Melania blasts 'dishonest' ex-friend Stephanie Wolkoff for book of 'idle gossip', says 'she hardly knew me'
On Friday, October 16, Melania Trump finally broke her silence on her ex-friend Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, who wrote an explosive tell-all book about her relationship with the first lady and as a result, got sued by the Justice Department earlier this week for having violated a non-disclosure agreement.
In a rare statement issued on the official website for the White House, and later tweeted by FLOTUS, the mother-of-one blasted the media for focusing on baseless claims made by the author of 'Melania and Me: The Rise and Fall of My Friendship with The First Lady'. She said Wolkoff "hardly knew me" and was "trying to distort my character". She captioned the tweet, "When the media chooses to focus on self-serving individuals & salacious gossip instead of work to help our next generation, it needs to be talked about."
When the media chooses to focus on self-serving individuals & salacious gossip instead of work to help our next generation, it needs to be talked about: ⬇️ https://t.co/0VIv1DcG35
— Melania Trump (@FLOTUS) October 16, 2020
The statement started off as a desciption of Melania's 'Be Best' anti-bullying initiative but soon digressed into a sharp criticism of the media as well as Wolkoff, although she never took her name directly in the statement. "BE BEST has one simple purpose — to help children. It serves to provide the tools children need to prepare them for their futures. We all know that more often than not, information that could be helpful to children is lost in the noise made by self-serving adults. I have most recently found this to be the case as major news outlets eagerly covered salacious claims made by a former contractor who advised my office," Melania wrote.
Then the statement really took a dark tone. "A person who said she 'made me' even though she hardly knew me, and someone who clung to me after my husband won the Presidency. This is a woman who secretly recorded our phone calls, releasing portions from me that were out of context, then wrote a book of idle gossip trying to distort my character. Her 'memoir' included blaming me for her ailing health from an accident she had long ago, and for bad news coverage that she brought upon herself and others. Never once looking within at her own dishonest behavior and all in an attempt to be relevant. These kinds of people only care about their personal agenda — not about helping others," the statement added.
She continued to attack the mainstream media for focusing on her alleged relationship with Wolkoff more than reporting on her achievements in the 'Be Best' campaign. "Once again, outlets chose to focus their coverage on pettiness over my positive work. There are plenty of opportunists out there who only care about themselves, and unfortunately seek to self-aggrandize by knowingly taking advantage of my goodwill. Anyone who is focused on tearing things down for their own gain, after knowing what I stand for, has lost sight of what we are here to accomplish and who we are here to serve. To push forward a personal agenda that attempts to defame my office and the efforts of my team, only takes away from our work to help children," Melania wrote.
It concluded: "I would say to my team, our supporters, and to all those out there on the frontlines in our communities every day — remember what we are all about and what we are trying to accomplish together. I would remind the media that they have the choice of focusing on our next generation. As a country, we cannot continue to get lost in the noise of negativity and encourage ambition by those who seek only to promote themselves."