As Donald Trump took to the stage in Florida’s Palm Beach Convention Center to declare victory in the US elections, Melania Trump was the model wife.
The 54-year-old graced the stage hand-in-hand with President-elect Trump, 78, before he praised his ‘beautiful wife’ for her dedication and for ‘working very hard to help people’ in his victory speech.
The former First Lady is likely on her way back to the White House as Donald Trump hailed a new ‘golden age of America’ – during which she is expected to be by his side, after four years of avoiding the spotlight and her husband’s numerous scandals.
Model and businesswoman Melania largely stayed off of the campaign trail for this turbulent election, though did appear at the Republican National Convention in July before introducing her husband at a Madison Square Garden event last month.
However, the intensely private Slovenian-American now finds herself set for another highly public four-year spell in the White House, whose well-manicured surroundings she once compared to a Venezuelan prison.
Body language expert Judi James has analysed Melania’s behaviour on the stage in Florida – and believes the new First Lady-in-waiting was a ‘star in her own right’, shining brightly independently from her newly elected husband.
And while she boldly beamed as the 45th and 47th President took to the stage, there was a ‘familiar awkwardness’ to how the pair interacted.
She told Paddy Power Games: ‘First time around (the 2016 victory speech) Melania was back in the chorus line, this time she was promoted as a star in her own right and Trump’s gesticulation and touch rituals with her gave the impression that he seeks support and strength from her rather than the other way round.
‘He even turned to throw his arms out for a congratulatory hug to her. Melania responded with both hands held out palms-up and there was a familiarly awkward-looking moment before the couple docked.’
The body language could, she suggested, ‘reveal a much more united and evenly-status POTUS and FLOTUS’ – but Ms James also suggested Melania might even be tersely babying her husband, and retains the upper hand in her personal life after years of avoiding her husband’s spotlight.
‘A revealing signal of Melania’s power and confidence came as she stretched an arm out to place her hand on Trump’s back to steer (or gently push) him back to the lectern,’ she continued.
‘A final signal of Trump’s new power dynamic with Melania came when another guy took to the mic and Trump edged across to his wife to push his fingers into her hand like a small child seeking reassurance from its mother.’
She has been living in an apartment in Trump Tower, New York City, with son Barron, 18, as he undertakes his studies at New York University – and sources have suggested she will continue living there and, on occasion, at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.
Melania reportedly hated living at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue – and once infamously compared the presidential palace to a Venezuelan military prison.
