The Trumps rarely talk about their marriage in public, which has left plenty of room for rumors over the years. But their story has always had a quieter side. It began with a drive. On their first date, Donald took Melania, fresh off a modeling shoot in the Caribbean, on an hour and a half trip to Bedford, New Jersey, to look at a property he wanted to buy.
“So it was really nice to be just two of us,” Melania told Fox News two years ago.
When she promoted her memoir around the same time, she described what she felt when they first met.
“From the moment Donald and I met, there was an undeniable spark. There was something magnetic about him: his confidence, his charm, his humor, his vision,” Melania said in a video promoting her book two years ago.
They married in 2005 and have never been known for public displays of affection. But according to one insider who spoke to the Daily Mail, the evenings tell a different story. During the first term at the White House, the couple reportedly kept separate bedrooms, like Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip once did, but they never skipped one thing.
“They ate dinner together every night, though they did not share a bedroom,” the insider told the Daily Mail last year.
The same source said the household staff could always sense the mood between them.
“If you have a frigid marriage on a knife’s edge, staff can tell, and it’s uncomfortable. There was a good vibe from the housekeepers,” the insider said.
Body language expert Judi James noticed the same warmth at Pope Francis’ funeral last April, which also fell on Melania’s birthday. She said Donald was unusually attentive to his wife that day.
“He spoke to her. He made a smile, he made a laugh… So they were very warm together,” James told The Sun last year.
After 21 years, according to those who have watched them up close, the secret may be as simple as sitting down for dinner together. 