Melania Trump, a woman who came to America to continue her career as a model, has always seemed like she was posing as a statue. She is beautiful and chiseled and silent.

For many, that kind of personality comes naturally — the phrase “strong silent type” exists for a reason, of course. But for Melania, it turns out that her image is carefully crafted and her activities and interactions curated.

That’s according to her former aide, Stephanie Winston-Wolkoff, in a story published in the Washington Post last weekend. Winston-Wolkoff treated Mrs. Trump nicely in the interview, as do most people who speak about her post-presidency. It could be that many of them [her ex-support team] have come to see her as some kind of victim of Donald Trump’s fame or infamy, depending on how you look at it.

But she has been anything but a victim. In fact, by her own choosing, Melania has barely been seen with her husband in nearly a year. She certainly isn’t showing up to his court appearances, and she hasn’t been accompanying him on the campaign trail, either.

Winston-Wolkoff even told the Post that Melania had an “ongoing pre-approved list” of words that could be publicly said to describe her, including “confident,” “strong,” and “independent.”

That doesn’t seem like some little wallflower to me. Perhaps that’s what Donald was hoping she’d turn out to be when he married her, but it’s anything but the truth.

Instead, her fashion choices, her initiatives like “Be Best,” and even how often and in what capacity she made public appearances were all scripted like a Frank Capra film.

She wants to be a mystery, and even Donald has caught on to the act. In his recent interview with Megyn Kelly, his host asked him where Melania had been basically hiding out, and Trump replied “I think part of the beauty is that mystery.”

Privacy is one thing. Melania has a teenage boy to think of, and one can imagine how much rumors and innuendo do to his life. But in often the same breath, we’d see Melania don a coat that says “I Don’t Really Care Do U?” on the back, which she later “admitted” was a jab at the “left-wing media.”

A left-wing media is one thing Melania has never had to personally battle. Even her husband’s battles with the media have all been borne of choices that he himself made.

But her careful image may not serve her or Donald Trump well during the 2024 campaign. Political analyst Stephen Voss said in a Friday Newsweek article that “Trump ought to worry that the public will perceive his family’s low visibility as a sign they’re fleeing a sinking ship. If even Trump’s family has started to view him as a liability best avoided, it gives Republican politicians more opportunity to distance themselves as well.”

By ever even associating with Donald Trump — let alone marrying him — Melania Trump may have given up any chance at actual mystery.

But that hasn’t stopped her from trying.