A new book on former First Lady Melania Trump is uncovering more about her time behind the scenes while her husband was president of the US, including her tense relationship with the rest of the First Family.
The new book, written by Katie Rogers, a White House reporter for the New York Times, claims that Melania and her stepdaughter, Ivanka Trump, didn’t have the best relationship while former President Donald Trump was in office.
Early access to the book, which was shared with the Daily Mail, depicts several battles the two had, including Ivanka’s efforts to transform the First Lady’s office after Melania decided to stay in New York so her son, Barron, could continue his schooling.
After Melania shared her plan to wait before moving into the White House, the book claims that Ivanka wanted to give her office space on the East Wing a makeover that would be “geared to serving the entire First Family, not just the First Lady.”
However, the then-first lady wasn’t on board with the plan, quickly stepping in to stop it once she heard about it.
Rogers writes that during the four-year run, Melania had an “internal power struggle” with her stepdaughter, whom she dubbed “The Princess.”
Rogers also noted that during Trump’s time in office, the two women’s paths rarely intersected. The book also shared that Melania had reservations about her husband’s other children, Eric and Don Jr.
The book says Melania “did not think that it was appropriate for Trump’s children to be enmeshed in White House operations.”
However, Melania lost that battle, with Trump’s kids being involved in his administration.
It was shortly after, in 2018, when Melania was then seeing a jacket that said, “I really don’t care. Do You?”
While some thought the message to be directed towards someone in the Trump family, She told ABC News at the time that it was actually directed toward the “left-wing media.”
However, Rogers writes in her book that a top aide to the former first lady, Stephanie Grisham, says that wasn’t the case.
After Melania had been seen wearing the jacket, Trump pulled them into the Oval Office and “yelled at them, and then decided that the official explanation for the jacket would be that Melania was speaking directly to the media.”
Melania shared this with ABC News, telling the media outlet, “It’s obvious I didn’t wear the jacket for the children. I wore the jacket to go on the plane and off the plane. After the visit, I put it back on because I see how [the] media got obsessed about it.”
Still, Rogers writes that Trump administration officials claimed the message was directed to “the Trumps — specifically, the president’s eldest daughter, Ivanka.”
Rogers’ new book, entitled “American Woman: The Transformation of the Modern First Lady, from Hillary Clinton to Jill Biden,” is set to release on Tuesday.