How Life Will Be Different For Melania Trump After Leaving The White House

Life hasn't exactly been a bowl of cherries for Melania Trump since she became the First Lady in 2017. She drew fire even before she moved to the White House due to her living arrangements. During the first three months of the Trump presidency, Melania took 21 flights between New York, Florida, and Washington D.C. at a cost of $675,000 to American taxpayers, so she could take care of their son Barron (via PolitiFact). Because she and Barron didn't move to New York until June, the Secret Service had to ask for an additional $60 million to protect them and The New York Police Department reportedly needed $127,000 and $146,000 a day to keep them safe (via Mic). 

The scrutiny didn't stop after she moved in either. Critics didn't like her decorating choices (via USA Today). There were rumors about medical problems, which supposedly triggered her departure from the public view. And she was the subject of dozens upon dozens of social media posts that addressed her every public appearance, every gesture, and every wardrobe choice. Then there were all the unauthorized biographies and the tell-all books, one even claimed to have been written by a former friend .

Unfortunately, while Melania may be looking forward to life after the White House, she may soon find that things don't really ever get back to the way they used to be, even after the curtain falls on your husband's presidency.

While it's still not clear what life will look like for Donald Trump after Joe Biden's inauguration day on January 20, ABC News reports that the Secret Service agents who are currently working with Trump are already being asked if they are interested in transferring to Palm Beach, Florida. The Secret Service's Miami office has also begun to look into beefing up protection around Mar-a-Lago, which Trump calls his "winter White House." 

This may not sit too well with Melania, because an unnamed source told iHeart radio gossip columnist Rob Shuter that the soon-to-be former First Lady wants to go back to New York. "For the past four years Melania has missed her life in New York. She loves the city and the lifestyle she used to have and cannot wait to get it back at Trump Tower. She basically put her life on hold to be with her husband in D.C. She never wanted any of this," the source said (via OK Magazine). 

Still there's a chance she will get to spend time in New York, because while Trump needs to spend at least six months a year in Florida, he's also expected to spend time at his club in Bedminster, where his daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner are expected to move. But ABC News reports that Trump's post-presidency plans are fluid.

No matter where she lives, Melania Trump can be certain that life will never go back to being the same ever again. As Michelle Obama put it after former President Barack Obama stepped down, "We don't have the anonymity that allows you to be in the world with normalcy. I go to restaurants, I still work out and travel, but I can't sit at a sidewalk cafe and just watch other people without it becoming a scene," Michelle Obama says (via People).

Leaving the White House doesn't mean Melania will be leaving the presidential bubble behind either, because as Michelle put it, there is no part of her future that involves her getting behind the wheel of a car. "No driving for me. We still live in a bubble." She adds: "If we had a farm somewhere, maybe I could drive around it."

Another former first lady who can commiserate is Hillary Clinton, who said in 2014 that she hasn't drive a car in two decades. Clinton told the National Automobile Dealers Association: "The last time I actually drove a car myself was 1996, and I remember it very well and unfortunately so does the Secret Service, which is why I haven't driven since then" (via Daily Mail).

"I've always enjoyed stories about cars and adventures and I have to confess that one of the regrets I have about my public life is that I can't drive anymore," she said in 2014.

When the Trumps celebrated their first Thanksgiving as America's First Family-to-be in 2016, they had at least 150 Secret Service personnel surrounding them. At its height, Donald and Melania Trump have been joined by as many as 920 Secret Service agents, and while that number will go down after January 20, 2021, it will never dwindle down to a number where Donald and Melania will ever be alone again. As former agent Jonathan Wackrow tells NBC News: "Just think about you at your home tonight and four strangers just show up and they're standing in your kitchen." 

"Secret Service protection is the most intrusive thing that anyone could ever experience. We experience parts of your life, but we're also there in those private times when things aren't good — family arguments, family loss. We're there when staff goes away and the military goes away. The only ones left are the Secret Service agents. We're there 24 hours a day, 365 days a year," Wackrow said.