A former friend of Melania Trump says the Trumps’ marriage is « transactional » and not based on love.
Stephanie Winston Wolkoff has written a book about her friendship with US President Donald Trump and Melania, called Melania and Me: The Rise and Fall of My Friendship with the First Lady.
« I do believe it’s a transactional marriage. Donald got arm candy, » the author said in a BBC interview about the book, which is out now.
« She was a young model, she didn’t have success yet. She met Donald, she married, she became an American citizen, they had a son and 10 years after that she’s the first lady of the United States, » she added.
Trump and Melania Knauss met at a party in New York in 1998 and were married on January 22, 2005 in Palm Beach. The couple has one child together, 14-year-old son Barron.
Melania stood by her husband’s side during his first presidential bid in 2016 and has hit the campaign trail with him ahead of the upcoming US election in November.
The First Lady has spoken out about her former friend’s book via a statement from her chief of staff Stephanie Grisham.
« The book is not only full of mistruths and paranoia, it it is based on some imagined need for revenge. Wolkoff builds herself up while belittling and blaming everyone she worked with, yet she still managed to be the victim.
She continued to work with the couple following Donald’s presidential win, advising them on events they were hosting.
Wolkoff fell out with the Trumps in 2018, saying she was made the scapegoat following criticism of the president’s inauguration costs.
In the book, she said she thought Melania was different from the rest of the Trump family but learned the hard way that « a Trump is a Trump is a Trump. »
« All along, I thought she was one of us. But at her core, she’s one of them. »
