The former first lady Melania Trump has a memoir coming out this fall, Melania, billed by her office as “a powerful and inspiring story of a woman who has carved her own path, overcome adversity and defined personal excellence”.
It’s the first memoir by Trump, who has been mostly absent as her husband, the former president Donald Trump, seeks to return to the White House.
Melania will be released by Skyhorse Publishing, which has published such Donald Trump supporters as the former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani and the attorney Alan Dershowitz. Skyhorse also has worked with the third-party candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr and the former Trump insider Michael Cohen, who later became one of his harshest critics. Some Skyhorse books include forewords by Trump’s ally Steve Bannon.
Melania Trump’s memoir was announced on Thursday by her office, which neither provided a specific release date nor mentioned whether it would come out before election day in November. Trump has been the subject of other books, including one by her former adviser Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, but she has never told her own story at length before.
The former first lady “invites readers into her world, offering an intimate portrait of a woman who has lived an extraordinary life”, the announcement reads in part. “Melania includes personal stories and family photos she has never before shared with the public.”
A spokesperson said no information was available beyond what was included in the release, which made no reference to financial terms, promotional plans or if she worked with a co-author.
Melania Trump, Donald Trump’s third wife, has been an enigmatic figure since her husband announced he was running in the 2016 election. She has sought to maintain her privacy even as she served as first lady, focusing on raising their son, Barron, and promoting her “Be Best” initiative to support the “social, emotional and physical health of children”.
While she appeared at her husband’s campaign launch event for 2024 and attended the closing night of last week’s Republican national convention, Trump has otherwise stayed off the campaign trail. Her decision not to deliver a speech at this year’s convention marked a departure from tradition for candidates’ wives, and from the 2016 and 2020 Republican gatherings.
According to her office, the memoir will come in two versions: a $150 collector’s edition, 256 pages long, “in full color throughout, with each copy signed by the author”, and a memoir edition, 304 pages long, including 48 pages of never-before-seen photographs. The book is listed at $40, with signed editions going for $75.
Unlike other former presidents and first ladies, Donald and Melania Trump have not released any post-White House books through mainstream New York publishers. Donald Trump published numerous books before his presidency, working with Random House and Simon & Schuster among others, but many shunned him after the siege of the US Capitol on 6 January 2021.
He has released two books since leaving Washington, a picture book commemorating his time at the White House and a compilation of letters from world leaders and celebrities. Both came out through Winning Team Publishing, co-founded in 2021 by Donald Trump Jr and the former Trump campaign staffer Sergio Gor.
