ice queens

MAGA wig snatch! Melania & Ivanka’s cold war was even nastier than we thought, according to scathing new tell-all

The cold war between Ivanka Trump Kushner and Melania Trump takes center stage in Katie Rogers’ new book “American Woman: The Transformation of the Modern First Lady, from Hillary Clinton to Jill Biden.”

Rogers digs into the pair’s icy relationship, which was reportedly never great to begin with but got especially frigid after Donald Trump took office.

In case you need a refresher, Melania refused to move out of Trump Tower and into the White House for six months after her husband’s inauguration. She said she was staying back so son Barron, who was 10 at the time, could finish out the school year.

But according sources who spoke to Rogers, Mrs. Trump was actually holding “meetings with teams of lawyers to examine her assets and attend to matters associated with her pre- and postnuptial agreements with her husband.”

Melania was laser-focused on her and Barron’s financial security and, according to former top aide, Stephanie Grisham, “She had very separate finances that she watched very carefully, and she had her own lawyers that she met with a good amount.”

Rogers says that while Melania was busy in New York tending to all of that, Ivanka seized upon the opportunity. She swooped in and immediately got to work revamping the East Wing of the White House to better suit her own personal needs.

Trump’s eldest daughter planned to usurp her stepmother’s role by overtaking her quarters while she was away, Rogers writes. Her intent was to make the East Wing “geared to serving the entire First Family, not just the First Lady.”

She also reportedly got her dad to agree to let her share FLOTUS responsibilities with Melania, with him going to far as to tell reporters shortly after taking office that she would be “helping [Melania] and working with her” to carry out her duties.

This didn’t sit so well with the once-aspiring-model-turned-trophy-wife, however, who was now seething inside her gilded penthouse back in New York.

“She was aware that her husband had suggested that his eldest daughter would be helping to share the responsibilities of being First Lady, and this was not a development that pleased her,” Rogers writes in the book, adding that Melania put the kibosh on Ivanka’s co-FLOTUSing plans, then started referring to her as “the Princess” behind her back.

Eventually, Melania packed up her Louis Vuitton luggage and moved into the White House. But for rest of her husband’s single term in office, the tension between stepmother and stepdaughter was almost palpable.

In the book, Rogers also brings up Melania’s infamous $39 “I really don’t care, do you?” Zara jacket, which she wore ahead of her visit migrant children being caged at the southern border in June 2018.

According to the author, at the time, Mrs. Trump and Mrs. Kushner “were locked in a quiet competition for press coverage” and the jacket was a power play in a petty game to see who could get more for media attention.

Melania was reportedly so “obsessed” with how she was being covered at that time that she would scroll every single “mention of her name in the press and often trawled Twitter to see what the press, her critics, and her supporters were saying about her.”

The ex-FLOTUS’s camp told Rogers that the meetings with her lawyers happened, but they wouldn’t elaborate on what was discussed, other than to say the conversations centered around her “businesses and assets.”

“Mrs. Trump had a successful career before she met her husband and has always had her own businesses and assets,” a spokesperson said. “As an accomplished professional, she frequently meets with her counsel.”

They also didn’t comment on her frosty relationship with her stepdaughter.

Ironically, after constantly vying for Trump’s attention and approval during his time in the White House, neither of the women seem the least bit interested in the 77-year-old today.

Ivanka announced in November 2022, shortly after her dad announced his third bid for the presidency, that she wouldn’t be taking part in his campaign this time around.

“I love my father very much. This time around, I’m choosing to prioritize my young children and the private life we are creating as a family,” she told Fox News Digital. “I do not plan to be in politics. While I will always love and support my father, going forward I will do so outside the political arena.”

So far, she’s kept her word, and appears fully invested in reinventing herself as #SocialiteBarbie on social media.

Meanwhile, Melania’s been completely MIA for the campaign trail. She hasn’t attended a single on of her husband’s rallies, has been absent from almost all of his private fundraising events, and has given a total of–checks notes–one interview.

Speaking to Fox News almost a year ago, Mrs. Trump plugged her NFT business then spoke briefly about her husband’s latest run for office, which she said she fully backed.

“He has my support, and we look forward to restoring hope for the future and leading America with love and strength,” she remarked.

Since then, she’s spent most of her time hiding out at Mar-a-Lago. But during a Fox News town hall last week hosted by homophobe Laura Ingraham, Trump promised his wife would be joining him on the campaign trail “soon.”

“It’s funny, she was a very successful model, very, very successful, and yet she was a private person,” he said. “She’s going to be out a lot. Not because she likes doing it, but she likes the results. She wants to see this country really succeed. She loves the country.”

“American Woman: The Transformation of the Modern First Lady, from Hillary Clinton to Jill Biden” hits bookstore shelves February 27.

Don't forget to share:

Help make sure LGBTQ+ stories are being told...

We can't rely on mainstream media to tell our stories. That's why we don't lock Queerty articles behind a paywall. Will you support our mission with a contribution today?

Cancel anytime · Proudly LGBTQ+ owned and operated