5 Times Melania & Donald Trump Sent Divorce Rumors Flying

Among the universe's many mysteries is the phenomenon of Donald and Melania Trump's marriage. The couple continues to baffle people by defying break-up rumors and carrying on with their relationship, and what makes this so amazing is the sheer quantity and magnitude of divorce rumors they've faced. The duo met in New York City in 1998 and married in 2005 at an opulent ceremony at Trump's resort, Mar-A-Lago, in Florida. They went on to welcome their only child, son Barron Trump, on March 20, 2006. 

Despite being married and sharing a child, Donald and Melania have faced divorce rumors steadily over their two-decade-long marriage. But the rumors have taught us that we don't really know Donald and Melania as a couple. When he celebrated his first term as president in 2017, many people speculated that Melania would leave. After all, her body language on the campaign trail spoke of someone miserable with her situation. On social media in 2017, people posted sayings like: "Melania: blink twice if you want us to save you." But as time has gone on, it's become clearer to people that Melania is very much in on her husband's mission of becoming and remaining president. A source told CNN in 2025 that Melania was a power player behind the scenes. "I think that a lot of people underestimate how normal of a couple they are ... He listens to her and seeks her counsel," they said. Despite that, the two have navigated divorce gossip for years. 

There's no denying the red flags in Donald and Melania Trump's marriage. Arguably, the worst of these were the ones about Donald's alleged affairs. While Donald has denied these claims, he allegedly had two affairs in 2006, right after his and Melania's son, Barron Trump, was born. The first was with Stormy Daniels, an adult film star, who claimed that she and Donald had an intimate encounter in 2006. Later, in 2016, Daniels said that she accepted $130,000 from Michael Cohen, Donald's lawyer, in exchange for her silence as Donald was on the political trail. 

The second allegation was about Donald's alleged relationship with former Playboy star Karen McDougal. She claims that their affair began in June 2006 and lasted for nine months. In 2016, the National Enquirer, owned by American Media Inc., paid $150,000 for the story in order to kill it. While American Media Inc. claimed that they didn't publish the story because there weren't credible sources, others speculated it was a case of "catch and kill." Melania commented on the rumors when she spoke with ABC News in 2018. "It is not concern and focus of mine," she began. "I'm a mother and a first lady, and I have much more important things to think about and to do. I know people like to speculate and media like to speculate about our marriage."

Melania Trump really stoked the fires of divorce rumors when she dragged her feet over moving to the White House following Donald Trump's inauguration on January 20, 2017. Typically, the first ladies and children move into the White House as a family unit with the president. However, when it came to Donald and Melania, things veered well outside that tradition. Melania chose to stay in New York City for much longer, claiming that she wanted to provide their son, Barron Trump, stability as he finished school. "Melania wants to stay in New York while her son goes to school," an insider told People at the time. "I don't know if she will ever live away from New York full time, especially with her son in school there. She loves her home in Manhattan and her independent life." 

Unsurprisingly, people speculated that their marriage was on the rocks, and that was the real reason for Melania's unwillingness to move into the White House. As the years have rolled along, people continue to speculate about this, particularly Melania's evident reluctance to fully inhabit her role in the White House. On the Daily Beast podcast in 2025, biographer Michael Wolff claimed that Donald and Melania were basically separated. "They clearly do not in any way inhabit a marriage as we define marriage," Wolff said, going on to say that they lived completely separate lives. 

Melania Trump doesn't exactly seem warm and fuzzy when it comes to public displays of affection. Donald Trump has been caught on camera making many attempts to hold his wife's hand or touch her, and Melania has pulled away from his touch. In some cases, these frosty returns could be accidental. She fixes her hair just as he reaches out his hand. In other cases, there is absolutely no denying that Melania did not want PDA by swatting away her husband's hand. 

The most widely circulated instance of this was when they arrived in Tel Aviv in 2017. As they walked down a red carpet, Melania appeared to be smacking away Donald's hand as he tried to reach for her. There have been other instances of similar interactions. In her 2024 memoir, "Melania," she addressed this situation. "The media's obsession with sensationalizing trivial gestures was evident as they distorted a simple moment between myself and my husband," Melania began. "As we walked down the red carpet, I gently waved away his attempt to hold my hand. The media labeled it as a 'swat' and used it as supposed evidence of marital discord." So Melania tried to set the record straight, but many didn't buy it. 

It's not just Donald Trump who has lived through gossip of alleged affairs. Melania Trump can't escape rumors about her love life, concerning an alleged romance with a blue-collar beau in New York City. To be fair, no one in the Trump family has confirmed any of this, but the gossip of marital strife hit a fever pitch in June 2017, when novelist Monica Byrne tweeted about it. "[W]ord is, for many years, Melania's been having an affair with the head of security at Tiffany's in the Trump Tower lobby," Byrne wrote in a since-deleted tweet, per Perez Hilton. But Byrne went on "...with DT's knowledge. They had an agreement (written, I think) that if DT lost the election, they'd get divorced. But then he won." 

Byrne went on to say that after Donald won, he and Melania had to renegotiate the terms of their marriage. She also claimed that the extramarital romance was the real reason that Melania didn't want to leave New York after Donald won the election and moved into the White House. It was another explanation, Byrne went on, as to why Melania looked so unhappy and why she took so long to join him at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. 

There are so many widespread rumors about Donald and Melania Trump's red flags and whispers of divorce that it's hard to imagine them navigating all of this. In fact, we've been so curious that we consulted an astrologist to see if Melania and Donald's marriage will last. It just seems like they've had to face so much. Fueling these divorce rumors is one more detail about their relationship. Allegedly, Donald and Melania don't share a bedroom at the White House. 

Biographer Kate Andersen Brower told People that the custom of sleeping in separate bedrooms was an older, European tradition common among aristocrats and the wealthy because it was a sign that a family could afford additional bedrooms. However, in the modern era, even in political spheres, this is much less common. "I think it's pretty unusual now to have a separate room from your husband," Andersen Brower explained. "I think that speaks volumes [about the Trumps]." However, people have continued to underestimate Melania's love of privacy and independence, even from her husband. And they seem to make it work for them year after year.