Melania Trump’s comments about her age gap with her husband, US President Donald Trump, have resurfaced following the release of her documentary.
The First Lady and Trump have been married for 21 years and share a son named Barron.
The couple met at a party at the Kit Kat Club in 1998 when she was 28 years old and he was 52.
At the time, he was known as a real estate mogul, and she was a model who had been living in Manhattan for two years.
Highlights
- Melania Trump opened up about the first time she saw Donald Trump at the Kit Kat Club in 1998.
- Trump was reportedly on a date with another woman when he met Melania, then a 28-year-old model.
- Her remarks about their relationship have received renewed attention following the release of her documentary.
Image credits: The White House/Flickr
When they met, Trump had been married twice and had fathered four children.
The First Lady explained that she wasn’t intimidated in the slightest by the 24-year age gap between her and Trump.
Image credits: The White House/Flickr
In her self-titled memoir, published in 2024, Melania shared that she was immediately attracted to the businessman and felt that the relationship would be promising.
“He was a bit older than me, but I, at the age of twenty-eight, felt an instant connection with him,” she wrote.
The former Slovenian model then detailed the qualities that made her fall in love with the future president.
Image credits: Richard Corkery/Getty Images
“He projected a sense of authenticity. He had a zest for life that was infectious. He was successful and hardworking, but also so down to earth and real. I really liked that about him,” she noted.
Melania recalled being “giddy with joy” when she returned home from the party, adding that it’s rare to connect with someone so quickly “on such a deep level” like she did with Trump.
“I was immediately at ease in Donald’s company, as if our souls had known each other for a long time. Our chemistry was undeniable, and our connection felt natural,” she penned.
On social media, however, some people said the age gap was inappropriate.
“People don't even realize Trump and Melania have been together since the 1990s,” wrote one X user alongside a retro photo of the couple.
Another user replied, “Good point that when Trump was in his 50s he started dating a woman in her 20s.”
“How old is Trump in this photo? Cos his wife looks so young in here,” remarked someone else, while a separate person said, “There is something so disturbing about that.”
Meanwhile, others stressed that Melania was an adult when she began dating Trump and was free to make her own decisions. One user called the 21-year marriage “an example that everyone should follow.”
Image credits: Melania Trump
Melania signed with a modeling agency in Milan when she was 18 and began traveling around Europe and the US.
She reportedly met her husband at a party during New York Fashion Week and refused to give him her number.
"I am not giving you my number," the then- 28-year-old Melania Knavs told Trump. "You give me yours, and I will call you."
Image credits: John Keating/Getty Images
Melania said she wanted to see “what kind of number he would give me.” Trump gave her several numbers, including "the office, Mar-a-Lago, [and his] home in New York,” she recalled.
"If he gave me just his office number, that would show he's not very serious," Melania reportedly told a friend later, as per the New York Post.
On the night he met Melania, the president was on a date with another woman, the First Lady said.
"I went crazy. I was actually supposed to meet somebody else," Trump told CNN in 2005. "There was this great supermodel sitting next to Melania. I was supposed to meet this supermodel. They said, 'Look, there's so and so.' I said, 'Forget about her. Who is the one on the left? And it was Melania."
Image credits: Ron Galella/Getty Images
The couple had a brief breakup in 2000 but reconciled weeks later. In 2002, they moved in together at Trump Tower.
In 2018, the president faced allegations of infidelity when adult film actress Stormy Daniels claimed she had signed a nondisclosure agreement to keep quiet about an intimate encounter with him. Trump has consistently denied ever having an affair with Daniels.
Image credits: John Mathew Smith/Wikimedia
Trump was previously married to Ivana Zelníčková, a Czech-American model, from 1977 to 1990. They had three children: Donald Jr., Ivana “Ivanka” Marie, and Eric.
In 1993, he married Marla Maples, a model and TV personality. They welcomed a daughter, Tiffany, and separated in 1997.
Trump’s youngest child is Barron, whom he had with Melania in 2006.
The conversation surrounding Melania’s relationship follows the release of her self-titled documentary, which follows her in the 20 days leading up to her husband’s second presidential inauguration.
The film quickly became marred by controversy, as its director, Brett Ratner, faced s*xual as*ault accusations by numerous women in Hollywood in 2017 amid the MeToo movement, including Olivia Munn and Natasha Henstridge. Ratner has denied the allegations.
Despite the criticism, Melania beat box office expectations and earned more than $7 million in US theaters during its opening weekend. Variety reported that the figure was "a huge start for a documentary.”
Image credits: The White House/Flickr
Variety critic Owen Gleiberman wrote that the documentary is "so orchestrated and airbrushed and stage-managed that it barely rises to the level of a shameless infomercial.”
The London Evening Standard gave it three stars, with critic Melanie McDonagh noting that "for those who accept what it's about - Melania, curated by Melania (this may be mostly political nerds), it's rather fascinating."
The film reportedly became the most expensive documentary to make when Amazon spent $40 million on the rights and a further $35 million on marketing.
