Melania Trump’s rare appearance alongside her husband at a recent military parade has stirred up fresh buzz about what’s going on behind closed doors in their marriage—and the rumors aren’t pretty.
Journalist and best-selling biographer Michael Wolff, who’s penned several unflattering books about Donald Trump, isn’t mincing words this time. In a sit-down with 60 Minutes Australia, Wolff dropped a bombshell about the former First Couple’s current dynamic. After asking a source close to them what was happening between the two, Wolff said the person just looked at him and bluntly replied, “She hates his f—ing guts.”
Radar Online reports that Melania, 54, has been largely out of the public eye since her husband returned to the White House for a second term. She’s reportedly spent less than four weeks total in Washington since the inauguration, choosing instead to keep a low profile in either Trump Tower or Mar-a-Lago.
Wolff speculates the cold distance might be due to a combination of things, including Trump’s long history of infidelity and an alleged unwillingness to listen to anyone, including his wife.
“He has a long history of relationships with other women, porn stars and the like,” Wolff said. “And that he’s not a very nice guy and he doesn’t listen to anyone ever… should I go on?”
Since Trump’s return to office, Melania has only popped up a handful of times: she gave a speech about cyberbullying in March, appeared at the White House Easter Egg Roll, and joined him at Pope Francis’s funeral in April. But otherwise, she’s been MIA—leaving many wondering if she’s simply over the whole political spouse gig.
“We haven’t seen such a low-profile first lady since Bess Truman,” said historian Katherine Jellison, comparing Melania to President Truman’s famously private wife, who largely avoided Washington social life nearly 80 years ago.
Still, not everyone’s convinced there’s trouble in paradise. Anita McBride, a scholar of American first ladies, pushed back on the speculation. “I think it’s a marriage that works for them,” she said. “Maybe it’s not your definition of a happy marriage, maybe it might not be mine, but it’s certainly theirs.” McBride added that it doesn’t really matter if Melania’s in Florida and Donald’s in New York—“their life is working pretty well for them.”
Wolff, however, isn’t buying the “happy apart” narrative. “These are two people who live separate lives,” he said flatly. “Everything is separate. They are not together.” The former model from what was then Yugoslavia became the second foreign-born First Lady when she married Trump in 2005 and became a U.S. citizen in 2006. The couple’s relationship has long been the subject of tabloid speculation, but with Wolff’s latest comments going viral, the talk of a “secret divorce” has been reignited in a big way.