Melania Trump to release ‘intimate’ memoir
Melania Trump, the usually private former first lady, is releasing a memoir this autumn which her publishers promise will be an “intimate” portrait of her life.
According to her office, the memoir, entitled Melania, will come in two versions: a $150 (£115) collector’s edition, at 256 pages, “in full colour throughout, with each copy signed by the author”, and a memoir edition, 304 pages long, including 48 pages of never-before-seen photographs. The book is listed at $40, with signed editions going for $75.
The book has been billed as a “powerful and inspiring story of a woman who has carved her own path, overcome adversity and defined personal excellence”.
It is the first memoir by Mrs Trump, who has been mostly absent as her husband seeks to return to the White House.
Melania will be released by Skyhorse Publishing, which has published books from Donald Trump supporters including Rudolph Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, and Alan Dershowitz, the prominent US criminal defence lawyer.
Skyhorse has also worked with former Trump insider Michael Cohen, who later became one of his harshest critics.
No release date has been announced, meaning it is not known if the memoir will be published before the Nov 5 election.
Mrs Trump has been the subject of other books, including one by Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, a former adviser, but she has never told her own story at length before.
The former first lady “invites readers into her world, offering an intimate portrait of a woman who has lived an extraordinary life”, the announcement said. “Melania includes personal stories and family photos she has never before shared with the public.”
A spokesman did not confirm whether she worked with a co-author.
Trump’s third wife has been an enigmatic figure since her husband announced he was running in the 2016 election. She has sought to maintain her privacy even as she served as first lady, focusing on raising their son, Barron, and promoting her “Be Best” initiative to support the “social, emotional, and physical health of children”.
While she appeared at her husband’s campaign launch event for 2024 and attended the closing night of last week’s Republican national convention, she has otherwise stayed off the campaign trail.
Her decision not to deliver a speech at this year’s convention marked a departure from tradition for candidates’ wives and from the 2016 and 2020 Republican gatherings.
She also never appeared at her husband’s hush money trial in New York in May or put out a statement when he was found guilty.
“Everything [with Melania] is very strategically planned,” Ms Wolkoff a told CNN at the time.
“She is not going to put herself in a position where she is giving anyone the opportunity to say anything negative about her,” she added.
Mrs Trump did, however, put out a lengthy statement after her husband was shot in Pennsylvania recently.
She called the gunman a “monster” who nearly destroyed her family.
“When I watched that violent bullet strike my husband, Donald, I realised my life, and [son] Barron’s life, were on the brink of devastating change,” she wrote.
Mrs Trump went on to call for people to show “love, compassion, kindness and empathy” and remember there are people behind politics.