Jul 3, 2026
There’s been a lot of buzz about the $2.2 billion in personal wealth President Donald Trump amassed last year. But the First Lady made coin too — more than $17.2 million.
It’s all there in black and white (much like Melania Trump’s signature wardrobe) on page 6 of the president’s mandatory financial disclosure report, which runs nearly 1,000 pages.
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But the fact that President Trump and his First Lady earned so much has raised the eyebrows of some critics due to perceived conflict of interest concerns. Here’s a look at how Melania Trump made her money last year.
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Melania made money off her name
Melania Trump has profited from her celebrity and promoted herself as a brand, most visibly in the Amazon MGM Studios documentary Melania. The movie, released in January 2025, features Melania as she returns to the White House for her second term as First Lady.
Per the president’s financial disclosure, the First Lady made $10,710,000 in net proceeds from the film, which earned $16.6 million at the box office (mostly in the U.S.). The film itself was not well rated — with a 1.6 star out of 10 rating on IMDB.
Meanwhile, her memoir, also entitled Melania, earned the First Lady $521,161 through a licensing agreement with the publisher Skyhorse Publishing. It came out in October 2024 atop the New York Times’ nonfiction bestseller list. According to Vanity Fair, it sold 85,349 copies in the first week, after President Trump plugged it.
“Can you believe she’s written a book, and it’s a really good book, she’s worked hard on it, and it just became No. 1 on the New York Times list,” he said. “That’s not an easy thing to do, especially when your name is Trump. That thing must be selling like hotcakes.”
And while much of the coverage on President Trump’s 2025 financial disclosure has focused on his digital assets, specifically cryptocurrency — which earned him $1.4 billion last year — the First Lady has profited from digital assets of her own, including the $Melania memecoin.
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Last year, she earned $6,011,259 from non-fungible tokens (NFTs) “and other collectibles.” Business Insider reveals that the NFTs include On The Move — a series of digital photographs from the 2024 presidential campaign.
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All the President’s profits
Every U.S. president is asked to be transparent about their personal finances while in office. That includes revealing their spouse’s assets and income. The point is to prevent any conflict of interest in which the first family might profit personally from their political prowess.
President Trump’s critics have been crying foul over perceived conflicts throughout his second term, especially around his stock holdings, cryptocurrency and real estate. His latest financial disclosure — including information about the First Lady’s earnings — adds fuel to the fire.
According to Jurist News, Trump’s filing reveals that he paid late-filing fees for financial transactions that were supposed to be disclosed earlier. He had originally failed to disclose licensing agreements for Trump-branded merchandise, including watches, in an earlier filing.
And Melania’s dealings aren’t above scrutiny. Democrats — including Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren — are among lawmakers asking questions about the Melania documentary. Earlier this year, they launched an investigation into whether Amazon licensed the film for $40 million as a “pay-to-play” effort to curry favor with the White House.
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They argue that Amazon and owner Jeff Bezos have a direct interest in White House rulings on taxes, tariffs, trade, federal contracts and antitrust suits.
White House spokesperson Anny Kelly has issued a response to the naysayers, shared in The Hollywood Reporter.
“Neither the President nor his family has ever engaged — or will ever engage — in conflicts of interest,” she said.
“All actions by President Trump and his administration are taken in the best interest of the American people — and any so-called ‘reporters’ pushing otherwise are recycling the same, tired, false narrative that Democrats and the legacy media have been pushing for a decade.”
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Laura Boast is an Associate Editor with Moneywise.com and a lifelong content creator who has reached international audiences at Discovery, CBC, Blue Ant Media, Bond Brand Loyalty and more.
