Sources say First Lady Melania Trump has spent fewer than two weeks at the White House since her husband’s inauguration in January.
While Melania is expected to make a rare return to Washington, D.C., on Thursday to unveil a postage stamp honoring former First Lady Barbara Bush and attend a ceremony for military mothers, she has been noticeably absent from the limelight during her husband’s second term.
The first lady has made a handful of appearances in recent months beside her husband, including attending Pope Francis’s funeral the day before her 55th birthday and the annual White House Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn.
Two sources told The New York Times that since Donald Trump returned to office on January 20, the former model is estimated to have spent less than 14 days at the White House.
That estimate might be “generous,” the report added, citing other sources.
Paolo Zampolli, the former modeling agent who first spotted Melania in Milan in 1995 and introduced her to Trump at New York’s Kit Kat Club in 1998, said that claims about the first lady’s absence from the White House were misleading.
“She loves the White House,” said Zampolli, the incumbent U.S. special representative for global partnerships. “And she loves the role of serving as our first lady.”
Unlike her predecessors, Melania is not believed to live at the White House full-time.
Instead, she is reported to have slipped out of the spotlight and made Trump Tower in New York, where her son Barron goes to university, her primary residence.
Regulars at Mar-a-Lago, where the president spends many weekends, say they don’t often see Melania around the resort, according to The Times.
Ahead of President Trump’s return to the Oval Office in January, Melania outlined her future plans during an interview on Fox & Friends.
“I will be in the White House,” she began. “And, you know, when I need to be in New York, I will be in New York. When I need to be in Palm Beach, I will be in Palm Beach.”
Her priority, she said, was “to be a mom, to be a first lady, to be a wife.”
At the 2016 and 2020 GOP conventions, Melania gave prime-time speeches in support of her husband’s nomination.
Her brief appearance at last year’s Republican National Convention marked one in a handful of times she has stood by her husband’s side during the campaign trail.
She was absent during the president’s numerous court appearances – including Trump’s five-week-long criminal hush money trial – until she re-emerged in several Fox News interviews while also posting a spate of cryptic social media posts to promote her self-titled memoir, Melania.
