August 24, 2026 at 11:56am EDT

Melania Trump has never been one to make a public appearance without a reason, but a former White House insider claims there may be an even more surprising motivation behind her attendance.

Former White House deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews spoke to MeidasTouch’s On Sunday with Jack Cocchiarella podcast to give insight about the Melania’s mindset in her role as first lady. Matthews worked for Donald Trump‘s first administration and claimed that she “never met” Melania when she was “working on the campaign for a year and then at the White House for the last seven months of the first admin.”

It’s not surprising to hear that Melania was checked out from her White House role, but Matthews also revealed an intriguing part of the first lady’s relationship with Donald Trump.

Matthews shared, “…It’s been reported — that Melania gets paid for showing up at events when they were on the campaign trail, which is crazy to think that you have to pay your own wife to show up somewhere.”

The scrutiny behind Melania’s schedule comes after the Daily Beast investigated the first lady’s limited appearances this year. She had only been seen 38 times in public at official events as of August 9. Add in the ongoing controversy behind Donald Trump’s close aide, Natalie Harp, and the headlines are never-ending.

Still, Melania may have a supporter who doesn’t object to paying the first lady if she’s attending an event for her husband.

“I always felt that she didn’t want to be the first lady and she was unapologetic about it,” Kate Andersen Brower, author of First Women: The Grace and Power of America’s Modern First Ladies, told SheKnows in August 2023. “She wasn’t interested in doing what we expected of her.”

Brower acknowledged that the role of first lady is not an elected position and it is unpaid. So Melania “lowered the bar” for what is expected at the White House and has created a situation where the American public does not “expect to see or hear from her. If we do, it’s surprising.”

The current situation with Harp even has Matthews wondering if Melania’s “rate has gone up after all of this news, because I’m sure she doesn’t like any of this being out there — whether or not it’s true.”

It’s clear that Donald Trump’s Washington, D.C. ambitions are not shared by Melania. She’s more interested in pursuing her own passions that don’t include politics.