10 scandals Melania Trump addresses in her new memoir

In 2016, The New York Post unearthed nude photos of Melania Trump from a 1996 photo shoot for Max, a French fashion magazine, and published them on the front page.

Melania Trump wrote that her upbringing in Europe instilled “a more open and accepting attitude” toward nudity and that posing naked was “commonplace and hardly scandalous” during her time working as a model.

“The female form was once revered and honored in Western culture,” she wrote. “Historically, artists produced magnificent paintings and sculptures that exalted the beauty of the feminine figure. Nudity was a medium through which humanity was elevated and celebrated. This sentiment resonated deeply with me when I posed for Vogue during my pregnancy. I believed then, as I do now, that women should take pride in their bodies, not feel shame.”

In 2012, Melania Trump signed a contract with New Sunshine LLC, a skincare company operated by Steve Hilbert and John Menard Jr., to launch a beauty brand. She made several media appearances promoting the line of caviar-infused products until the venture came crashing down due to a series of lawsuits.

Menard Jr. sued Hilbert over his management of Menard Jr.’s investment company. Hilbert’s wife then sued Menard Jr., claiming he’d pressured her to have a threesome. Menard also sued Melania Trump in order to void her contract, and she countersued to seek $50 million in damages, the Indianapolis Star reported.

“It was made clear in court that this was not how business should be conducted, and the judge ruled in my favor, confirming the validity of my contract and awarding me a contract agreed settlement,” she wrote in “Melania.” “Overall, this experience taught me valuable lessons about the complexities of the business world and the importance of ensuring that all parties involved are committed to fulfilling their obligations.”

In 2016, Melania Trump delivered a speech at the Republican National Convention featuring passages that appeared to plagiarize Michelle Obama’s 2008 Democratic National Convention address.

In a chapter titled “Why Was the Speech Not Vetted?” Melania Trump wrote that her team’s “failure to perform their duty filled me with a profound sense of betrayal.”

“My initial reaction was one of disbelief, but upon closer examination, the undeniable similarities between the two speeches left me reeling,” she wrote. “The weight of this realization hit me with a force I had never experienced. Looking back, I realized that I had relied too much on others in this crucial endeavor.”

After the similarities came to light, Meredith McIver, a staff writer for the Trump Organization, accepted responsibility. She said Melania Trump had told her she liked Obama’s speech and read some of it to McIver, who jotted down notes and inadvertently used it in the address.

“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 said.

While Donald Trump moved into the White House after his inauguration in January 2017, Melania Trump stayed behind in New York City with Barron Trump while he finished the school year. They didn’t move into the White House until June 2017.

Melania Trump wrote that her team was unable to gain access to the White House residence in December while the Obamas were away for the holidays in order to plan renovations.

“Despite reaching out to the Obamas’ team and requesting a convenient time for our visit, we did not receive a response for weeks,” she wrote. “When we finally received the information, it was filled with errors. This delayed the planning process, and I was only able to begin renovations after the inauguration, once we were already in the White House.”

Spokespeople for the Obamas did not respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.

In 2016, Rosie O’Donnell posted on X, then known as Twitter: “Barron Trump Autistic? If so, what an amazing opportunity to bring attention to the AUTISM epidemic. #StopTheBullying” along with a video compilation of Barron Trump.

Melania Trump wrote that while there is “nothing shameful about autism,” Barron Trump is not autistic, and the post led to him experiencing bullying “both online and in real life.”

“It was clear to me that she was not interested in raising awareness about autism,” she wrote. “I felt that she was attacking my son because she didn’t like my husband.”

She added: “To float such a ‘question’ to a million people, knowing exactly how it would be received, was beyond careless; it was heartless.”

O’Donnell later apologized, but Melania Trump wrote that “no apology can undo the harm inflicted upon him.”

While arriving in Israel on a 2017 visit, Melania Trump appeared to bat Donald Trump’s hand away when he reached for hers, a video showed.

In “Melania,” the former first lady wrote that protocol required the president and prime minister to walk together with their spouses behind them, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was holding his wife’s hand. With Donald Trump walking next to them, she wrote that there wasn’t room for all four of them to walk in a row on the red carpet, so she “gently waved away his attempt to hold my hand.”

“I allowed my husband to continue walking with the prime minister and his wife, opting to take a step back,” she wrote. “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.”

In April 2018, the Trump administration announced a “zero-tolerance” immigration policy in which parents with children who crossed the US border illegally would have their children taken from them, sparking widespread protests.

Melania Trump wrote that she was “blindsided” by reports of children being separated from their parents at the border, saying that she had been “completely unaware of the policy.”

She wrote in her memoir that she told her husband, “This has to stop.” Donald Trump announced the end of the family separation policy in June 2018.

“I am sympathetic to all who wish to find a better life in this country,” she wrote. “As an immigrant myself, I intimately understand the necessary if arduous process of legally becoming an American. While I support strong borders, what was going on at the border was simply unacceptable and went against everything I believe in.”

She also wrote that she believed in addressing “occasional political disagreements” with her husband privately rather than in public.

Melania Trump wrote that her press secretary wouldn’t let her explain that the jacket’s message was directed at the media, not the immigrant children she was visiting.

“The media claimed the jacket meant I did not care about the children or the border, which was clearly not true,” she wrote.

Melania Trump wrote that Fox News’ early projection of Arizona flipping to Joe Biden made her question the results of the 2020 election, despite the fact that election calls are usually made before all of a state’s votes are counted.

“Many Americans still have doubts about the election to this day,” she wrote. “I am not the only person who questions the results,” she wrote. However, she stopped short of falsely claiming, as Donald Trump has, that the election was “stolen” or “rigged.”

The former first lady wrote that on January 6, 2021, she was engrossed in archival work with her team and didn’t know about the attack occurring at the Capitol.

When she received a text from her press secretary asking if she wanted to denounce the violence, she wrote that she was confused.

“I found the question perplexing — when had I ever condoned violence?” she wrote.

She also blamed her chief of staff for not informing her about the violent mob at the Capitol.

“Had I been fully informed of all the details, naturally, I would have immediately denounced the violence that occurred at the Capitol Building,” she wrote. “I have always and will always condemn violence.”

In 2022, Stephanie Grisham, Melania Trump’s former press secretary, shared a screenshot of the alleged text exchange.

“Do you want to tweet that peaceful protests are the right of every American, but there is no place for lawlessness & violence?” Grisham texted Melania Trump according to the screenshot.

The screenshot showed that Melania Trump replied, “No.”

In response to Melania Trump’s claims in the memoir, Grisham told The Hill that turning on her is “the Trump formula.”

“But whatever makes her feel better — I really don’t care, do you?” she added.