President Trump and first lady Melania Trump have a close relationship but lead separate lives for the most part, a new book about the first lady says.
The Trumps’ marriage has been a source of fascination for years. Melania Trump’s private demeanor paired with very public allegations of her husband’s infidelity, which he has denied, have fueled rumors that the first lady could divorce the man she’s been with for two decades.
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Author Mary Jordan interviewed more than 100 people for The Art of Her Deal: The Untold Story of Melania Trump, including wait staff and housekeepers who worked for the Trump family, to shine a light on their marriage.
“Their accounts were remarkably consistent and painted a portrait of a marriage that seems to thrive on husband and wife maintaining parallel lives that barely intersect,” Jordan writes. “From their meals — Trump’s well-done cheeseburgers and Melania Trump’s healthier food prepared by her mother — to their daily activities, the Trumps do things their own way, on their own time.”
“When necessary, they could present a cuddly, unified public front for club members. But in private, they preferred separate spaces and routines.”
As in the White House, the couple have separate bedrooms at their other residences. At the president’s golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, Melania Trump and Barron Trump have bedroom suites on the second floor, and the president’s is on the first floor, according to Jordan.
The president wakes up early to watch TV and then leaves to play golf “while Melania would wake later and spend much of the day inside and often on her computer.” Jordan said the president typically does not eat his meals with his wife and youngest son while there. He usually dines at the clubhouse while the first lady and her son eat at their home in Bedminster.
“They spend time in the same place, but they don’t interact,” a former housekeeper told Jordan.
When the family traveled to their club in Westchester, they often take separate vehicles, another employee said. The president would be in his own car, and Melania Trump, her son, and her father would be in the second car. The president would occasionally stay overnight, but Melania and Barron Trump “never did.”
While the president mingles with guests at his clubs on the East Coast and in Florida, the first lady prefers to keep to herself.
“We give space to each other,” the first lady said in an interview with Jordan before her husband won the election. “We don’t control each other. So I think it’s very important, you know, to find each other. It’s very special. It’s a very special thing.”
[Read more: Melania Trump renegotiated prenup before moving to White House: Book]
Campaign staff noted that Melania Trump was often the first call then-candidate Donald Trump made after his rallies during the 2016 election to ask for her thoughts on his performance. She is considered one of the most influential people in his life.
“This is much more of a conventional marriage than people are willing to accept,” a person who has spent years with the Trumps said. “Conventional in the sense that these are people who have different opinions, they interact, they’re influenced by each other, they push each other, they test each other’s limits — like every good marriage does.”
A family friend told Jordan that the first lady “believes marriage is something you stick with, that there will be ups and downs, and her mother will remind her that she made her wedding vows for life.”
The East Wing, which declined a request to speak with Jordan for the book or answer written questions, has dismissed the unauthorized biography as “fiction.”
[Read more: ‘You could have blown this for us’: Trump was ‘frightened’ to face Melania after Access Hollywood tape release]
