Melania Trump’s documentary, titled Melania, is proving to be a box office disaster. The film cost a massive $75 million, and based on trends following the movie’s release on January 30, 2026, it seems highly unlikely that the film will recoup its budget.
The First Lady has been actively promoting her movie and encouraging the audience to go and see it in cinemas. While it is normal for a person to promote their own film, what recently caught attention was how Melania plugged her movie while talking to freed American-Israeli hostages Keith Siegel and his wife, Aviva Siegel, at the White House on Wednesday.
Melania highlighted the struggle that the couple faced as hostages taken by Hamas while also mentioning a previous meeting with Aviva. She then added, “It was an emotional meeting. It was captured on camera. It is available to see in my new film, ‘Melania.’ It was very emotional.”
Melania Trump referenced her documentary at a White House event with former hostages. She says it’s ‘not promotion’https://t.co/H3cUyo0wyD
— Betsy Klein (@betsy_klein) February 4, 2026
The sudden inclusion of the film drew questions from journalists as one reporter asked her if she thought it was appropriate for her to promote her film during an official White House event. To this, Melania got quite defensive and denied doing any such thing. She said, “This is not a promotion. We are here celebrating the release of hostages, the release of Aviva and Keith.”
Social media opinion seemed to be divided, with fans of Melania defending her and others slamming the First Lady for her lack of ethical judgment. Criticizing the move, one user commented on X, “She is just as horrible as Maxwell, Epstein and Trump. A horrible person through and through.”
Another user added a more detailed comment, “That’s a stark lack of situational awareness. Using a platform meant for solemn recognition to pivot to personal promotion is a profound ethical misstep. It conflates public service with personal branding. The event demanded empathy and quiet respect—a scalpel, not a soap opera. When does political ambition completely overshadow basic human decency?”
Another user added, “She been gone for a year and emerges after her movie.” One section of netizens, however, came to Melania’s rescue as one user bashed the journalist and commented, “You are absolute Tr-sh! Melania personal meet with Aviva and gave her love, support and screen time in her movie to tell her horrific story and fight to bring her precious beloved husband home! Maybe you need to watch the movie and learn what class actually looks like!”
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Melania’s supporters commented on similar lines, bashing the reporter who asked the question and mentioning that there was nothing wrong with the First Lady talking about her documentary since one of the hostages was featured there.
It should be noted here that Keith was freed nearly after 15 months of captivity, whereas his wife Aviva, who was taken with him, was freed after two months. Since their release, the two have become vocal advocates of Israel, as Keith told CBS News, “I am alive because of President Trump’s efforts that secured an agreement, and also the cooperation and the efforts of my government and the mediating countries.”
He then added, “We are home. We are alive because of agreements that were signed, and another agreement must be signed to get all of the 50 back home as soon as possible.”
While Melania’s inclusion of her film in the conversation with two such hostages is not technically wrong, the ethical question remains, since the meeting was supposed to be about the two people who have been released and not the over-budget documentary that is tanking at the box office.
