The Melania in “Melania” Likes Her Gilded Cage Just Fine
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Culture
/ February 2, 2026
The Melania in Melania Likes Her Gilded Cage Just Fine
The Melania in “Melania” Likes Her Gilded Cage Just Fine
The $45 million advertorial abounds in unintended ironies.
Katha Pollitt
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Melania Trump attends the premiere of Melania at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, on January 29, 2026.
(Brendan Smialowski / AFP via Getty Images)
My husband and I saw the Melania documentary, at 10:45 am on the Upper West Side, which I admit was not a fair test of its audience appeal—there were only six people there besides us. They had all left by the time the movie was over—maybe journalists on deadline, like me—so I missed my chance to interview them about their responses. I did catch a middle-aged woman who showed up early for the next screening, well-armed with an enormous bucket of popcorn. Why was she there, I asked? To see Melania of course! What did she like about Melania? “She’s so confident and she does so much to help people.” Confident, I give you.
I used to feel sorry for the wives of rich and powerful men. I saw them as trapped—birds in gilded cages, who had made a terrible mistake in youth, and now had to endure endless rounds of tedious socializing with a frozen smile on their Botoxed faces, to say nothing of having to be nice to their ghastly husbands, who were probably all having sex with prostitutes. I wasn’t alone—remember all those Free Melania memes? The way people endlessly retweeted photos of her looking fed-up and frowny and not holding Donald’s hand? Quite a few women I know believed that Melania was miserable but couldn’t leave him for some unlikely reason, like she would have no money or he would have her murdered. What century did they think this is? Melinda Gates and Mackenzie Scott divorced their unsatisfactory husbands and are living the dream today as fabulously rich philanthropists.
Melania, this documentary makes perfectly clear, likes her gilded cage just fine. After all, it lets her produce this movie starring her clothes, her hair, her shoes, and her complexion, and how many women can say the same? Could you, middle-aged women of America, spend all day every day wearing six-inch spike heels with never a wince or moan? The rewards for aching feet and wrinkle-free face are on full display: Melania is attended every minute by people paid to be deferential and pleasant; everything around her is beautiful and expensive, and she has all the designer dresses she wants. She gets to talk about helping children with Queen Rania of Jordan and the evils of screens for children with Brigitte Macron. She gets to look somber and serious placing …
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The Melania in “Melania” Likes Her Gilded Cage Just Fine
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Current Issue
Culture
/ February 2, 2026
The Melania in Melania Likes Her Gilded Cage Just Fine
The Melania in “Melania” Likes Her Gilded Cage Just Fine
The $45 million advertorial abounds in unintended ironies.
Katha Pollitt
Share
Copy Link
X (Twitter)
Bluesky Pocket
Ad Policy
Melania Trump attends the premiere of Melania at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, on January 29, 2026.
(Brendan Smialowski / AFP via Getty Images)
My husband and I saw the Melania documentary, at 10:45 am on the Upper West Side, which I admit was not a fair test of its audience appeal—there were only six people there besides us. They had all left by the time the movie was over—maybe journalists on deadline, like me—so I missed my chance to interview them about their responses. I did catch a middle-aged woman who showed up early for the next screening, well-armed with an enormous bucket of popcorn. Why was she there, I asked? To see Melania of course! What did she like about Melania? “She’s so confident and she does so much to help people.” Confident, I give you.
I used to feel sorry for the wives of rich and powerful men. I saw them as trapped—birds in gilded cages, who had made a terrible mistake in youth, and now had to endure endless rounds of tedious socializing with a frozen smile on their Botoxed faces, to say nothing of having to be nice to their ghastly husbands, who were probably all having sex with prostitutes. I wasn’t alone—remember all those Free Melania memes? The way people endlessly retweeted photos of her looking fed-up and frowny and not holding Donald’s hand? Quite a few women I know believed that Melania was miserable but couldn’t leave him for some unlikely reason, like she would have no money or he would have her murdered. What century did they think this is? Melinda Gates and Mackenzie Scott divorced their unsatisfactory husbands and are living the dream today as fabulously rich philanthropists.
Melania, this documentary makes perfectly clear, likes her gilded cage just fine. After all, it lets her produce this movie starring her clothes, her hair, her shoes, and her complexion, and how many women can say the same? Could you, middle-aged women of America, spend all day every day wearing six-inch spike heels with never a wince or moan? The rewards for aching feet and wrinkle-free face are on full display: Melania is attended every minute by people paid to be deferential and pleasant; everything around her is beautiful and expensive, and she has all the designer dresses she wants. She gets to talk about helping children with Queen Rania of Jordan and the evils of screens for children with Brigitte Macron. She gets to look somber and serious placing …
The Melania in “Melania” Likes Her Gilded Cage Just Fine
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The Melania in “Melania” Likes Her Gilded Cage Just Fine
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Current Issue
Culture
/ February 2, 2026
The Melania in Melania Likes Her Gilded Cage Just Fine
The Melania in “Melania” Likes Her Gilded Cage Just Fine
The $45 million advertorial abounds in unintended ironies.
Katha Pollitt
Share
Copy Link
Facebook
X (Twitter)
Bluesky Pocket
Email
Ad Policy
Melania Trump attends the premiere of Melania at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, on January 29, 2026.
(Brendan Smialowski / AFP via Getty Images)
My husband and I saw the Melania documentary, at 10:45 am on the Upper West Side, which I admit was not a fair test of its audience appeal—there were only six people there besides us. They had all left by the time the movie was over—maybe journalists on deadline, like me—so I missed my chance to interview them about their responses. I did catch a middle-aged woman who showed up early for the next screening, well-armed with an enormous bucket of popcorn. Why was she there, I asked? To see Melania of course! What did she like about Melania? “She’s so confident and she does so much to help people.” Confident, I give you.
I used to feel sorry for the wives of rich and powerful men. I saw them as trapped—birds in gilded cages, who had made a terrible mistake in youth, and now had to endure endless rounds of tedious socializing with a frozen smile on their Botoxed faces, to say nothing of having to be nice to their ghastly husbands, who were probably all having sex with prostitutes. I wasn’t alone—remember all those Free Melania memes? The way people endlessly retweeted photos of her looking fed-up and frowny and not holding Donald’s hand? Quite a few women I know believed that Melania was miserable but couldn’t leave him for some unlikely reason, like she would have no money or he would have her murdered. What century did they think this is? Melinda Gates and Mackenzie Scott divorced their unsatisfactory husbands and are living the dream today as fabulously rich philanthropists.
Melania, this documentary makes perfectly clear, likes her gilded cage just fine. After all, it lets her produce this movie starring her clothes, her hair, her shoes, and her complexion, and how many women can say the same? Could you, middle-aged women of America, spend all day every day wearing six-inch spike heels with never a wince or moan? The rewards for aching feet and wrinkle-free face are on full display: Melania is attended every minute by people paid to be deferential and pleasant; everything around her is beautiful and expensive, and she has all the designer dresses she wants. She gets to talk about helping children with Queen Rania of Jordan and the evils of screens for children with Brigitte Macron. She gets to look somber and serious placing …
