The Biggest Scandals Melania Trump Has Been Caught Up In

Being the first lady of the United States can't be an easy job, but when you're Melania Trump, it's safe to say that you can expect significantly more criticism and outrage from the general public than your predecessors. Melania's husband, President-Elect Donald Trump, is widely known for his controversial policies, and she's had to deal with plenty of the subsequent fallout. Donald's name has become synonymous with scandal, and so has Melania's, but it's worth noting that not all of her public gaffes were her husband's fault. Even before he took office, Melania found herself embroiled in scandal when she was accused of plagiarizing her 2016 Republican National Convention speech. 

Eagle-eyed pundits had a nagging feeling that they'd heard certain aspects of Melania's speech before, and upon doing some digging, the press soon revealed that the future first lady had seemingly taken lines directly from Michelle Obama's 2008 speech. Eek! Initially, the Trump camp blamed Hillary Clinton for the plagiarism accusations, with their 2016 campaign manager informing the BBC, "There's no cribbing of Michelle Obama's speech. I mean, this is, once again, an example of when a woman threatens Hillary Clinton, how she seeks out to demean her and take her down." 

When comparing Melania's speech to Obama's, however, there was no denying that parts of the former first lady's speech had been poached almost word-for-word, and eventually, the speechwriter, Meredith McIver, took the fall for it. "This was my mistake and I feel terrible for the chaos I have caused Melania and the Trumps, as well as to Mrs. Obama. No harm was meant," McIver wrote in a statement at the time, per NPR. Alas, this was not Melania's first public scandal, and it surely won't be her last.

Another big scandal that will always haunt Former First Lady Melania Trump is the release of her nude photographs (initially published by a French men's magazine in 1997) during Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. The New York Post unearthed the photographs, which show the former model wearing high heels and nothing else, photographed from every possible angle. Alé de Basse­ville, who tackled the shoot, confirmed that Melania had done an amazing job during the session. "Melania was super-great and a fantastic personality and she was very kind with me," he enthused. 

Amid the media storm that erupted, Donald shrugged off the drama and appeared to distance himself from the scandal, pointing out that the saucy shoot took place before he even knew Melania. As the divisive politician bragged, "Melania was one of the most successful models and she did many photo shoots, including for covers and major magazines. [...] In Europe, pictures like this are very fashionable and common." 

While promoting her memoir, "Melania," in 2024, the two-time first lady took to X, formerly Twitter, to address the 2016 nude photo fiasco, proclaiming that she wasn't the least bit ashamed of the intimate pictures and ridiculing the media for its blatant attempts to embarrass her. "The more pressing question is: Why has the media chosen to scrutinize my celebration of the human form in a fashion photo shoot?" Melania questioned, adding, "We should honor our bodies and embrace the timeless tradition of using art as a powerful means of self expression."

Rumors have circled for years that, behind closed doors, Melania Trump can't stand her husband, Donald Trump, and experts have even decoded some of the Trumps most telling body language moments for The List, which appear to confirm that this is indeed the case. In a 2017 video that quickly went viral, Melania appeared to swat away her husband's hand shortly after their arrival in Israel as they walked the red carpet (via X). In the damning clip, the then-first lady can be seen lagging behind her husband, who reaches out his hand to her. Instead of accepting the gesture, Melania visibly swats it away. 

The internet had a field day, and it appears that the whole affair bothered the former model quite a bit too, never mind Donald himself, so she addressed the sordid affair in her self-titled memoir, "Melania," dismissing it as a simple misunderstanding. Melania didn't deny that she refrained from holding her husband's hand, but claimed that the press had turned the gesture into something it wasn't. "The media labeled it as a 'swat' and used it as supposed evidence of marital discord," she wrote. "Protocol demanded that the president and prime minister walk side by side, with their spouses trailing behind."

Somehow, despite this protocol, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (who Melania refers to by the nickname "Bibi" in her book) held his own wife's hand anyway, and despite Donald attempting to do the same, Melania posited that there simply wasn't enough space for all of them on the red carpet walking side by side. "When he reached out to offer his hand, I declined, indicating that I was perfectly content walking on my own. It was a minor innocent gesture, nothing more," she recalled. And yet, it has been noted that Melania did end up walking next to her husband despite claiming there was no room.

Ever since she made the grave mistake of donning it, many have wondered what the true story behind Melania Trump's controversial "I really don't care" jacket was. The first lady made headlines all over the world when she paid a visit to a migrant child detention center in 2018, but not because she was visiting kids who'd been separated from their parents thanks to her husband's ruthless immigration policies. Rather, her jacket, in big, bold, all caps letters on the back, blared: "I really don't care. Do u?" Not exactly the sort of attire one wants to be spotted wearing when you're on your way to visit distressed children. The inappropriate outfit reportedly caused major tension with Donald Trump, who was livid that his wife chose that specific attention-grabbing attire for such a high-profile outing. 

The then-president reportedly tried to do damage control by claiming its message was intended for the media. Melania doubled down when she subsequently took part in an interview with ABC News, clarifying, "It was for the people and for the left-wing media who are criticizing me. And I want to show them that I don't care," (via X). The former model addressed the incident again in her memoir, "Melania," claiming she wanted to release a statement to let the press know the jacket's message was for them and had nothing to do with the migrant children, but her press secretary, Stephanie Grisham, wouldn't let her. 

"I was determined [...] not to let the media's false narratives affect my mission to help the children and families at the border," she penned, adding that the jacket's message was meant to be "discreet yet impactful." Alas, it was anything but, and New York Times journalist and author Katie Rogers refuted Melania's assertions in a book of her own, alleging she wore the jacket to garner media attention to stick it to Ivanka Trump.

Before Melania Trump denounced her husband's controversial immigration policies, it appears she thought that migrant children were actually better off living in detention centers. This bombshell was dropped by Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, a former friend of Melania's, in her tell-all book "Melania and Me." Wolkoff, who secretly recorded some of her conversations with the then-first lady, used the intel she gathered during her time as Melania's senior advisor to write the jaw-dropping book and even played some of the recordings on "Anderson Cooper 360" during a 2020 interview.

In one of the clips, Wolkoff's boss defended the detention centers. "The kids, they say, 'Wow I will have my own bed? I will sleep on the bed? I will have a cabinet for my clothes?' It's so sad to hear it but they didn't have that in their own countries, they sleep on the floor. They are taken care of nicely there," Melania reasoned. The former model did, at least, add that the children being separated from their parents was a tragic affair. But Melania also questioned whether some immigrants were truly fleeing from dangerous situations, or if they simply used it as a popular excuse to seek asylum in the U.S.

Before Wolkoff's recordings dropped, Melania's press secretary, Stephanie Grisham, assured citizens back in 2018 that the then-first lady did not support the separation of children from their families. "[She] hopes both sides of the aisle can finally come together to achieve successful immigration reform," Grisham told People. "[Melania] believes we need to be a country that follows all laws, but also a country that governs with heart."

When the MAGA mob descended on Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021, no one from the Trump administration made as much as a peep to quell the violence that was unfolding, including Melania Trump. And unfortunately for her, a screenshot of a text message exchange between her and her press secretary, Stephanie Grisham, showed the latter asking the then-first lady whether she'd like to release a statement to call for a peaceful protest. Melania's response? "No" (via X). Grisham recounted the events of January 6 in her book, "I'll Take Your Questions Now," recalling how Melania showed absolutely no interest in using her platform to denounce the ensuing violence. 

Her team quickly clapped back, declaring, "It is an attempt to redeem herself after a poor performance as press secretary, failed personal relationships, and unprofessional behavior in the White House," as a spokesperson for Melania informed Politico. In her memoir, "Melania," the former (and future) first lady claimed that she had no idea what Grisham was referring to in her text and moreover, that she'd practically been offline all day, busy archiving the renovations she and Donald Trump had made to the White House during their tenure, as is tradition. 

"I wasn't aware of the events unfolding at the Capitol building," Melania penned, confessing that she was utterly confounded by Grisham's message. "Had I been fully informed of all the details, naturally, I would have immediately denounced the violence that occurred at the Capitol Building. I have always and will always condemn violence," she added. Grisham, naturally, felt differently. "When you read my full text to her, and her very quick, one-word response of 'no,' it's clear she chose to stay quiet," she explained to ITK (via The Hill). "Melania knew what was going on at all times or she asked questions."