Melania Trump Addresses Age Gap With Donald Trump While Pushing Back on Rumors
"I met my husband by chance at a New York City party in 1998."
Published April 10 2026, 2:41 p.m. ET
The First Lady of the United States, Melania Trump, called a surprise press conference to deny she'd had a friendship with convicted sex offenders Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell on April 9, 2026.
The denial came out of nowhere, and it has folks revisiting her age gap with Donald Trump as chatter about the couple's connection to the late billionaire continues.
Epstein was awaiting trial in New York City for sex trafficking minors when he was found dead inside his cell in 2019. The death was ruled a suicide, and an investigation by the Department of Justice revealed that Trump's name was listed in the Epstein Files at least 1 million times.
The Trumps had a longtime friendship with Epstein before his death, and rumors about how Melania met Trump speculated that the couple was introduced by the accused pedophile.
Donald Trump and Melania Trump have a 24-Year age gap.
Trump and his wife have a 24-year age gap. The 79-year-old president and the Slovenian immigrant reportedly met in 1998 while he was still married to his second wife, Marla Maples, per People.
According to The New York Post, the author of Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, Michael Wolff, alleged that Melania, who was 28 years old at the time, had sex with Epstein aboard his private jet and that he introduced her to Trump.
Rumors also suggest that Melania doesn't like her much-older husband, and she has been photographed on numerous occasions looking unhappy with Trump or pulling her hand away from his in public.
During his inauguration back in 2017, Melania was seen faking a smile as her husband glared at her, and as he turned away, her smile quickly turned into a frown.
The couple's friendship with Epstein is documented in the Epstein Files, but Melania's surprise press conference to deny the relationships she had with him and Maxwell was shocking.
Despite a friendly email exchange between the first lady and Maxwell, where Melania complimented Epstein in an article, as well as Maxwell's picture, she claimed she had no relationship with them.
"Donald and I were invited to the same parties as Epstein from time to time," she claimed. "Since overlapping in social circles is common in New York City and Palm Beach. "To be clear, I never had a relationship with Epstein or his accomplice Maxwell. My email reply to Maxwell cannot be categorized as anything more than casual correspondence. My polite reply to her email doesn't amount to anything more than a tribal note."
Melania Trump has insisted that she wasn't a victim of Jeffrey Epstein.
"I am not Epstein's victim. Epstein did not introduce me to Donald Trump," she claimed. "I met my husband by chance at a New York City party in 1998."
She continued, "The lies linking me with the disgraceful Jeffrey Epstein need to end today," she said. "The individuals lying about me are devoid of ethical standards, humility, and respect. I do not object to their ignorance, but rather I reject their mean-spirited attempts to defame my reputation."
It's not yet clear why Melania decided to hold the press conference to deny she was friends with Epstein and Maxwell when she did, but the president was reportedly unaware of her plans.