As the former president’s legal woes mount, his wife strengthens her financial security.
Donald Trump has been in and out of court seemingly nonstop since he left the White House, but he might have just had a new legal matter to contend with — his wife’s request to tweak the financial agreements they made upon marrying.
In an exclusive report from The New York Post, insiders close to the couple say Melania Trump has “quietly” renegotiated their prenuptial agreement. While the updated contract offers more financial security for herself (in terms of both cash and real estate), the chief motivation for the change was allegedly to better protect Barron, the 17-year-old son she shares with the former president.
“Melania is most concerned about maintaining and increasing a substantial trust for their son,” one source told the Post. A second source added, “I know that she wanted it to provide her with more money, and also — from what I understand — there’s a specific amount at minimum that Barron is supposed to obtain.”
This particular concern tracks with reporting found in the 2020 book The Art of Her Deal: The Untold Story of Melania Trump, in which Washington Post reporter Mary Jordan wrote that the former first lady was committed to ensuring Barron would be “treated as more of an equal” in comparison to Don Jr., Ivanka, and Eric, the 45th president’s children with his ex-wife Ivanka Trump.
This most recent update of the Trumps’ prenup is “at least the third time Melania has renegotiated the terms of her marital agreement,” the Post reported, and it comes during a particularly fraught period for her husband. Not only is he facing a handful of criminal indictments — something that’s never happened to any former president in American history — but he’s also in hot water after a New York judge ruled he fraudulently inflated the values of his real estate assets for his own financial benefit, which could lead to him losing some of his landmark properties.
Does all of this mean the Trumps could become the latest power couple to fall victim to the recent spate of high-profile celebrity divorces? The insiders said that Melania hasn’t threatened to end the marriage, but that the prenup revision was “necessary because of the current legal battles” Donald is facing, as well as the possibility that he could win a second term in the Oval Office in 2024.
The Trumps were married on Jan. 22, 2005, in Palm Beach, Florida. The splashy ceremony had quite the celebrity guest list, including Barbara Walters, P. Diddy, Hillary Clinton (yes, really), and even our very own Katie Couric. In a podcast conversation with Kelly Ripa (another attendee), Katie confessed that she actually brought along a hidden camera to capture the festivities — but it was later confiscated by security.
The marriage became an increasing point of public fascination after Donald ascended to the White House in 2016. As first lady, Melania was much less available to the press than her modern predecessors, and her public silence amid her husband’s deeply controversial presidency led to some wacky speculation about whether she might be sending secret messages with her outfits.
And while The New York Post appears confident in its story about this change to the couple’s prenup, Melania’s team has previously spoken out against reporting about her family that’s attributed to anonymous sources. “We ask readers to exercise caution and good judgment when determining whether or not stories concerning the former first lady are accurate, particularly when they fail to cite Mrs. Trump as a source of information,” her office said in a statement earlier this year.
