Featured Image Credit: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images
Topics: Melania Trump, Donald Trump, Sex and Relationships, Politics, US News, Celebrity
Rhiannon Ingle
Topics: Melania Trump, Donald Trump, Sex and Relationships, Politics, US News, Celebrity
Melania Trump speaks about 'the power of love' during a solo appearance without her husband, Donald Trump.
The 54-year-old First Lady and the 78-year-old Republican leader, who first tied the knot in 2005, made several joint appearances during his campaign last year.
However, following Trump's inauguration in January, many people were quick to wonder where Melania was after the couple were also spotted engaged in a number of public outings without each other—although there was a particular reason for that.
In a recent solo outing, Melania spoke at the State Department's International Women of Courage Awards on Tuesday (1 April), where women are given awards on the basis of 'exceptional courage, strength, and leadership in advocating for peace, justice, human rights, and the empowerment of women and girls, and more, often at great personal risk and sacrifice', ABC News reports.
Advert
During her speech, Melania shared with the crowd an insight into her personal life and how she uses 'love' to help her during 'challenging' times'.
"Throughout my life, I have harnessed the power of love as a source of strength during challenging times. Love has inspired me to embrace forgiveness, nurture empathy, and exhibit bravery in the face of unforeseen obstacles," she said.
"Today, we celebrate courage - a strength that is based in love."
She continued to say that the award recipients were from 'diverse and regions yet love transcends boundaries and territories', adding that their courage 'propels us of humanity forward' by 'advocating to end violence against women and girls, promoting democratic governance, defending human rights, championing education and fighting injustice'.
Melania added the nominated women showed that 'courage drives us forward, it is love that lays the groundwork for lasting impact, each act of love can spark a ripple of transformation'.
Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, also spoke about the 'the importance of protecting women and girls and promoting their well-being [as] American goals', adding that this was also a 'strong goal' of President Trump.
According to a source, Melania 'will never be a traditional First Lady' as 'that isn’t who she is' so her decision to 'step back' shouldn't come as a surprise, as they told PEOPLE: "[She] her own ideas on what she wants to do."
Earlier this year, it was reported that she'd bagged a documentary deal with Amazon which will tell her life story - from her childhood in Slovenia, her modelling career, and her marriage to Trump.
Having being filmed in 2024 and due to be released in the second half of 2025, Melania will be an executive producer alongside Fernando Sulichin of New Element Media and Brett Ratner of RatPac Entertainment, who will be the director.
"Prime Video will be sharing more details on the project as filming progresses and release plans are finalised," an Amazon spokesperson said in a statement.
"We are excited to share this truly unique story with our millions of customers around the world."