From Left: Donald and Melania Trump on Nov. 6, 2024. Photo:
Chip Somodevilla/Getty
Donald Trump has shared that Melania Trump will be joining him in the White House for his second term.
The president-elect, 78, revealed in a new interview with TIME — while being named the magazine’s 2024 Person of the Year on Thursday, Dec. 12 — that the former first lady, 54, will be “active when she needs to be” during his next four years as president.
“Oh yes,” Trump said when asked if Melania will be staying at the White House. “She was, she was very, she actually became very active towards the end, as you saw with interviews. And she does — she does them well. People really watch.”
From Left: Donald and Melania Trump on Oct. 17, 2024. TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty
“She’s very beloved by the people, Melania,” the politician added of his wife of nearly 20 years. “And they like the fact that she’s not out there in your face all the time for many reasons. Many political people have that, you know. But she’s, she’s really, they really like her. They really love her. Actually, in many ways, when I make speeches, we love our first lady. They have signs, we love our first lady. No, she’ll be–she’ll be active, when she needs to be, when she needs to be.”
Days before Trump secured the presidency during the the 2024 election in early November, sources close to Melania and the Trump family sounded off on the potential of her relocating again to the White House.
One source close to the Trumps told PEOPLE at the time that Melania would “not likely” make the White House her primary residence, and that she was reportedly hoping to spend more time in New York City with their 18-year-old son, Barron Trump, who just began his first year of studies at New York University.
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From Left: Melania, Barron and Donald Trump in November 2024. Joe Raedle/Getty
“As much as Melania loves Mar-a-Lago and her life in Palm Beach, she will spend more time in New York with her son, who is more important to her than anything else,” the source said of the coming months. “If her husband is elected, she will attend the White House functions that she is asked to attend just as she always has. Melania knows what to do, yet has a mind of her own.”
The source added, “That has not and will not change if former president Trump wins the election.”
Another source added that she’d embrace all she’s asked of for her role as first lady. “Barron’s safety and well being will always remain at the top of her priority list, but that doesn’t mean she would shirk her duties as first lady should that opportunity come again,” the source believed.
