Melania Trump Laments Having So Little Time With Family

First Lady Melania Trump says her family’s time together is “suffering” as she and President Donald Trump struggle to find opportunities to sit down for dinner.

During an interview with FOX Business, she was asked how the couple manages to make time for family meals and offered a candid answer.

“You know my husband is working. Sometimes he’s in the Oval Office till 9:30 at night, right? So do you wait that you will have dinner? You don’t, because he’s busy. I’m busy too,” she said.

“But we try to find time. It’s less and less the family time, it’s suffering because of it,” Melania added.

Although the family makes an effort to be together, she said their demanding roles remain the priority. “We are here to work to do a good job, and that’s what matters,” she said.

Melania also noted that the couple’s son, Barron, is now 20 and has become a young adult with his own schedule, interests and commitments.

She spoke in New York during the week of the UN General Assembly, shortly after ringing the New York Stock Exchange bell to mark the launch of Imperia, her new initiative supporting women in business.

The interview also gave Melania an opportunity to respond to criticism over her limited public presence. She said she has remained active behind the scenes on issues including artificial intelligence in children’s education, foster youth and international diplomacy.

When Melania does appear publicly, it is usually for a clearly defined purpose. This week, however, offered several high-profile occasions.

During the UN General Assembly, she participated in events tied to her Fostering the Future initiative, which promotes children’s welfare, education and technology.

She also attended a state dinner honoring Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife, Peng Liyuan.

Melania said she was involved in preparations for the dinner, held Thursday evening in the White House East Room.

She joined President Trump at Joint Base Andrews on Wednesday to greet Xi and Peng, then welcomed the couple again at the White House the following night.

The two couples posed for photographs, while Melania and Peng were seen smiling and speaking together during the welcome.

The flurry of appearances marked an unusually visible stretch for Melania, who has spent much of the year maintaining a relatively low public profile.

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Earlier this year, she went 32 days without a major public appearance before returning to the White House Rose Garden in August.

Her public appearances thinned steadily as the summer wore on.

In May she attended a Military Mother’s Day event and the Congressional Picnic. By June they were rarer, among them the Presidential AI Challenge awards at the White House. In July she appeared at the Fourth of July celebrations and at the World Cup final in New Jersey on July 19, then dropped out of public view for 32 days.

The absence became a talking point. When she finally returned in the Rose Garden in August, she addressed it herself: ‘I heard you missed me?’

The quip did little to settle long-running questions about how much time the First Lady actually spends in Washington.

Journalist Michael Wolff has alleged that she remains largely based in New York and has questioned whether she has spent a single night at the White House during Trump’s second term. 

The White House disputes those claims. Anthony Scaramucci, Trump’s former communications director, has spoken publicly about the couple’s separate schedules, suggesting her life is split between New York, Washington and Florida.

Where she has been visible is on AI. Melania has pushed for the technology to be taught in schools, arguing that children need to understand it rather than simply be shielded from it. 

On a recent visit to a North Carolina elementary school that has partnered with NVIDIA on AI learning tools, she urged students to try building their own robots.

During Trump’s first presidency, Melania famously remained in New York for several months while their son Barron finished the school year, prompting intense speculation about her living arrangements.

The White House at the time rejected claims that she was refusing to live at the presidential residence.

Melania has made it clear that she has her own priorities and projects, and she doesn’t necessarily feel the need to be alongside her husband at every appearance.

And while Washington is technically home while Donald Trump is president, Melania’s connection to Palm Beach remains strong.

The Trumps actually changed their official residence from Manhattan to Palm Beach back in 2019, making Mar-a-Lago their permanent residence.

A 2025 court filing also listed Mar-a-Lago as Melania’s permanent address.