By DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Melania Trump is capping her first year back as first lady with the global release of a documentary she produced about the 20 days leading up to husband Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
A private person, Melania Trump remains a bit of a mystery to the public in her husband’s second term. “Melania” premiered Thursday at the Kennedy Center, where the Trumps were the final VIPs to walk a charcoal-colored runway for the event. The film opens in theaters worldwide Friday.
“I want to show the audience my life, what it takes to be a first lady again and (the) transition from private citizen back to the White House,” Melania Trump told reporters, adding that audiences will see how she conducts her businesses and philanthropy, cares for her family and sets up her White House team.
“It’s beautiful, it’s emotional, it’s fashionable, it’s cinematic and I’m very proud of it,” she said.
The documentary, which was produced by AmazonMGM Studios and is said to have cost $40 million, will stream exclusively on the Amazon Prime Video streaming service after its theatrical run in approximately 1,600 screens worldwide Friday, including about 1,500 in the United States.
But director Brett Ratner said he would not measure success by how the film performs at the box office. “It’s a documentary and documentaries historically have not been huge box office smashes,” he told reporters on his way into the premiere. “You can’t expect a documentary to play in theaters.”
Several members of the president’s Cabinet and of Congress, along with conservative commentators, attended the showing in the Kennedy Center’s Opera House.
The Republican president saw the nearly two-hour film for the first time at a private White House screening over the weekend. He said Thursday that he thought it was “really great.”
“But it really brings back a glamour that you just don’t see anymore,” Trump said. “Our country can use a little bit of that, right?”
Melania Trump has said the film shows her behind-the-scenes life as she juggles being a businessperson, a wife and a mother, as well as the coordinator of her family’s move back to the Executive Mansion.
“Everyone wants to know. So here it is,” she said in the movie trailer.
‘Here we go again’
In another scene from the trailer, it is Inauguration Day and Melania Trump is inside the Capitol, waiting to be escorted into the Rotunda for the ceremony. She turns her head, looks directly into the camera that had been documenting her every move and says, “Here we go again.”
She wrote in her self-titled memoir published in 2024 about how much she values her privacy. She is not as frequently seen or heard from as often as some of her recent predecessors, which may be influencing the public’s perceptions of her. But she also likes to do things her way.
The U.S. public is divided on their views of the first lady, but a significant number — about 4 in 10 adults — had no opinion or had not heard of her, according to a CNN poll from January 2025. About 3 in 10 adults saw her favorably while roughly the same share had an unfavorable opinion.
Her standing among Republicans was higher, with about 7 in 10 saying in the poll that they viewed her favorably, but around one-quarter did not have an opinion.
“I think it’s an attempt, in a way, to really augment or tailor or really refine her image for the American public,” said Katherine Sibley, who teaches history at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. “She’s a mystery to the American people.”
First lady cites impactful first year of second Trump term
Melania Trump, 55, said she’s honored to execute the traditional duties of first lady, such as planning state dinners, hosting the annual Easter Egg Roll and decorating for Christmas. But she also has suggested she wants to leave her mark in other ways, too.
She spent chunks of time away from Washington last year working on the documentary and was deeply involved in every aspect of its development, according to Marc Beckman, her longtime senior adviser.
The well-being and safety of children remains one of her top priorities, and she used her influence to lobby Congress to pass the “Take It Down Act,” making it a federal crime to publish intimate images online without consent. The president signed the bill into law and had her sign it, too.
Her advocacy for foster children was enshrined in an executive order creating a “Fostering the Future” program. It’s part of the “Be Best” child-focused initiative she launched in the first term.
She also wrote to Russian President Vladimir Putin last year for help reuniting children who had been separated from their families because of his war against Ukraine. She had her husband hand-deliver the letter when the leaders met in Alaska, and she later announced that eight children had been reunited with their families.
The first lady has a prominent role in the Republican administration’s efforts on artificial intelligence and education and recently launched a global version of the foster child program.
She told guests at a White House Christmas reception that she is working on a new legislative effort for 2026, but has not yet shared details.
‘Melania’ more than a year in the making
It was unclear how much money Melania Trump stands to earn or what her plans are for any film proceeds. Experts said it was unusual for a first lady to pursue a project of this kind from the White House — but not unusual for the Trumps.
“As far as I know, she’s the first first lady to be paid a lot of money to have a documentary made about her and it is unprecedented in terms of the Trumps because they are always breaking precedent,” said Katherine Jellison, professor emerita of history at Ohio University.
Presidents and first ladies generally refrain from pursuing outside business ventures while in office to avoid potential conflicts of interest or raising ethical concerns.
Both Trumps participate in numerous business ventures, selling everything from watches, fragrances and Bibles for him to jewelry, Christmas ornaments and digital collectibles for her.
The movie also marks another link between the Trumps and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who has worked to improve a once-tense relationship with the president. Amazon has declined to comment on the financial arrangements for the documentary.
The movie is the first project by Ratner since he was accused of sexual misconduct in the early days of the #MeToo reckoning. Ratner’s lawyer has denied the allegations.
He shares producer credits with the first lady, Beckman and Fernando Sulichin of New Element Media. Filming began in December 2024.
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Associated Press writer Linley Sanders contributed to this report.