Highlights

• Melania believes Vogue is biased, only choosing certain first ladies for covers due to party affiliation and the polarizing nature of Donald Trump.
• Despite claims of never being offered, it's revealed that Melania turned down a Vogue feature as they couldn't guarantee the cover.
• Republican first ladies, like Melania, historically have not been granted Vogue covers, potentially due to political affiliations and the publication's audience.

Melania Trump is best known for being the wife of Donald Trump and for being the former first lady of the United States. But before Melania was thrust into the limelight of politics, she worked as a model. Melania was a wanted entity in Paris and Milan and was doing well with her career.

In 1996, Melania moved from the fashion hubs in Europe and started a life in New York City. While there, she continued with her modeling career, appearing on the covers of publications like InStyle, New York Magazine, Harper's Bazaar, British GQ, and more. Melania is no stranger to print work or being put front and center of magazines to sell copies.

When Melania met Donald in 1998, she admitted their encounter was inappropriate. However, Melania was intrigued and eventually married Donald in 2005 in a marriage that Melania claims is equal between the two. The month after the wedding, Melania appeared on the cover of Vogue in her wedding dress. Many thought that she would appear on the cover after becoming first lady., something that has become a tradition over the years. However, a cover was not meant to be.

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While some may question Melania's absence from the coveted publication, Melania Trump has a specific theory about why she did not get a Vogue cover as the first lady, and she didn't mince words when asked about it. Here is why Melania believes she did not get the cover of Vogue, the opportunity that Melania was offered by the publication, and why Melania's party affiliation may have precluded her from ever getting the cover of Vogue.

Melania Trump Believes That She Did Not Get The Cover Of Vogue Because The Publication Is "Biased"

Melania Trump claimed that Vogue only chose particular first ladies to be on the cover and specifically excluded others

Before Melania was the first lady, there was a tradition of putting first ladies on the cover of Vogue. Hillary Clinton was on the cover once and Michelle Obama was on the cover three times. After Melania, Jill Biden was on the cover. Even Kamala Harris was a cover girl for the publication.

But in the four years that Melania was in the East Wing of the White House, she never received the distinction, and in an interview, Melania explained why she thinks she didn't get a cover.

"They're biased. They have likes and dislikes and it's so obvious and I think everyone see it," Melania stated when asked about the Vogue cover. "I have much more important things to do and I did in the White House than being on the cover of Vogue."

Melania went on to say, "People I see always criticize me whatever I do and I'm used to that. I move forward and I'm here to helping people and that is the mission."

Not being included in the group of first ladies who were profiled in Vogue did not appear to upset Melania after she was no longer in the White House. Donald doubled down on the subject in September 2023 when he was asked about Melania's absence from the cover by Megyn Kelly.

"Can you believe it? Can you believe it? She was on the cover of Vogue before she met me," Donald said about Melania. "But once I said I'm running for president, that was, that was the end of the cover."

Donald went on to say, "And it's so sad. But she doesn't care. She's been on the cover of the magazines for a long time, and she was on the cover of Vogue before. And she was actually very friendly with [Vogue editor] Anna Wintour. But once I ran for politics, that was the end of that. And that's OK."

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What is interesting, however, is that despite what both Melania and Donald have said in their respective interviews, it appears that Melania was offered an opportunity to be in Vogue yet turned it down.

Melania Trump Was Offered A Spot In Vogue But Was Not Guaranteed The Cover

Vogue offered Melania Trump the opportunity to be in the magazine, but she wasn't promised a cover shoot

While Melania and Donald contend that Melania was never offered any opportunity to be involved with Vogue, Melania's former friend and senior advisor, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff tells a different story in her book, Melania and Me: The Rise and Fall of My Friendship With the First Lady. In it, not only does Winston Wolkoff claim that Melania was offered the opportunity to be in Vogue but she states Melania turned the publication down because they could not "guarantee" her the cover.

"Vogue reached out to Melania, hoping to schedule an Annie Leibovitz photo shoot of the First Lady in the White House, with writer Rob Haskell shadowing her for a few days to write a profile," Winston Wolkoff wrote. "All that sounded great, but the magazine could not guarantee that Melania would appear on the cover."

Winston Wolkoff went on to state, "For the record, not all First Ladies are put on the cover of Vogue. Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton, yes. Laura and Barbara Bush, no. Melania wasn’t going to do anything for Vogue or any other magazine if she wasn’t going to be on the cover. 'Give me a break!' she texted. 'Forget it.'"

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Melania reportedly has a high IQ, and it could be that she could read the room when it came to Vogue. With Anna Wintour choosing who gets to be on the cover, and the fact that she and Melania did not have a great relationship, despite what Donald claimed, Melania knew she would never get the coveted spot.

Instead, Melania would be downgraded from her previous 2005 cover and a 14-page spread

Melania Trump's Party Affiliation Could Have Soured Her Opportunities At A Vogue Cover

Republican first wives have not been featured on the cover of Vogue since the publication began in 1892

In addition to Melania and Anna not having a good relationship with one another, Melania had other factors working against her that ultimately precluded her from being on the cover of Vogue. The first was that Donald tended to be very polarizing to the core audience and having Melania on the cover likely would not have helped the publication sell.

Secondly, Melania's Republican Party affiliation all but made the possibility of being on the cover dead in the water, given that Vogue historically puts Democrat first ladies on the cover, but not Republicans.

Since Vogue was first published in 1892, it has never put a Republican first lady on the cover. Many have appeared inside the pages of the magazine but have never been offered top billing for the publication. Cases in point, according to Fox News, Nancy Reagan, Laura Bush, and Barbara Bush were featured in the magazine but were never cover ladies. All the recent Democrat first ladies from Hillary to Jill have all had covers.

The story that Melania tells about Vogue being "biased" could very well be true, but it's also true that she passed on an opportunity to appear in the magazine, possibly sacrificing an opportunity to grace the cover, too.

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