US first lady Melania Trump is rich, but everyone is keen to know her exact net worth especially since her husband, President Donald Trump, is a billionaire.
Irrespective of the political camp one may be in the US, most would agree that Melania is one of the most remarkable figures at the centre of American politics and the media. Her rise from a well-off but ordinary family in Slovenia to the White House, the official residence of the US president and, as such, the most powerful building in the world, is truly impressive.
When Trump took office as US president for the first time in 2017, Melania became the first naturalised citizen, second foreign-born and second Catholic to become the First Lady of the US. With Trump succeeding Joe Biden as the new US president in 2025, she became the second First Lady to serve two non-consecutive terms.
Melania had already established a name for herself before marrying Donald, gracing major fashion magazines and headlining advertising campaigns both in Europe and the US.
Many have noted that even though she is married to Donald, who has had his share of controversies due to his marriages and affairs, Melania maintains a fiercely independent identity, which was on display during her state visit to Israel in 2017.
Though she maintains a lower profile than her predecessors, Melania has made headlines for her fashion choices, philanthropic activities and business interests. And even if she may not be drawing any paychecks as first lady, her net worth is certainly higher than possibly anyone in that role before.
Melania Trump’s net worth, earnings and life as First Lady
The net worth of Melania Trump is reportedly in the range of USD 50-70 million.
Known earnings
A CNN report citing financial disclosures by Donald Trump in August 2024 revealed that Melania earned USD 237,500 in April 2024 to address Log Cabin Republicans in Palm Beach, Florida. She also earned more than USD 330,000 for a licensing agreement for the sale of digital trading cards or non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
Back in 2017, an Associated Press (AP) review revealed that two of her businesses, Melania Marks Accessories Member Corp and its subsidiary, Melania Marks Accessories LLC, were active.
“Those companies managed between USD 15,000 and USD 50,000 in royalties from her accessories lines, the Trumps’ May 2016 financial disclosure filing shows,” reported AP.
In 2018, NBC News revealed that Melania earned “at least $100,000 from Getty Images for the use of any of a series of 187 photos of the first family shot between 2010 and 2016”.
The report cited Trump’s May 2018 financial disclosure for the year 2017 and revealed that the royalties ranged from USD 100,000 to USD 1,000,000.
All the photos were taken by Belgian photographer Régine Mahaux, who, interestingly, took the official portrait of Melania for her second term as First Lady. This new portrait, released by the White House on 27 January 2025, shows Melania in a single-breasted tuxedo jacket by Italian luxury brand Dolce & Gabbana. The black-and-white photograph shot in the Yellow Oval Room of the White House made global headlines.
Melania reportedly received USD 40 million as part of a licensing deal for her documentary from Amazon MGM Studios. The documentary, which will offer a “behind the scenes” look at her life, has already started filming and will be released on Amazon Prime Video in the first half of 2025.
Businesses and other avenues
Her businesses include Melania Timepieces & Jewelry, which was launched in 2010. It is believed that around half of the current net worth of Melania Trump is a result of the success of the business. There is also her eponymous official website where custom jewellery is sold for as much as USD 600 a piece alongside NFTs.
On the subject of NFTs, Melania has been a major name in the digital currency space. A day before Trump’s inauguration as the 47th US President on 20 January 2025, she launched her own cryptocurrency, the $Melania coin (also known as Official Melania Meme), following the debut of the $Trump coin (or Official Trump).
At the time, CoinMarketCap showed that the market valuation of the $Melania coin stood at USD 1.7 billion while that of the $Trump was around USD 12 billion. By 21 February 2025, the market cap of the Official Melania Meme was at around USD 688 million while that of Official Trump was at USD 3.42 billion.
On 8 October 2024, she released her memoir, MELANIA, via publishing house Skyhorse.
Following the victory of her husband in the 2024 presidential elections against Democratic contender and then vice-president Kamala Harris, Melania’s book saw a rise in demand.
According to Forbes, the book was #1 spot on the New York Times bestseller list in combined formats of print and e-book non-fiction and hardcover non-fiction. It was also #1 best-selling book on Amazon and #1 on Barnes and Noble’s bestselling books list.
But even though sales may be high, NewsNation reported that Melania may not have been paid an advance sum as high as her predecessors, such as a USD 8 million advance to Hillary Clinton and a USD 65 million advance to Michelle Obama as part of a joint deal with Barack Obama for their respective books.
However, the same report adds that Melania might end up earning more.
About how she might earn, the report cited a source saying, “The money goes straight to you. You don’t have to ‘earn out’ your advance. You don’t have to wait for obscure accounting to take effect on how much you get in royalties. It’s a clear split — however much they decided, what percentage each party gets — and you get the fruits of your rewards immediately.”
As for the book, it traces her journey from childhood to her time as the First Lady in Trump’s first term. Among the interesting revelations in the book are her pro-choice view regarding abortion, which stands in direct contradiction to Trump’s, as well as her clarification on what exactly happened in 2017 when she infamously swatted her husband’s hand away in Tel Aviv.
“The red carpet simply could not accommodate four of us abreast. It was a minor innocent gesture, nothing more,” she wrote, referring to the moment captured on video when Trump walked with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, with Melania almost falling behind.
What does Melania Trump own?
Donald Trump’s financial disclosures throw light on the assets owned by Melania Trump.
A disclosure in 2018 revealed that Melania purchased a one-bedroom, 1.5-bath apartment in Manhattan’s Trump Tower for USD 1.5 million at the height of her husband’s presidential campaign in January 2016.
The apartment, 33H, was purchased at Trump Tower from the building’s condo board, reported People.com. The report said that it was assigned a value between USD 1,000,001 and USD 5,000,000. Her husband owns a penthouse 35 floors above in the same tower.
Some reports suggest she has been living in the penthouse ever since she moved in with Trump in 2001, the year she got her green card. She also gave a tour of the penthouse to Fox News host Greta Van Susteren in 2016.
Ever since she officially began a relationship with Trump, Melania has also been a resident of his Mar-a-Lago estate — the ultra-luxurious beachfront property with a Spanish-Moorish-style palace in Palm Beach, Florida.
Additionally, her parents own a house in the posh Ribniki neighbourhood of Sevnica, a town in Slovenia where Melania spent most of her childhood.
A look at the life and career of Melania Trump
Melania Trump was born Melanija Knavs on 26 April 1970 in the city of Novo Mesto in the Socialist Republic of Slovenia, part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Following the break-up of Yugoslavia into five successor states, the city is now part of Slovenia lying close to the border with Croatia.
Her father, Viktor, worked as a chauffeur before becoming a car dealer while her mother worked for a cloth maker. She has an older sister, Ines, and an older half-brother, Denis Cigelnjak, from her father’s previous relationship. Multiple reports confirm that the family lived fairly well in the then-communist Yugoslavia, compared to most others at the time.
Melania, who loved modelling from an early age, was spotted at the age of 16 by Slovenian fashion photographer Stane Jerko. After a short stint in Yugoslavia and subsequent Slovenia’s fashion scene, she jetted off to Italy for better opportunities. She changed her name around this time to Melania Knauss.
Following successful modelling assignments with names such as Gucci, Valentino, Chanel and Dior in Italy and France, Melania met Metropolitan modelling agency partner Paolo Zampolli in 1995.
Zampolli advised her to move to the US and Melania arrived in New York City in 1996, as also mentioned in her profile on the White House official site. Multiple reports suggest that it was Zampolli who introduced Melania to Trump at a New York Fashion Week party in Times Square’s Kit Kat Club in 1998.
They were married in 2005 in a lavish ceremony at the Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea in Palm Beach, Florida.
Following her marriage, she officially became part of the Trump family. As such, she became the stepmother to Trump’s four children from his previous two marriages: Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, Ivanka Trump and Tiffany Trump.
Their star-studded reception at Mar-a-Lago featured guests like former President Bill Clinton and Oprah Winfrey among others.
Melania and Trump had a child, Barron William Trump, in 2006, the same year she became a US citizen.
Except for professional assignments and official commitments, Melania has almost always stayed away from the spotlight both before and after her marriage to Trump.
During and after her first term as First Lady, Melania worked on the BE BEST initiative, which she established in 2018 for the welfare of children. She also launched the Fostering the Future initiative to provide college-level scholarships to those who emerge out of the foster care system.
According to the White House, the funds for the scholarship “are provided by a portion of the revenue generated from her Web 2 and Web 3 platforms on melaniatrump.com and usamemorabilia.com”.
(Hero and Featured images: Courtesy of Régine Mahaux, Public domain via Wikimedia Commons)