Former first lady Melania Trump has mostly retreated from public view and steered clear of the campaign trail, while her husband fights to return to the White House and faces legal peril.
Since leaving the White House, Melania Trump’s world has gotten smaller.
Just how she likes it.
Cloistered behind the gates of her three homes, she sticks to a small circle — her son, her elderly parents and a handful of old friends. She visits her hairdressers, consults with Hervé Pierre, her longtime stylist, and sometimes meets her husband for Friday night dinner at their clubs. But her most ardent pursuit is a personal campaign: helping her son, Barron, 17, with his college search.
What she has not done, despite invitations from her husband, is appear on the campaign trail. Nor has she been at his side for any of his court appearances.
Those efforts to retreat from public life have been complicated by her husband, who has turned her once again into a candidate’s spouse. As Donald Trump faces a possible third indictment, she has remained steadfastly silent about his increasing legal peril.
While she supports his presidential bid, Melania Trump has not appeared on the trail since Trump announced his campaign in November and did not utter a public word about his effort until May, when she endorsed him in an interview with Fox News Digital.
“He has my support, and we look forward to restoring hope for the future and leading America with love and strength,” she said.
Her absence is a striking difference from the start of the first Trump campaign, when Melania Trump, wearing a white strapless dress, descended the golden escalator in front of her husband at his campaign kickoff at Trump Tower.
