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New documentary ‘Melania’ opens with a close-up of the first lady’s signature heels Melania Trump As she strolled the halls of Mar-a-Lago, her palm beach Follow her home in early January 2025 as she climbs into a dark SUV and heads to the airport to board her husband’s private jet. New York and their Trump Tower penthouse.
The nearly two-hour film looks back at the first lady’s behind-the-scenes life in the 20 days before she resumed her duties as first lady last year. The famously private first lady had camera crews follow her in Palm Beach, Florida; New York and Washington, in that window showing her transformation from private citizen to public figure to an audience that mostly viewed her as an enigma.
“With this film, I wanted to show my journey to the American people,” she says in the documentary, which opens Friday in theaters across the U.S. and around the world.
Here are some key points:
The First Lady’s attention to detail
Viewers follow Melania Trump through various meetings and fittings, with the former fashion model seemingly paying keen attention to the precise fit of her inaugural coat and hat, as well as the gown she plans to wear to prom. In one scene where she wears the coat, she asks for it to be tightened around her hips. In another photo, after she came downstairs in a strapless gown, her request was that the black trim at the top be pinned straight and not sag.
She reviewed the detailed arrangements for the candlelight dinner before President Washington’s inauguration Donald Trumpof donors, such as invitations and caviar inside golden eggs. She was responsible for decorating the family’s private living area on the second floor of the house. White House. She asked the interior designer to provide a larger bed for their son Barron “because he is much taller now than he was during Trump’s first term.”
She met a powerful woman
Melania Trump was involved in various aspects of the film’s production, including scenes meeting with some powerful women before Inauguration Day: a video call with Brigitte Macron, the wife of the French president, to discuss working together on children’s initiatives, and a sit-down with Queen Rania of Jordan.
She also met with Aviva Siegel, who was held hostage by Hamas militants after an attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, while her husband of 44 years remained imprisoned at the time of the meeting. The film’s closing credits claim Melania Trump played a key role in Segal’s husband’s release.
Melania worries about safety on Inauguration Day
She and President Trump attended a meeting with Secret Service officials to review plans for the day. When told there were several places along the parade route where she could get out of her car and walk down Pennsylvania Avenue, she asked, “Is it safe?”
She didn’t seem reassured by the answer and said she knew Barron wouldn’t get off. Trump was assassinated twice during the campaign, including once at a rally in Pennsylvania when his ear was grazed by a bullet and a supporter standing behind him was shot dead.
Trump ultimately moved the traditional outdoor inauguration indoors due to concerns about severe cold weather, and the parade was moved indoors to Capital One Arena.
Melania Trump, who narrates the documentary, called the move a “practical decision.” “But actually, I was relieved,” she said.
Melania says she wants to modernize first lady’s role
She said in the film that she wanted to go beyond the traditional “social responsibilities” of a first lady. In some ways, she already does, especially in this documentary.
Presidents and first ladies often wait until they leave the White House to pursue such projects to avoid possible issues of conflicts of interest or ethics.
The film was announced ahead of the Trump family’s return to the White House and is the product of a reported $40 million deal with Amazon-MGM Studios. Amazon does business with the federal government, and co-founder Jeff Bezos has been seeking to improve his relationship with the president.
Melania Trump also has nothing to do with living in the White House. During Trump’s first term, she took the unusual step of living in New York for several months so that Barron, then in elementary school, could finish the school year. During her second semester, she spent much of her first year filming the film in New York and Florida.