Melania and Donald Trump Sleep Apart but Share a Strong Bond, Reveals New Book

Former President Donald Trump and his wife Melania share a uniquely complex marriage, according to insights from The Art of Her Deal: The Untold Story of Melania Trump, a book by Washington Post journalist Mary Jordan. The book provides a rare glimpse into the dynamics of the Trumps’ relationship, revealing a partnership that thrives despite—or perhaps because of—their time apart.

Jordan writes, “I don’t know any couple that spends as much time apart. They are often in the same building, but nowhere near each other. She rarely goes into the West Wing. She doesn’t like to golf. She has her own little spa. She likes to be isolated. She is a loner. He is a loner. They’re perfectly happy to be separated.” This depiction paints a picture of two individuals who, while married, maintain a significant degree of independence.

Through extensive interviews with White House staff, housekeepers, and others close to the couple, Jordan discovered that the Trumps often slept in separate bedrooms across their various residences, according to The Guardian. Despite this physical distance, the couple reportedly shares an unbreakable bond. “She’s the first call he makes after a speech or rally because he trusts her—he doesn’t trust many people—and she watches on TV,” Jordan explained.

“They have a very unusual relationship, but there is a bond there—they have a deal, right from the beginning. He loves himself, he loves his job, he’s got his own life, and he spends a lot of time apart from her. And she’s absolutely fine with that.” Jordan also delves into Melania’s reclusive nature, describing her as one of the most enigmatic figures she has ever studied.

“In three decades as a correspondent working all over the world, I have often written about the reluctant and the reclusive, including the head of a Mexican drug cartel and a Japanese princess, but nothing compared to trying to understand Melania,” Jordan wrote. Despite being one of the most recognized faces globally, Melania remains a mystery. “A photographer said to me, ‘She’s like a ghost. Everyone knows her but nobody does.’”

Jordan further explores Melania’s early life and transition into New York’s elite social circles, noting how she seemed to erase her modest beginnings upon arriving in the city. “She had a pretty modest upbringing, and when she arrived in New York she was around all these extremely rich people, and it was…a friend said…like she had just taken a big old eraser and there was nothing before.”

Reflecting on Donald Trump’s past, Jordan highlighted a different side of the former president, noting that in the 1990s, Trump was seen as charming and fun—qualities that attracted many women. “Trump didn’t drink, didn’t do drugs, and didn’t demand much. He just wanted a gorgeous woman in the photo so that he could be in the paper, and then he would go literally back to work,” Jordan observed. “Donald Trump was a different person in the 1990s.

There were actually quite a lot of women who were after him. He wasn’t in politics. He was charming and fun, not the divisive, polarizing person we know now.” Jordan’s book offers a nuanced look at the Trumps, presenting a relationship that, while unconventional, is built on a foundation that works for them.