Melania and Me

The Rise and Fall of My Friendship with the First Lady

By: Stephanie Winston Wolkoff

Narrated by: Stephanie Winston Wolkoff

Number-One New York Times Best Seller

What Melania wants, Melania gets.

The former director of special events at Vogue and producer of nine legendary Met Galas, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff 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. As their friendship deepened over lunches at Manhattan hot spots, black-tie parties, and giggle sessions in the penthouse at Trump Tower, Wolkoff watched the newest Mrs. Trump raise her son, Barron, and manage her highly scrutinized marriage.

After Trump won the 2016 election, Wolkoff was recruited to help produce the 58th Presidential Inaugu­ration and to become the First Lady’s trusted advisor. Melania put Wolkoff in charge of hiring her staff, organizing her events, helping her write speeches, and creating her debut initiatives. Then it all fell apart when she was made the scapegoat for inauguration finance irregularities. Melania could have defended her innocent friend and confidant, but she stood by her man, knowing full well who was really to blame. The betrayal nearly destroyed Wolkoff.

In this candid and emotional memoir, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff takes you into Trump Tower and the White House to tell the funny, thrilling, and heartbreaking story of her intimate friendship with one of the most famous women in the world, a woman few people truly understand.

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....

©2020 Power of Every Woman LLC. All rights reserved. (P)2020 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

Could have been better

Her story is intriguing but the way she reads the story is very monotone and she reads too quickly. So many abbreviations for organizations that you have no idea what she’s talking about with no continuity or flow. Kind of sad because it could’ve been so much better

Interesting But Not Riveting

Who is this woman named Melania? I'm sure we all have our own opinions, but how could we really have any idea of what she is like? She kept a very low profile during her 4 year reign as First Lady (FLOTUS). To many she appeared to be an Ice Queen and was no more likeable than her husband. To others, there was much more to the picture and perhaps they envisioned her being as likeable as her looks were good.

The author claimed to be a good friend of Melania for many years and to know her quite well. We know from the start that author felt wronged by Melania and we may feel that she is going to do her own throwing under the bus as regards to Trump's wife.

The author lost a lot of creds with me with her admitting that she never voted before the first Trump election, as she was just not a political person. (And the rest of us are?) Furthermore, she got on the Trump bandwagon and finally voted and campaigned for him because she was friends with his wife. (We may feel at this point a bit thankful that she had refrained from voting previously!)

So, this book might quite possibly inform you:
--Were the author and Melania really great friends? What was this friendship like; was it reciprocal?
--Whether there is much more depth to FLOTUS than Melania herself projected? (Hmmm, I really want to tell you my opinion!)
--Is she as lacking in warmth as some suspected?
--Is she a poor victim or just a woman whose marriage is purely a business deal--or is she really in love with Donald?
--Does the author tell all, bash Melania, throw her under the bus--not a foregone conclusion as you and I may suspect.
--And even after feeling totally betrayed by the First Lady, the author still kissed up to her. Why is that?

So, if you have any interest in this only somewhat interesting subject, the book will explain things for you. If you care, that is. It is not revelatory or earth-shaking, I regret to say.
Narration by the author just so so.

Stay strong, Stephanie!

My heart breaks for Stephanie. The "FAMILY" took advantage of this women's generosity, love and dedication to her country, not to mention, her friendship and her contacts. Why does this "Family" believe that they are above the law? I listened to this book in one day. I could not turn it off. The memory of this book will stay with me a long time.

One sided friendship

I enjoyed listening to the book. The beginning started juicy and kept me engaged during the middle I was a bit perplexed on why Mrs. Wolkoff kept defending and making excuses for Melania and at the end I was glad she got some anger out. But like many others that work or have worked with the trumps they only realize how nasty or immoral they are until it is too late. I can only hope for the best for Mrs. Wolkoff and her family. Glad I heard her side of the story.

Confirmed!

Wow, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff is an amazing author and narrator. Her book just confirmes all the stories we've heard in the past. I keep thinking we have sunk as low as we can. This book indicates an entirely new low. I think the saddest part of this book was allowing the readers to witness friendship betrayal. A real friend is fiercely protective, loyal, and in it for the long haul. Unfortunately, Stephanie didn't recognize this was always a one-way relationship. The demise of this friendship is definitely a loss for Melania.

Insightful read

The author’s story is akin to a recovering drug addict. This is not meant to minimize in any way the true difficulty of overcoming drug addiction and all of the associated perils. Sadly, the true essence of her friendship was one-sided, but it took extraordinary circumstances to come to this epiphany. Some criticized the author for name dropping. I took the information as the author’s efforts to establish credibility and to also understand why she was allowed to enter a circle that, as described, is only self serving. Ms. SWW acknowledges her role in her own perils and seeks to grow from the experiences. What more can be expected from any of us?

MT is everything I figured she was!

SWW gives a riveting and chilling account of the early days of the Trump administration! Everything I suspected and more. Too bad there has only been more of the same since she left/resigned/was fired! Only thing I’m upset with SWW about is that she was so swept up in this that she put her devotion to her friend above her own children and family members. I’m sure it was a hard lesson to learn that if Melania was such a good friend and so protective of Baron, and herself, then why would she have let her best friend be absent from her kids and husband for so long and her health be compromised. A true friend would have pulled her aside and said, “Stop! Slow down! You need to go home. They’re not going to give you what you believe I need and I need to figure out what to do from here on out.”

Thorough and heartfelt

This was an interesting and thorough recounting of the first year and a half of what was being completed through the FLOTUS office. I questioned the blinding loyalty of SWW and thought she may have continued to participate in WH activity for her own purposes, but this book clearly and with detail confirms the dog eat dog world of the trump administration.

Compelling and well reasoned.

I recommend this book to anyone who has suffered betrayals, personal or professionaly.
I'm thankful for the empathy, courage, and grit of Ms. Wolkoff 's life in this narrative. The values of of mutual friendship, mutual loyalty, mutual kindness, are important and complicated issues of our times.

Glad I bought the audible and heard the author.

Love it. Very interesting. Colorful. Troubling. It opened my eyes to the depth of indifference of some.