Melania Trump spent four days in the White House last week – her longest stretch there since the inauguration in January.

She attended three official events tied to her role as first lady and capped the visit by announcing her latest business venture.

The dual strategy reflects how Melania is balancing her public and private lives, using East Wing influence to champion her chosen causes while pursuing commercial opportunities with a business-driven aggression more often associated with her husband Donald.

‘I do think it is a very deliberate decision, that she is going to do it her way,’ said Lisa Burns, a professor of media studies at Quinnipiac University and an expert on first ladies. 

Melania is intentionally recrafting the role of the modern presidential spouse, dividing her time between Washington D.C. and her business interests outside the White House bubble, all while guarding her privacy. 

She has spent only 21 days in the official residence since the inauguration, per Daily Mail’s tracking of public flight records for the military plane with the first lady’s call sign, EXEC1F.

Much of her time is spent in New York where her son Barron attends New York University. She also splits weekends between the Trump family’s homes in Bedminster, New Jersey, and at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida.

Still, she maintains staff to manage both her public and private lives, including separate executives running the teams and press operations to handle the publicity.

Her small East Wing team is led by chief-of-staff Hayley Harrison, a long-time Trump aide who served in the first administration. Melania Trump also hired Nicholas Clemens as her communications director. 

Notably, it is unclear why Melania has yet to appoint a social secretary – traditionally one of the first hires – who would typically oversee every White House function, from seating charts to diplomatically dealing with drunken guests.

On the business side, Marc Beckman, of DMA United, manages her private ventures. That includes her cryptocurrency; the memoir, newly released in audio format; and other items sold on the Melania Trump website.

Neither the East Wing nor Beckman responded to the Daily Mail’s request for comment.

When it comes to public appearances, Melania makes choices carefully, focusing on causes close to her – particularly children’s welfare – under the banner of her Be Best initiative.  

And, as per her memoir, Melania, she’s balancing that with a desire to be her own woman.

‘Financial independence is a core value of mine, and I have always been driven to work hard and earn my own money,’ she wrote.

‘My own independence has always been very valuable to me.’ 

That ethos guided her approach to the 2024 campaign. Melania opted out of traditional spousal duties: she did not join her husband’s on the trail; did not speak at the Republican National Convention, and declined Jill Biden’s customary invitation for tea during the transition.

Even her official first lady portrait – showing her in a power suit – signaled that she meant business.

‘That first official photo of her was very telling, kind of she’s the boss,’ Burns noted. ‘It presents this image of someone who wants to be in charge this time. And so this could be sending that message like she doesn’t care what the press thinks or what the public thinks, she is going to do things her way and on her terms.’

That includes doing things rarely done by previous first ladies. Last week, Melania played a key part in the passage of the Take it Down Act, a bill designed to strengthen protections for victims of revenge porn and deepfake imagery.

According to a source familiar with the process, it was Melania who reached out to Republican Senator Ted Cruz, who sponsored the legislation, to offer her support.

Once the first lady was behind it, the legislation quickly passed Congress with bipartisan backing.

‘Obviously any extra visibility on legislation is incredibly helpful to actually getting it to move forward,’ the source noted. ‘So she was instrumental.’

At a Rose Garden signing ceremony, President Trump acknowledged her contribution and invited Melania to ink her name just below his. Staying on brand, she did so using a white Be Best branded pen.

‘It’s the first time I’ve seen such a level of bipartisanship, and it’s a beautiful thing to do,” the President told her. ‘I’m not even sure you realize, honey, you know, a lot of the Democrats and Republicans don’t get along so well. You’ve made them get along.

‘I want to thank you, honey,’ he added. ‘You’ve done amazing.’

During her four-day visit, Melania also hosted children in the First Lady’s Garden for Take Your Child to Work day on Tuesday, and addressed the Senate Spouses Luncheon on Wednesday before heading back to Bedminster.

Soon after, she announced the release of the audiobook version of her memoir.

She is not the only first lady to work outside the East Wing – Jill Biden taught English at a community college – but Melania’s ventures have drawn criticism for potentially blurring the line between public service and private profit. 

Melania is also producing a documentary chronicling her return to the White House. Filming has wrapped and editing is under way in London led by executive producer Fernando Sulichin.

Amazon reportedly paid $40 million for the rights, with Melania said to be receiving a substantial cut from that and final editorial approval.  

Her corporate identity became Melania’s focus after leaving the White House in January 2021. In the interval between tenures, she has grown her portfolio and net worth by millions. Her business entities include NFTs, jewelry and book deals.

The brand-building she has engaged in since returning to the White House has increased it even more.

However, Melania has also had to deal with threats to her family as well as public humiliation.

President Donald Trump was targeted by two assassins in separate incidents, being wounded at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and Barron has received threats.

Then there was the New York Attorney General’s office going after Trump for his hush money payment to Stormy Daniels. He was eventually convicted of 34 felony counts tied to falsifying business records.

Melania was the only family member who did not join Trump during the New York trial.

According to Katherine Jellison, an expert on first ladies who teaches at Ohio University, that’s no accident.

‘A lot of things have transpired since she was last first lady, including her husband’s legal problems. And I think she’s being even more cautious the second time as first lady than she was the first time,’ Jellison noted. ‘She’s more cautious, definitely more cautious.’

There are many events that Melania has declined to attend in recent months, including joining President Trump on his first major foreign trip, which was four days in the Middle East in May. 

In some respects, Melania appears to be taking on the mantle of Michelle Obama, who famously skipped Trump’s second inauguration and Jimmy Carter’s funeral, and encouraged other women to practice saying ‘no’.

‘It’s a muscle that you have to build,’ the former first lady said on her podcast. ‘And I think we suffered, because it’s almost like we started training late in life to build that muscle, right? I am just now starting to build it.’

Melania, it seems, has already mastered it, and has, observes Burns, shown that she has learned from her first four years in office.

‘I have seen some speculation: ‘Oh, she didn’t learn anything from the first time around.’ It’s kind of the opposite,’ she noted. ‘It seems like she’s decided like this is where she’s comfortable.’ 

That level of comfort in her role includes living outside the White House bubble.

Many first ladies complain about the lack of privacy at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, which is staffed 24/7 with residence workers and Secret Service agents.

Even Melania, who managed and lived with servants at Trump Tower in New York, found it disconcerting, telling friends in the first term that she was never alone.

She also grew frustrated with media coverage that focused more on her wardrobe than her work – including several visits to hospitals with babies in neonatal units born addicted to drugs and her efforts to tackle fentanyl addiction.

Yet, what people remember most from that first term are the outfits she wore, particularly the green jacket on a trip to a Texas detention center that read: ‘I really don’t care, do u?’ 

Second time around, Melania is making sure that she controls the message. ‘She is very protective of her image these days,’ Jellison said.