By Betsy Klein, CNN
(CNN) — 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.
What to expect
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 Read more