Melania Trump ‘complained Ivanka didn’t show her respect’

Melania Trump grumbled to her close friend that Ivanka didn’t show her respect as First Lady, was constantly trying to steal the spotlight and behaved like she was starring on The Apprentice again, DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal.

Melania’s former friend and staffer Stephanie Winston Wolkoff is set to release her book Melania and Me: The Rise and Fall of My Friendship with the First Lady next Tuesday.   

It was revealed on Monday by media reporter Yashar Ali that Wolkoff has tapes of Melania making disparaging remarks about Donald Trump and his children.

A source connected to the book has revealed to DailyMail.com that the 50-year-old’s particular gripe was with Ivanka, explaining Melania’s issues with her eldest step daughter kicked off when Trump was elected President.

The insider said: ‘Melania complained that Ivanka was always competing with her for his attention, as if she knew better and was more capable of being the First Lady.

‘Melania spoke out against Ivanka’s incessant need to involve herself in just about everything in the White House, even if it didn’t concern her. She would always find some way to meddle, someway to make her point be heard.’

Melania and her relationship with Ivanka has long been reported as tense. Previous reports claim Melania had been heard referring to Ivanka as ‘The Princess’, while a younger Ivanka called her step mother ‘The Portrait’ because she rarely spoke. 

However, this will be the first time the extent of the frostiness between the two will be laid bare in perhaps Melania’s own words. 

The source added to DailyMail.com: ‘There’s no warmth between those two.’

The crux of the issue is that Melania feels that Ivanka has ‘overstepped’ her boundaries in her role at the White House. 

When Trump took office in January 2017, Ivanka moved with her husband Jared Kushner to Washington D.C. She was named as Senior Advisor to the President – an unusual position for a child of the President’s.

Ivanka has drawn criticism several times for being at her father’s side at important political meetings and trips, such as the G20 summit in 2019.  

The source said: ‘Melania said Ivanka has not shown her the respect a First Lady deserves and is constantly trying to steal the spotlight by overstepping her boundaries and behaving like her father’s most trusted confidant a la The Apprentice.

‘Behind Ivanka’s back, Melania would often grumble to her inner circle that there’s only one First Lady and that her husband was the person elected, not his entire family, referring to his kids.’

In response to the initial reports that Wolkoff’s book included details that Melania trashed the Trump children, Melania’s closet aide Stephanie Grisham said she’s never heard her make such remarks.

‘No. I’ve never heard Mrs. Trump say anything disparaging about the family,’ Grisham, who serves as the first lady’s chief of staff, said on Tuesday.

She added: ‘They’re a close-knit family. She’s talked about them many times publicly.

‘I’ve heard a little bit about this book. I don’t know much about it. It sounds like it’s just another one of those books that unfortunately people are writing.’

Grisham also noted if Melania was recorded without her knowledge it was ‘unfortunate’ that she would be taken advantage of by a friend.

‘If there were any recordings taken it’s really unfortunate to take advantage of somebody’s trust like that while being a friend, but I don’t know much about the book. We’re focused on the work we’re doing,’ she said.

Wolkoff, the former director of special events at Vogue who headed nine Met galas, met Melania Knauss in 2003 and ‘had a front row seat to the transformation of Donald Trump’s then girlfriend from a rough-cut gem to a precious diamond,’ the book’s description reads.

Wolkoff served as an informal, unpaid adviser to Melania in the East Wing of the White House until February 2018 when she left the position amid controversy.

She was in the news at the time after reports showed that her firm, WIS Media Partners, received a $26 million payment for its work on the inaugural, with her personal take home was reported to be $1.62 million although later reports showed she received about $500,000 personally while the rest went to other producers working on the event.

Melania dismissed her from the East Wing with an email.

‘I am sorry that the professional part of our relationship has come to an end, but I am comforted in the fact that our [friendship] far outweigh[s] politics,’ the first lady wrote. ‘Thank you Again! Much love.’

But the source told DailyMail.com that their friendship did not survive, explaining: ‘Melania doesn’t really have any close friends who have her best interests at heart.’

‘Stephanie was one of those types of friends. When others backed off, she offered her undivided attention and support to Melania.

‘Unfortunately this type of loyalty and trust was not reciprocated and in the end Stephanie was made the scapegoat.

‘This is a person who risked everything, her friends, her reputation, her career to do good by Melania. She always had her back professionally and personally.

‘Stephanie’s integrity and work ethic speaks for itself. She’s not looking to make a buck off her book. This isn’t about money, it’s about exposing the truth.’

The book will address some of the most controversial and infamous moments involving Melania Trump, including Stormy Daniels’ claim she had an affair with Trump, which he has denied, and that infamous jacket she wore: ‘I really don’t care, do u?’

The pre-order blurb for the book hints at a string of revelations.

‘How did Melania react to the Access Hollywood tape and her husband’s affair with Stormy Daniels? Does she get along well with Ivanka? Why did she wear that jacket with ‘I really don’t care, do u?’ printed on the back? Is Melania happy being First Lady? And what really happened with the inauguration’s funding of $107 million? Wolkoff has some ideas,’ the description says.

‘What Melania wants, Melania gets’ – reads the tagline in the book’s description on Amazon.com.

Wolkoff’s book is the latest in a spate of books about President Donald Trump, the first lady and the administration, following a tell-all by Mary Trump, the president’s niece, and from former National Security Adviser John Bolton.

It’s also the second book about the notoriously private first lady to come out this fall. Mary Jordan’s ‘The Art of Her Deal’ provided an in-depth biography of Melania and included details about how she renegotiated her prenup after Donald Trump won the 2016 election, addressed the plastic surgery rumors, and detailed Melania’s relationship with Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump’s eldest daughter.