Jennie Matthew -
Melania Trump is an enigma — a first lady whose opinions, marriage and goals remain a mystery to millions of Americans.
She is without question a unique first lady: a former model; the first foreign-born wife of a US president in nearly 200 years; and the first for whom English is a second language.
A year after channelling Jacqueline Kennedy in powder blue Ralph Lauren at her husband’s inauguration, she has yet to embrace a cause, as did Michelle Obama with her anti-obesity campaign or Laura Bush and her literacy programme.
For months, she stayed in New York, refusing to move to the White House until her young son Barron finished the school year.
“She is still an enigma after a year,” says Katherine Jellison, a professor of history at Ohio University who has researched US first ladies.
As the 47-year-old wife of a 71-year-old man known for past lewd remarks about women, and who divorced his two previous wives in a blaze of tabloid publicity, she is dogged by speculation that they lead largely separate lives.
An explosive account about life in the White House alleged she cried on election night and that even in Trump Tower, the couple spent “days at a time without contact”.
“People are still trying to figure out the relationship between the president and the first lady. I think those kind of questions feed into the air of mystery,” said Jellison.
A devoted mother, her most direct communication is a carefully curated social media profile: photographs of herself impeccably groomed, often interacting with young children, or messages of comfort in times of national tragedy.
She has accompanied her husband on tours to the Middle East and Asia, where she was photographed in dazzling clothes, many of them European, after several US designers refused to dress her in opposition to her husband’s politics.
Her style may not be considered accessible but it has won admiration, despite back-biting over her decision to wear stilettos when heading to storm-ravaged Texas. She changed into sneakers before disembarking.
A Gallup poll in December said she was viewed favourably by 54 per cent of Americans, up 17 points from January — she is significantly more popular than her husband.
Melania grew up in then communist Yugoslavia and is said to be fiercely private. Even in New York, she eschewed much of the high-profile charity endeavours and socialising beloved of other billionaire wives. — AFP
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