Friends of the couple are insisting they'll stay married - for now. Photo / AP
Friends of the couple are insisting they'll stay married - for now. Photo / AP
The First Lady has no "immediate plans" to divorce Donald Trump after his loss in the US presidential election.
Her friends claim she's shown no signs of wanting a divorce from Trump, and are convinced she'll stay with him for the time being, reports Metro UK.
Her official spokeswoman StephanieGrisham slammed questions about a Trump divorce. Speaking to the Washington Post, she said, "This question is pathetic and exactly why people no longer trust the mainstream media. No legitimate journalist would ask this."
But last week, former White House aide Omorosa Manigault Newman claimed Melania was "counting the minutes" until she could file for divorce from Trump. She also made headlines when she linked arms with a US military man instead of Trump during a visit to Arlington Cemetery in Virginia last week.
Trump and his wife made the trip for a Veterans' Day service. Onlookers said Melania likely held on to the serviceman to keep her balance while walking over slippery rain-soaked stone slabs in heels.
An online bookmaker BetOnline.ag says they've had so many bets that Melania will divorce her husband by this time next year that a US$10 ($15) bet on the separation happening by November 3 2021 will pay out just US$26 ($37).
That's down from the potential payout of US$65 ($95) for any election-day bets.
Meanwhile, ex attorney Michael Cohen, who used to be Trump's lawyer, has claimed the president's third marriage will last because the couple are far more similar than most people assume.
Melania took the arm of a serviceman instead of her husband on a visit to Arlington Cemetery. Photo / AP
"I don't think Melania leaves Donald. She's very willingly complicit in his schemes and holds his beliefs as her own. Those two deserve each other," he said.
Cohen was jailed for tax fraud and campaign finance violations, and has previously been called a liar by Trump after turning on the president.
The marriage was rumoured to be in crisis in January 2018, when claims of an affair between Trump and porn star Stormy Daniels re-emerged. But Trump denied accusations he'd had a one-night stand with Daniels after meeting her at a charity golf tournament the year after he married Melania - and months after she'd given birth to their now 14-year-old son Barron.
Melania travelled to Trump's January 2018 State of the Union speech separately from him. And she was rumoured to have spent nights alone at his hotel in Washington DC. But friends insist the marriage has improved since then.
They say Melania is her husband's "closest confidante", and that they enjoy the limited time they get to spend together.
