her son Barron would be taken care of – above she adjusts Barron’s tie at Trump’s 2017 presidential inauguration
Melania Trump wanted her son Barron to have the same treatment as the eldest Trump children – Eric, Ivanka and Don Jr; the Trump family together in February 2015 to celebrate Donald Trump’s show ‘The Celebrity Apprentice’
Melania didn’t move into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue until June 2017 – six months after President Trump took the oath of office. And she used that time to renegotiate her prenuptial agreement.
Jordan’s book notes the incoming first lady did want Barron to finish out his school year in New York but she also need time to ‘cool off’ after learning details about Trump’s marital infidelities, news she learned from media accounts, which included his affair with Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal and his ‘grab them by the p****’ comment on the ‘Access Hollywood’ tape.
Trump has denied any cheating. Reports of his affair with Stormy Daniels appeared in October 2018 and, after they appeared, Melania abruptly canceled her plans to join Trump in Davos for its annual conference.
But Trump’s victory in the 2016 election meant he needed a first lady by his side and she used her new-found leverage ‘to amend her financial arrangement with Trump – what Melania referred to as “taking care of Barron.”‘
‘ The Art of Her Deal: The Untold Story of Melania Trump ,’ by Washington Post reporter Mary Jordan, is out on Tuesday
‘She wanted proof in writing that when it came to financial opportunities and inheritance, Barron would be treated as more of an equal to Trump’s oldest three children,’ Jordan writes. Barron Trump was 10 when his father was elected president.
While Melania stayed in New York, first daughter Ivanka Trump tried to take advantage of her absence to seize territory in the White House. Ivanka, who would become an adviser in the West Wing, suggested renaming the First Lady’s Office to the First Family’s Office.
There were reports of tension between the first couple after Trump won the election, when he was alone in the White House while Melania and Barron stayed in New York. It was the first time Trump lived alone in 10 years.
The couple’s few appearances together – before Melania and Barron moved to the White House in June 2017 – were marked by viral moments: the swat she gave the president when he reached for her hand on a trip to Israel in May 2017 and how she reminded him to put his hand over his heart during the playing of the National Anthem during the Easter Egg Roll in April 2017.
Her original marital agreement with Trump was not financially generous, the book notes, but says Melania used the fact she had been married to Trump longer than either of his two previous wives, plus her ability to calm Trump, to negotiate an agreement ‘more to her liking.’
‘She is … much more like him than it appears,’ Jordan writes in her biography, which takes its name as play off Trump’s famous book ‘The Art of the Deal.’
Additionally, it cost tax payers more than $20 million dollars to protect the first lady and Barron while they spent the first six months of 2017 in New York City, living in a three-story apartment in Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue, one of the busiest and most accessible streets in New York.
- New York Police Department estimated it costed $127,000 to $146,000 a day ‘to protect the first lady and her son while they reside in Trump Tower,’ according to The New York Times. Melania and Barron lived in New York around 131 days after Trump took the oath of office.
- The Secret Service requested an extra $60 million for its budget and nearly half of that amount, $26.8 million, The Washington Post reported, went to protecting President Trump’s family and his Trump Tower home – meaning a portion went to covering Melania and Barron.
- Melania took 21 flights between New York City, Florida and Washington on Air Force jets in that time period – at a cost of more than $675,000, The Wall Street Journal reported.
All this was before she and Barron moved to the White House in June 2017. On June 11, 2017, she wrote on Twitter: ‘Looking forward to the memories we’ll make in our new home! #Movingday’ and included a photo of a view of the Truman Balcony from inside the White House.
The New York Police Department estimated it costed $127,000 to $146,000 a day to protect Melania and Barron at Trump Tower in New York and the Secret Service requested extra funding to protect them
NEW YORK – JANUARY 06: Donald Trump, Melania Trump and Barron Trump photographed at Trump Tower on January 6, 2016
Melania Trump also traveled back and forth from New York, Washington and Florida in the first part of 2017; above she’s seen at the New York Stock Exchange on September 23, 2019, to ring the opening bell
On June 11, 2017, Melania Trump tweeted she had moved into the White House
All in all, it cost taxpayers more than $20 million to protect Melania and Barron while they lived in New York; above the Trump family arrives in West Palm Beach
More details from the Melania bio are emerging
Jordan describes Melania as focused, ruthless and ambitious – leaving friends behind once she had moved on to a new portion of her life, whether that was a modeling career that led her from Milan, Italy to New York City or her marriage to the business mogul that took her to the White House.
She ‘would seize an opportunity and put great effort into it. Then she would move on and never look back,’ Jordan notes.
Melania Trump, the nation’s second immigrant first lady – the first was Louisa Adams, has kept a low profile during her tenure compared to other women who have occupied the role, particularly in modern times.
She has done few sit-down interviews and her signature initiative, Be Best, uses existing government and business structures to promote its pillars of kindness, well-being and online safety.
She keeps her East Wing staff small and her portion of the White House is famous for its lack of leaks and the loyalty of her staff. During the coronavirus pandemic, she reacted faster than her husband to contain it, ordering her staff to telework and to wear masks when inside the complex. She’s encouraged Americans to keep up social distancing and wear face masks. She worn one herself on Marine One although she has not been photographed wearing one openly in public.
But she has had her share of controversies, including the time she wore a jacket that read ‘I REALLY DON’T CARE, DO U?’ in June 2018 on her way to Texas to visit migrant children separated from their families. She also underwent surgery for a benign kidney condition in May 2018, disappearing from the public eye for nearly a month, sparking many rumors and speculation about her health.
Melania has said her role model is Jackie Kennedy, another famously shy first lady, known more for what she wore than for what she said.
Melania Knauss with her boyfriend Donald Trump in September 1998 – a new biography of the first lady casts doubt on the official story of how the couple met
The new bio reveals one of Melania’s top priorities is her son Barron, 14, was taken care of; the first family is seen on the South Lawn of the White House in January 2020
Melania Trump in her wedding dress on her wedding day – January 22, 2005
Melania Trump with President Donald Trump in the Rose Garden of the White House when she launched her Be Best campaign on May 7, 2018
Jordan devotes several pages to Melania’s ‘mythmaking,’ noting it rivals Trump’s.
It includes lying about her age and plastic surgery. Melania wouldn’t correct reports that got her age wrong and ‘three photographers who worked with her said they’ve seen the scars’ from plastic surgery, the book notes.
The first lady, in April, celebrated her 50th birthday at the White House in a private dinner with her family.
Additionally, there is little evidence that claims of Melania being able to speak four or five languages fluently are true with the first lady appearing to only speak English and Slovenia fluently.
Besides her time in the White House, ‘The Art of Her Deal’ examines Melania’s childhood in Slovenia, her time as a model and her long courtship with Trump that accumulated in their marriage.
Melania did some modeling as a child in Slovenia but her big break came when renowned Slovenian fashion photographer Stane Jerko discovered the 17-year-old Melania in Ljubljana in 1987 at a modeling contest and asked if he could take some pictures of her.
Not long afterwards, she abandoned her studies, moved to Milan and then on to New York City.
The book also finds little evidence backing up the story of how Trump and Melania first met.
Paolo Zampolli, an Italian modeling agent who secured Melania’s visa to the United States, claimed he introduced the two at a 1998 party he hosted at the Kit Kat Club. Melania was said to refuse to give Trump her phone number.
Sources in the book claimed they had already been dating a year.
Barron Trump, President Trump, and Melania Trump with the Easter Bunny in April 2017 – one of her first appearances as first lady and at a time when she and Barron still lived in New York but came to Washington D.C. for the annual event
Melania Trump, in one of her first appearances as first lady, on February 15, 2017; she and President Trump wait at White House to greet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara Netanyah
Melania Trump was spotted wearing a face mask on Marine One last month
One of Melania’s biggest controversies was when she wore the jacket that read ‘I really don’t care, do you?’ when she went to visit migrant children in Texas in June 2018
Melania Trump had kidney surgery in May 2018 and disappeared from the public eye for nearly a month; her above appearance at FEMA on June 6, 2018 was her first time being seen in public since the surgery
Melania Knauss and Donald Trump married on January 22, 2005 at the Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea in Palm Beach, Florida, and held their reception at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
It was Trump’s third marriage and her first. His marriage to Ivana Trump lasted 15 years and his marriage to Marla Maples last six years.
Melania Trump wore a $200,000 dress made by John Galliano for the ceremony. She appeared on the cover of Vogue wearing it. The reception was attended by a who’s who in New York celebrity circles, including aKatie Couric, Matt Lauer, Rudy Giuliani, Heidi Klum, Star Jones, P. Diddy, Shaquille O’Neal, Barbara Walters, Kelly Ripa, then-Senator Hillary Clinton, and former president Bill Clinton.
‘Neither the very public Trump nor the very private Melania has many close friends. Their loner instincts filter into their own marriage,’ Jordan writes.
But friends tell her the Trumps genuinely love one another and have a strong marriage, despite sleeping in separate bedrooms and keeping separate schedules.
Barron Trump was born on March 20, 2006.
Melania Trump used her time renegotiating her prenup in early 2017 to ensure her son would be taken care of and treated the same as the eldest Trump children: Don Jr., Eric, and Ivanka.
She has taken care of Barron’s future, making sure he has dual citizenship in Slovenia, which will allow him to work in Europe for the Trump Organization when he comes of age.