Donald And Melania Trump Have A Bigger Age Gap Than We Thought

There's nothing wrong with a large age difference between spouses — there are plenty of examples of famous successful age gap relationships in Hollywood and politics. Even the White House has seen its fair share of these unique relationships, including the one between former president Donald Trump and his wife, Melania Trump. Donald has shown a preference for younger women in the past, and his marriage to Marla Maples had a 17-year age gap (she was born in 1963, he in 1946). However, the age gap between Donald and Melania surpasses his last marriage and is much larger than we thought. Based on their birth years, the Trumps have a whopping 24 years between them.

Even at first glance, it's easy to tell that there's a considerable age difference between the current Mr. and Mrs. Trump, as Melania's face is still very youthful compared to his. Furthermore, some of Donald's other children were already adults when their only child together, son Barron Trump, was born in 2006. Donald's oldest child, Donald Trump Jr., was born in 1977,  making him 29 years older than Barron. The age difference between their firstborn children makes the gap between Melania and Donald even clearer, highlighting the fact that they are at very different stages of life. 

Melania Trump undoubtedly faced plenty of challenges in her early adulthood, especially after emigrating to America to expand her modeling career. However, the fashionista-turned-first lady isn't the only model in the Trump family: Vanity Fair shared a series of photos featuring Melania's stepdaughter, Ivanka Trump, strolling down multiple catwalks in the 1990s. The two Trump women embarked on similar career paths in their youth, but their journeys were quite different. As author Mary Jordan (via The Guardian) explains, Ivanka rose to modeling stardom relatively quickly in her teens, Meanwhile, "Melania was 26 when she arrived in America, she was already considered old and nobody knew who Melania Knauss was."  

Their divergent experiences in the modeling world may be a source of the widely recognized friction between stepmother and stepdaughter, but the closeness of their ages can't be easy to navigate, either. Ivanka was born on October 30, 1981, only 11 years after Melania. Since Melania is technically young enough to be Donald Trump's daughter, she could easily have been Ivanka's sister in another life. That dynamic could be awkward for any family, but especially for one as firmly in the public eye as the Trumps. 

Difference of opinion on the aging process remains one of the biggest challenges in some age gap relationships. One spouse may be more sensitive about their age than the other, and the gap between them can further exacerbate those feelings. For example, former president Donald Trump's tough exterior's may create the impression that he wouldn't enjoy birthday celebrations, and that impression appears to be correct. As his ex-wife, Ivana Trump, told People in 2021, "Donald hates his birthdays." 

Many of us feel wary of growing older, and Donald is no exception, seemingly resenting his birthdays more and more as the years go by. When he turned 78 on June 14, 2024, a New York Times headline said it all: "It's Donald Trump's 78th Birthday. He Isn't Happy About It." As the article explains, Donald didn't even enjoy hearing some of his Las Vegas supporters wish him well on his birthday, telling the crowd, "You know, there's a certain point at which you don't want to hear 'Happy Birthday.' You just want to pretend the day doesn't exist." Considering how many years stand between him and Melania, it's easy to wonder if Donald feels even more self-conscious about his age because he has a much younger wife.