For decades, the unwritten rule of the East Wing was that an American first lady’s private life was a gift to the National Archives, eventually traded for a post-presidency memoir and maybe a library wing.
But as Melania Trump prepares to walk the red carpet at the newly rebranded Kennedy Center on Thursday evening, she is proving that a peek behind the curtain of her life isn’t just a historical record, but a multi-million-dollar commodity.
With the “Melania” documentary, which captures the 20 days around her return to the White House, the first lady cast aside the privacy she’s long sought to instead become a paid executive producer of her own narrative — one that turns the presidential transition into an unprecedented cinematic event.
“I’m very private person and a very selective person – what I do, what I don’t do, when I talk, when I don’t talk. And that’s my choice, and nobody is in charge of me,” Trump said during a Wednesday evening appearance on Fox News’ “The Five,” underscoring the calculation she’s making to tell her story.
“Melania” premieres Thursday evening to a who’s who of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet and minor celebrities, including the Chrisley family of reality TV fame, rapper Waka Flocka Flame and the financial criminal “Wolf of Wall Street” Jordan Belfort. The film will have concurrent, invitation-only premiere screenings in 21 cities.
The business of being first lady, it turns out, is quite lucrative.
Melania Trump and her team, led by agent and senior adviser Marc Beckman, secured a $40 million deal with Amazon MGM Studios, plus a blockbuster $35 million marketing budget, according to a source familiar with the matter.
It all culminates Friday with a theatrical release across the globe that will test whether the significant public curiosity about the first lady can drive her fans – and even foes – to movie theaters at a time of slumping ticket sales.
The substance of the one hour, 44-minute film has been kept closely under wraps. Reporters have not received advance screeners, though Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo and Newsmax’s Greta Van Susteren are among the expected red carpet attendees at the Kennedy Center, whose facade now also bears Donald Trump’s name.
A synopsis of the documentary promises “exclusive footage capturing critical meetings, private conversations, and never-before-seen environments.”
And it was made with Melania Trump’s full participation and editorial control. She was deeply involved in the production, post production and promotional aspects of the film, Beckman said in an interview with One America News.
Directed by Brett Ratner, the film marks his first major project since 2017, when he was accused of sexual misconduct by numerous women. (Ratner has denied the allegations.)
When choosing a director for the project, Trump told Fox News, the most important thing was “that he puts out my idea, what I have, and cinematic film that I want to achieve. So he was the best one, and he was great to work with.”
The film’s trailer offered more questions than answers about the dynamic between the president and first lady. But while it’s expected to address their relationship, don’t expect the first lady to drop any major bombs – the president called it a “MUST WATCH” on Truth Social as he posted a link to buy tickets.
Some of the other broad themes can be gleaned from the film’s cast: The first lady’s interest in fashion appears to be a key player, with her longtime designers Hervé Pierre and Adam Lippes, who designed her navy Inauguration Day coat, taking prime billing.
Family factors in, with son Barron Trump, father Viktor Knavs and the president listed in the credits (but none of her stepchildren).
The appearance of fellow first spouses Brigitte Macron of France and Queen Rania of Jordan, suggests diplomacy could be a feature too. It’s possible Melania Trump’s Catholic faith plays a role, with Monsignor Joseph LaMorte and Father Enrique Salvo appearing.
Members of her small staff will also be featured: chief of staff Hayley Harrison, White House visitors office director Alexandra Veletsis and longtime aide Justin Caporale.
Photographer Régine Mahaux, hairstylist Mordechai Alvow, makeup artist Nicole Bryl and interior designer Tham Kannalikham will also be in the film. Kannalikham helped Trump decorate the White House private quarters during both terms and assisted with key restoration projects in the home’s public spaces.
“In the film, I speak about my passion for preservation and restoration,” Kannalikham said in a social media post.
While the film offers a massive payout to the first lady, it’s unclear if it will deliver for its production company, which has yet to publicly announce a streaming date. Prime Video has already committed to streaming an accompanying three-part docuseries with additional footage, according to an Amazon MGM Studios spokesperson.
Early signs indicate that the documentary’s enormous budget likely won’t be recouped during opening weekend, which is expected to generate between $2 and $5 million, according to an estimate from Boxoffice Pro, which notes that the film has “surged in bookings over the past ten days” and will open in approximately 1,500 locations domestically.
Amazon’s decision to partner with Trump may also be a political calculation — marking one of the tech titans’ many efforts to cozy up to the White House.
“We licensed the film for one reason and one reason only — because we think customers are going to love it,” an Amazon MGM Studios spokesperson said.
The company is taking the bet that there’s an in-person audience for the mysterious first lady.
“There is always an inherent curiosity about Melania Trump that goes beyond just the Trump political base liking her, admiring her. Will that put butts in the seats at movie theaters? You know, who knows?” said Kate Bennett, a former CNN journalist who chronicled the Trump family and author of “Free, Melania.”
She added: “It might, but it’s a very heavy investment for an Amazon studio to make in a woman whose forward-facing persona is very, very rarely seen, but is fleeting and not as ubiquitous as Michelle Obama’s or Jill Biden’s or Laura Bush.”
The first lady has kept an extremely low profile this term compared to the first, opting to spend the vast majority of her time in New York or Palm Beach, Florida. She has promoted several initiatives, including children in foster care, AI safety and the reunification of Ukrainian children allegedly abducted by Russia. But her preference, sources familiar with her thinking have said, is not to be publicly involved in her husband’s return to public office.
That shifted in the run-up to the film’s release, with the first lady scaling up her public schedule and sitting for a televised interview for the first time in more than a year. Trump is appearing on Fox News thrice this week – on “Fox & Friends” Tuesday, “The Five” Wednesday and in a taped interview with Fox Business’ “Mornings with Maria.”
That film’s release has come at an awkward time for the White House. The first couple proceeded with a private screening in the East Room on Saturday even as outrage mounted over the administration’s handling of the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis that morning. Guests, including Apple CEO Tim Cook and Amazon’s Andy Jassy, snacked on popcorn in custom “Melania” boxes and listened to a performance of the “Melania Waltz” in the Grand Foyer as Americans protested the 37-year-old ICU nurse’s killing.
“I’m against the violence. So if — please, if we protest, protest in peace, and we need to unify in these times,” Trump told Fox News’ Ainsley Earhardt when asked to address the shooting, offering a rare comment on current events.
On Wednesday morning, she appeared at the New York Stock Exchange, ringing the bell in front of “Melania” signage alongside a pair of NYSE executives.
The promotional campaign has extended to ads on television (including during the highly viewed NFL playoff games), on billboards, in subway stations, plastered on buses across the country and even encompassing the Sphere in Las Vegas.
The significant marketing budget, according to documentary filmmaker Stefano Da Frè, is likely bolstered by a belief the film will be a box office and streaming success. (Da Frè, who was not involved in the project, has directed multiple films streaming on Amazon and other platforms.)
Amazon, he told CNN in an interview last week, “didn’t just come up with that number randomly. They believe, through their metrics, that it’s worth that amount.”
It is largely unprecedented for a sitting first lady to actively profit off of her position. Many of Trump’s predecessors have written books or hit the speaking circuit — but always after leaving office.
Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton, for example, both waited until after departing the White House to publish memoirs, with Obama’s “Becoming” now the fastest-selling memoir of all time.
Jill Biden kept her day job while serving as first lady. Teaching English at a local community college earned her $85,985 in 2023, according to tax returns.
Eleanor Roosevelt, who wrote syndicated newspaper advice columns, might offer the closest comparison. In 1937, she sold her autobiography rights to Ladies’ Home Journal for $75,000 — that’d be just under $2 million today. Critics at the time “accused her of using her media gigs to financially profit from her role as first lady,” according to the National Endowment for the Humanities, but she also donated much of her earnings.
The optics of Trump’s film feel different, Bennett said. “We’re watching somebody with perhaps one of the biggest global platforms in the world choose to use it primarily when she has a promotional endeavor.”
But she added: “You do have to ask the question – is that so bad? The role of first lady is such a weird, antiquated role. Women do put their lives on hold, their incomes on hold, just because their husbands were elected. And is it time, in 2026, to think about the role differently?”