PATRICK T. FALLON
While her husband is busy on the campaign trail in the final weeks of the presidential race, Melania Trump is involved in a different kind of campaign: promoting her forthcoming book.
The reclusive former First Lady is breaking her silence to support her memoir, out on October 8, less than a month before the presidential election which could return Donald Trump to the White House.
The 54-year-old former model, who has for years sought to evade the spotlight, has published a rare series of videos on social media in recent days.
"As a private person, who has often been the subject of public scrutiny and misrepresentation, I feel a responsibility to clarify the facts," she says in a black-and-white clip. "I believe it is important to share my perspective."
In other videos, the Slovenia-born Trump addresses a host of issues, which she had never or barely discussed previously, including the July assassination attempt on her husband and the Black Lives Matter social justice protests in Washington in 2020.
Melania Trump also mentions her nude photographs, which were published by American tabloids in 2016, saying "I stand proudly behind my nude modelling work."
"Are we no longer able to appreciate the beauty of the human body?" she asked.
In another video, she condemns an FBI raid on the Trumps' home in Florida in 2022 as a violation of privacy on the part of the government.
Why is the elusive and media-shy former First Lady finally breaking her silence?
Katherine Jellison, a history professor at Ohio University who studies presidential couples, said that while the main goal is to market the book, Trump is also "boosting an image of herself as a strong woman in charge of her own life and destiny."
Jellison added that Trump's refusal to take any significant part in her husband's current presidential campaign "is part of that independence project."
The 256-page memoir is entitled simply "Melania," and a signed version accompanied by photographs sells for $250.
Not only was Trump absent from court in New York this spring, where Donald Trump was convicted in a criminal case involving hush money payments to a porn star, but she has also snubbed all of her husband's election rallies so far this campaign.
Such absence is unusual in American politics, where a candidate's spouse usually takes an active role in campaigning.
The apparent distance between Melania and Donald Trump has long fueled speculation about the nature of their relationship.
© Agence France-Presse
