Melania Trump has been in the news quite a bit, mostly for what she HASN’T been doing. She wasn’t at her husband’s side when he was indicted and arrested in NYC. She wasn’t at his post-arrest speech at Mar-a-Lago when he whined and played the ultimate victim. And at currently count it’s been ten days since she’s been seen in public, including at the spa at Mar-a-Lago and her normal haunts.

Now, once could understand why Melania didn’t attend Donald Trump’s arraignment. After all, he was being arrested for basically cheating on her. So yeah, it’s understandable. But let’s be real, Melania knew EXACTLY what she was getting into and who she was marrying when she chose to become Mrs. Donald Trump.

Melania’s former close friend and adviser Stephanie Winston-Wolkoff has described the marriage as “transactional”, and Melania has even described it that way herself, in so many words.

According to the New York Times, in 2005, the newly wed Melania Trump addressed a business class at New York University.

Why, we have no idea.

A student asked the supermodel if she would still be with Donald Trump if he was not rich.

“If I weren’t beautiful, do you think he’d be with me?” she quipped.

This candid response from the former FLOTUS illustrates a marriage as lackluster as any failed Trump business venture. Donald is rich. Melania is beautiful. And so, they are married.

Of course the glimpse Melania gave into their marriage happened long before Donald Trump became candidate Trump who wooed the Republican party while touting his support for “traditional marriage”. And ever since the Trumps came down that escalator at Trump Tower, no moment of martial discourse goes unnoticed.

Many have joked about freeing Melania as if she’s unwillingly stuck with her husband and is looking for a way out. But Melania has never given any indication that she isn’t a willing participant in the marriage, whether it’s a sham or true love behind the golden curtain.

If Melania now finds herself in a hypothetical marital prison, she holds the key to her own emancipation. No one needs to free Melania but Melania.

Remember, when a tape was infamously released of Donald bragging to Billy Bush about his sexual assault tendencies, Melania quickly dismissed them as “locker room talk.”

And Melania is just fine with the fact that Donald doesn’t want the responsibility of raising his children.

In an interview with Howard Stern, Trump said, “I mean, I won’t do anything to take care of them. I’ll supply funds and she’ll take care of the kids. It’s not like I’m gonna be walking the kids down Central Park.”

So I think it’s very clear what this marriage is about. Trump has a ton of money, and for that he gets a beautiful woman at his side (even if she always looks like a sourpuss). And for an easy life without having to work or, God forbid, shop at Walmart or Target, Melania gets to be married to a man who cheated on her mere months after they had their only child.

Isn’t it romantic!