It’ll paint an “intimate portrait” of the former first lady.
Melania Trump is known for keeping a low profile, but that’s about to change this fall as she prepares to release her self-titled memoir, Melania.
The former first lady has released a series of videos in the lead-up to publication day, but the latest one garnered extra attention for her cryptic remarks. In a 34-second clip, she suggested there was a conspiracy surrounding the assassination attempt on her husband, former President Trump, in July. For the record, lawmakers are still trying to piece together what went wrong that day that left the gunman and a rally attendee dead. Following the incident, they created a bipartisan House task force to investigate security failures around the potentially deadly attempt on Trump’s life.
“The attempt to end my husband’s life was a horrible, distressing experience,” she said in a video posted to her X account on Tuesday. “Now the silence around it feels heavy. I can’t help but wonder — why didn’t law enforcement officials arrest the shooter before the speech? There is definitely more to this story, and we need to uncover the truth.” Then, an image of her book appeared on the screen.
What do we know about her memoir?
Melania’s 256-page memoir will be published by the conservative imprint Skyhorse Publishing. This is the same publisher behind books by her husband and former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Meanwhile, her husband just released a new book of his own, Save America. (Though both made their book announcements on July 25, neither mentioned the other.)
The former first lady’s office described her memoir as “a powerful and inspiring story of a woman who has carved her own path, overcome adversity and defined personal excellence.” Skyhorse said the tell-all also includes “stories and images never before shared with the public.”
Melania has been the subject of other books: Her former advisor, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, detailed her time working for her in the 2020 New York Times bestseller Melania and Me: The Rise and Fall of My Friendship with the First Lady.
But Melania’s upcoming memoir marks the first time she has told her story in her own words. In case you aren’t familiar with her backstory, she was born and raised in Slovenia before moving to the U.S. in 1996 to work as a model. She then met Donald Trump in 1998, and the two married in 2005. Their son, Barron Trump, was born the following year.
When will Melania Trump’s memoir come out?
Melania’s upcoming memoir is set to hit shelves (and online retailers) on Oct. 8, less than a month before the presidential election on Nov. 5.
Her office stated in its press release that the memoir will be available in two versions: a $150 collector’s edition with “bonus photographs” and a $40 memoir edition, also listed at $75 for a signed copy from Melania.
Eager to get your hands on one? It’s available for pre-order.
Why is she releasing a book now?
In another video posted on Sept. 5, Melania said she wrote the book because she felt compelled to set the record straight about her “public scrutiny and misrepresentation.” The dramatic clip featured a black-and-white photo montage of her time as the first lady, her family, and her modeling career.
“Writing this memoir has been a deeply personal and reflective journey for me. As a private person who has often been the subject of public scrutiny and misrepresentation, I feel a responsibility to clarify the facts,” she said. “I believe it is important to share my perspective, the truth.”
Despite her husband’s White House ambitions, the 54-year-old former model has long been notoriously private. Ever since Donald Trump announced his presidential campaign in 2016, she has remained an enigmatic figure and largely stayed out of the spotlight, even as her husband seeks a second term.
Though she appeared alongside the former president at the Republican National Convention, she broke with tradition and didn’t give a speech. But she did make headlines after penning a letter following the attempted assassination of her husband at a campaign rally, which she denounced as a “heinous act.”
Since leaving the White House in 2020, Melania has attached her name to various products, including jewelry and multiple lines of non-fungible tokens. But this upcoming book is definitely new territory for the former first lady.
