Why So Glum, Melania?

America’s new first lady looked miserable on the day her husband was inaugurated and seems unhappy being in the public eye.

- Jane Vorster

SMILE and wave – that’s a big part of your job when you’re America’s first lady. Shame, Melania Trump gives it her best shot, but somehow – even though she’s a former model – her grinal ways looks more like a grimace. Try as she might, she can’t help letting her true feelings show.

But why is she always so miserable? Her interaction with her husband, Donald Trump, on Inauguration Day in January, when he was sworn in as America’s 45th president, was so strained and uncomfortable that it sparked speculation about the state of their marriage. Surely that must explain why she’s choosing to stay on in New York instead of moving into the White House?

Melania (46) looked so unhappy on her husband’s big day that she inspired a #FreeMelania drive on Twitter and messages of solidarity such as, “Melania: Blink twice if you need help.”

But insiders say it isn’t Trump’s fault that his wife often looks as if she’s about to burst into tears. The real reason is that she really hates her new job. Before, she was a woman of leisure, able to do exactly as she pleased. Now she’s had this new role foisted upon her and there are so many expectations.

“This life wasn’t her dream. It was Donald’s,” says family friend and stylist Phillip Bloch. “Truthfully, it’s a lot to cope with.”

Maybe that explains why Trump’s third wife has been keeping a low profile since the inauguration. As foreign dignitaries such as Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau and Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe swung by for their first diplomatic visits to the new president she was nowhere in sight.

It’s rather ironic: in her new role she’s one of the world’s most prominent women, and yet for the first month of her husband’s term of office she’s been largely invisible.