Most of us let out a huge sigh of relief when Joe Biden was announced President-elect over the weekend (along with the news that Kamala Harris had made history as the first female Vice President-elect). Following next January's inauguration, Joe and his wife Dr Jill Biden will be moving into the White House, meaning we'll be saying goodbye to Donald Trump and First Lady Melania.
But as Trump refuses to concede, there's been one question on everyone's lips: Will Donald and Melania be staying together? According to CNN, Melania has advised Trump to come to terms with Biden's victory. And further reports this weekend are stating that Trump and Melania's 15-year marriage has been businesslike, with the First Lady 'counting down the minutes' until she can divorce him.
According to the Mail on Sunday, ex-aide Stephanie Wolkoff has alleged the marriage was 'transactional' - and that the couple slept in separate bedrooms. She also claimed that the First Lady has been negotiating a post-nuptial agreement to ensure the couple’s son, Barron, would get an equal share of Trump’s fortune. Another former aide, Omarosa Manigault Newman, told the paper: ‘Melania is counting every minute until he is out of office and she can divorce.'
In 2017, Melania responded to a TV host who claimed she was unhappy in her marriage to Trump. MSNBC Morning Joe presenter Mika Brzezinski stated that Melania has the 'worst job in the country' as First Lady, as is only staying on in the position 'for her son', Barron, who was 11-years-old at the time.
'I haven’t talked to her in months, but if my gut is right, I don’t think she’s going to put up with it much longer,' Mika said. 'I know nothing. That’s just my instinct and I go with my gut and my gut’s always right.'
Despite staying quiet over speculation on the state of her marriage in the past, Melania broke her silence over the comments. 'It is sad when people try to further their own agenda by commenting on me and my family, especially when they don't know me,' her press office told the Mail.
The statement is rather vague and stands out by the fact that Melania clearly doesn't feel the need to insist her marriage is happy (a question she has faced ever since Donald took office). However, in true style, Donald kicked off via social media. The leader of the free world fired off a series of vicious tweets aimed at 'low I.Q. Crazy Mika', whom he claims was 'bleeding badly from a face-lift' when he last met her.
'As the First Lady has stated publicly in the past, when her husband gets attacked, he will punch back 10 times harder,' a spokesperson for Melania noted.
Almost immediately after Trump moved to the White House, a #FreeMelania meme - which posits that the First Lady was not all too happy about her new role and, hypothetically, about her marriage in general - did the rounds on social media.
Melania also apparently 'liked' a tweet from writer Andy Ostroy, which bore the caption: 'Seems the only #Wall @realDonaldTrump’s built is the one between him and @FLOTUS #Melania #trump'. The like was quickly undone after it came to public attention.
Then, the 47-year-old former model took five months to join her husband in the White House, on the grounds that she wanted to wait for Barron to finish his school term in New York.
It's a fair enough reason, but it meant that Donald's daughter Ivanka filled in on a number of high-profile duties traditionally reserved for the First Lady.
And then came a damaging report by Vanity Fair that suggested that the President allegedly made his wife agree to a 'contract' to 'get her body back' before becoming pregnant with Barron. The source, who claims to have visited Trump’s home while Melania was pregnant with her son Barron, stated that 'Melania] promised him that everything would go back to the way it was'. What's more, this source recalls the President being uncaring: 'There was no, "How do you feel?" No opening of doors, making sure she didn’t fall. Just "You wanted to have a baby."'
We'll wait and see what happens...
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