Melania Trump wants to take three members of her team with her to her new office separate from her husband Donald’s, it has been reported.
Her office is currently functioning out of the former President’s private club, Mar-a-Lago, CNN reports
But Melania is said to be looking for a separate space in the Palm Beach area.
It is reported that Melania’s post-White House office will consist of three of her White House staff members.
The first is reported to be Hayley D’Antuono, who served for four years as the former first lady’s director of operations and trip supervisor and is now Melania’s chief of staff.
Mary “Casey” Finzer was a low-level staff assistant in the East Wing office, and one of her tasks included keeping stock of Trump’s “gift closet,” a source is reported to have told CNN.
Her duties included making sure gifted items were kept and wrapped to be distributed at school or hospital events and for trips.
Finzer is now said to be a key part of “the operational and administrative side” of the post-White House team.
Marcia Kelly, who served as an unpaid senior adviser to Melania when she was in the White House, is also staying on board for the post-White House office, though it is unclear whether she will now receive a salary, CNN adds.
The former First Lady’s office move “could well be preparatory steps for explaining to Donald that she’d like to separate”, a relationships guru recently told the Daily Star.
Family mediator Louisa Whitney, of LKW Family Mediation, said: “Melania’s wish for a separate office could well be preparatory steps for explaining to Donald that she’d like to separate – she might be seeking to set up a role for herself that builds on the work she did as First Lady.
“She might also want to be setting up an identity for herself in her own right. It can be hard I think for anyone separating to establish themselves as just that person rather than part of a couple – especially if their partner was more high-profile, more outgoing or better-known than them.”
Tina Wilson, a leading relationship expert and Founder of Wingman app, agrees that Melania seems to want to “forge her own path” with the office move – but says that may just be with her business activities.
Wilson says: “As the former first lady, Melania has been under the microscope for the last four years, being analysed, criticised, loved and hated as she has stood by Donald, who has revelled in the attention.
“She now has the opportunity to create her own space, choose her own work and shape her own public persona. By having a separate office to her spouse she is stating loud and clear, ‘I’ve done my duty and need some me-time, so back off’.”