Melania Trump Shares New Insight Into Son Barron’s Trump Life at NYU
With multiple properties located across the United States, Melania Trump has plenty of choices on where to settle down once President-elect Donald Trump is sworn into office.
However, according to the First Lady, “I will be in the White House.”
But she’ll also be making time to be in the Big Apple with son Barron Trump, who is attending his freshman year at New York University’s Stern School of Business.
“When I need to be in New York, I will be in New York,” Melania—who also has homes in New York City’s Trump Tower and Florida’s Mar-a-Lago Club—told Fox & Friends in an interview that aired Jan. 13. “When I need to be in Palm Beach, I will be in Palm Beach.”
And while her “first priority is to be a mom, to be a First Lady, to be a wife,” the 54-year-old noted that “once you’re in on January 20, you serve the country.”
In fact, Melania has already started the process of picking out furniture for the Trumps’ big move. After all, this won’t be their first time living at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
“The first time was challenging,” Melania shared, referencing her and her husband’s 2017-2021 stint in the White House. “But this time, I have everything. I have the plans. I could move in. I already packed.”
But Melania noted there will be “little bit of changes” in decoration from the couple’s last residency, especially since their 18-year-old son has moved out and is pursuing his degree.
“He’ll come and visit,” she said, adding that Barron’s college friends are more than welcome in the White House as well. “I always respect Barron’s yes and no and what he likes to do, where he would like to be.”
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As for how her son is handling college?
“It was his decision to come here—that he wants to be in New York and study in New York and live in his home,” Melania explained to Fox & Friends in September, “and I respect that.”
Likewise, Barron’s dad is happy that he’s landed at NYU.
“He’s a very high aptitude child, but he’s no longer a child,” the 79-year-old told the Daily Mail that same month. “He’s just passed into something beyond child-dom. He’s doing great.”
For a complete guide into the Trump family tree, keep reading.
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Ivana Trump
Ivana Trump was the first wife of President-elect Donald Trump. Born in Gottwaldov, Czechoslovakia—now Zlín of the Czech Republic—in 1949, she rose to fame as a competitive skier. And, thanks to her marriage to Austrian ski instructor Alfred Winklmayr in 1971, Ivana was able to travel often outside of Czechoslovakia.
According to her book Raising Trump, the model met Donald three years after her 1973 divorce during a New York trip, where she’d traveled for a Canadian fashion show ahead of the Montreal Olympics. They wed in 1977 and welcomed three kids: Donald Trump Jr. born in 1977, Ivanka Trump born in 1981 and Eric Trump born in 1984.
The pair’s divorce was finalized in 1992 following his affair with Marla Maples, whom he later married.
However, Ivana—who then married Riccardo Mazzucchelli for two years followed by Rossano Rubicondi for less than a year—and Donald remained on good terms.
“Donald during the divorce was brutal,” she told ABC News in 2017. “He took the divorce as a business deal, and he cannot lose. He has to win. So he took about two years. And after the final situation was straightened up, we would just talk and we are friends.”
Ivana died in 2022 at age 73. According to NBC News, the New York City Medical Examiner said she died of “blunt impact injuries” and that her manner of death was an accident. A senior NYC official with direct knowledge added the circumstances were consistent with a fall on the stairs in her New York apartment.
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Donald Trump Jr.
In 1977, Ivana and Donald welcomed their eldest son Donald Trump Jr. He began working for his father’s company The Trump Organization in 2001 and now serves as the executive vice president. Don Jr. has also been involved in his dad’s political campaigns, including speaking at rallies and the Republican National Convention during his father’s presidential runs.
He shares five children with his ex-wife, model Vanessa Haydon: Kai (who made a speech at the 2024 Republican National Convention) Donald III, Tristan, Spencer and Chloe. Don Jr. is now engaged to Fox News alum Kimberly Guilfoyle.
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Ivanka Trump
Four years after the arrival of Don Jr., Donald and Ivana became parents to daughter Ivanka Trump.
Before her father’s presidency, the University of Pennsylvania alum worked at The Trump Organization. But after he was elected in 2016, the fashion brand founder—who had her own eponymous line—took on the role of Advisor to the President.
After her dad announced he would be running for president again in 2024, Ivanka revealed she would be stepping out of the political arena to focus on her family with husband, former White House senior advisor Jared Kushner, and their children Arabella, Joseph and Theodore.
“I love my father very much,” she said in part of a 2022 statement obtained by NBC News. “This time around, I am choosing to prioritize my young children and the private life we are creating as a family. I do not plan to be involved in politics.”
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Eric Trump
Born in 1984, Eric Trump is the third child of Ivana and Donald. Like his brother, he works as executive vice president of The Trump Organization, which he joined in 2007.
He is married to Republican National Committee co-chair Lara Trump, with whom he shares kids Luke and Carolina.
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Marla Maples
Marla Maples is Donald’s second wife, whom he met while still married to Ivana.
In Raising Trump, Ivana wrote the actress approached her about the affair during a trip to Aspen in 1989. Still, Marla said on a 2018 episode of the ABC podcast Journeys of Faith with Paula Faris that she “never considered” herself a mistress.
“My intention was to never bring hurt,” she continued. “Do I wish more than anything that we could have had this relationship after his divorce papers were signed? Absolutely. I mean, with all my heart. How much heartache would it have saved so many people if I had seen that