Donald Trump is no stranger to the spotlight. The presidential hopeful, 69, has been stirring up controversy for months as the 2016 election is less than a year away. But his wife, Melania Trump, has not been on the campaign trail with him. In her first sit-down interview since Donald announced he was running in June, Melania opened up to Barbara Walters on 20/20 about her perceptions of her husband as a candidate.
“It’s my choice not to be there,” Melania told Walters. “I support my husband 100 percent, but we have a 9-year-old son together, Barron, and I’m raising him. And this is the age he needs a parent at home.”
The Slovenian-born former model, 45, insisted that she and her husband have equal power in their house. Donald quipped, “I would say no [we aren’t equals]. I think she’s far greater than the 50 percent.”
He also noted that Melania gave him some sage advice after his headline-making GOP debates. “She said, ‘You could tone it down a little bit, on occasion,’” he noted, smiling and agreeing with her.
Mrs. Trump — she wed in him 2005, following his 1999 divorce from Marla Maples — called the media criticisms of her husband “unpleasant,” and said the biggest lie out there about the billionaire is that “he’s nasty.”
“He has a big heart and a very warm heart,” she said. “We discuss a lot, and I encourage him because I know what he will do and what he can do for America. He loves the American people, and he wants to help them.”
Barbara Walters’ 20/20 interview with Donald and Melania Trump airs Friday, Nov. 20, 10 p.m. ET on ABC.
