Melania Trump is returning to the spotlight — sort of. The first lady is expected to attend an event at the White House on Monday, June 4, which would mark her first public appearance in nearly a month.
Trump’s communications director, Stephanie Grisham, confirmed to CNN on Monday morning that the former model plans to attend an event honoring Gold Star families later that evening. However, the reception is closed to the press.
Melania, 48, has not participated in an official event since May 10 when she and her husband, President Donald Trump, welcomed home three American prisoners who had been freed from North Korea. Four days later, Melania underwent a kidney procedure at a hospital in Maryland. She returned to the White House on May 19, but hasn’t been seen in public since and did not go to Camp David with her family this past weekend.
Grisham also confirmed to CNN that the Slovenia native will not travel to the G7 summit in Canada with the president, 71, later this week, nor will she join him when he goes to Singapore for a scheduled meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on June 12.
Melania’s lengthy absence from the public eye has led to many conspiracy theories online. She shut down rumors about her whereabouts in a recent tweet.
“I see the media is working overtime speculating where I am & what I’m doing,” she tweeted on Wednesday, May 30. “Rest assured, I’m here at the @WhiteHouse w my family, feeling great & working hard on behalf of children & the American people!”
A source told Us Weekly exclusively in March that Melania is “very, very unhappy with her life” since her husband’s political ascent. A family source said at the time, “If [Melania] could, she would get away from Donald and just be with her son, [Barron].”
Ahead of Monday’s Gold Star event, Donald tweeted that he has the “absolute right to PARDON myself” in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. He added, “But why would I do that when I have done nothing wrong?”
