Melania Trump's Staff Reportedly Followed This Strange Rule To Keep Her Mysterious

Melania Trump will perhaps go down as one of the most mysterious first ladies in the history of the United States. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. That's because, during her very short term in office, the Slovenian-born model only granted a handful of interviews. She made very few public appearances and when she did, Trump was very careful about the things she chose to say and how she is portrayed in the public.

Nonetheless, Trump hasn't escaped public criticism. Trump told Fox News in an interview back in 2022 that all of the criticism that she got from the media was not fair. She said, "People I see always criticize me, whatever I do, and I'm used to that. I move forward and I'm here to help people. And that is the mission."

And while Trump might have looked like she "didn't care" especially when she wore that infamous Zara jacket with a message on the back, the former first lady did care about a few important things. During her time in the White House, Trump's staff reportedly followed a strange rule to keep her even more mysterious than she already was.

One of the reasons why Melania Trump kept so quiet while she was the first lady of the United States was because she wanted to keep people guessing about her. At least, that's what her former aide and friend Stephanie Winston Wolkoff says. In an interview with The Washington Post, Wolkoff says that Trump's lack of communication was her way of protecting herself and not allowing the media and her critics to get too close. However, she did have a list of pre-approved words that she wanted her staff to use to describe her whenever her name came up in discussion. According to Wolkoff, some of those words included "confident," "strong," and "independent." 

Those specific keywords were certainly used before by those who know her. Publicist R. Couri Hay, an acquaintance of Trump's, described her as a "strong, independent woman," per the New York Times. Meanwhile, Trump's former chief of staff and press secretary, Stephanie Grisham, told CNN in 2017 that the former first lady is someone who "is independent and acts independently." But those aren't the only words that Trump has been described as. Grisham also shared that her former boss was admirable, but for reasons that had nothing to do with her being independent.

In talking to The Washington Post, Stephanie Grisham, who worked with Melania Trump during Donald Trump's presidency and wrote the book, "I'll Take Your Questions Now," said that Melania certainly had an independent streak when it came to dealing with her husband. In other words, Melania was not afraid to voice her opinion when her husband was still president and one of the most powerful men in the world. Anyone who has been paying attention to Donald over the years knows that's not always easy to do. When asked about the dynamic between Donald and Melania, Grisham said, "The attitude I admired about her the most is she did what she wanted, when she wanted to. She was pretty much the only person I've ever seen who he kind of bows down to."

If that weren't enough, Melania's good friend, France's First Lady Brigitte Macron, also said that Donald often "obeys" his "strong" wife, as detailed by the Daily Mail. Something tells us that those could be a few more words from the pre-approved list. Interestingly enough, Melania herself has never really used any of those words to describe herself. That's probably why she lets everyone else do the talking for her.